Where Oymapınar is, and what the name actually covers
Oymapınar is one name doing three jobs. It is a village standing in the limestone hills inland from the coast, it is the dam built where the river runs through the gorge below that village, and in ordinary holiday talk it is also the water the dam created - the long green reservoir most visitors know as Green Lake, sitting inside the walls of Green Canyon.
You reach it the way the safari reaches everything up there, on a dirt track. The convoy leaves the coast after hotel pickup, runs out of asphalt at the old Roman bridge, works past orchards of orange, lemon and pomegranate and fields of cotton and sesame, passes the ancient Roman aqueducts, and pauses at the panoramic viewpoint over the lake before the village itself. That is the whole approach, and the full-day jeep safari that actually goes to Oymapınar is a shared convoy day rather than a private hire.
- The village: the swim stop and the pancake break happen here
- The dam: a photo stop below the village
- Green Lake: the reservoir the dam created
- Green Canyon: the limestone gorge that holds all of it
What the dam did to this valley
Before the dam, this was a river running through a valley cut into limestone. The dam closed the valley, the water backed up, and what had been shallow and moving became deep and still between pale rock walls. That single change is why a village in the hills now stands above a long body of green water, and why a jeep day comes up here at all.
Why that water reads emerald rather than blue is a question about depth and limestone, and we answer it in full on the page about the gorge itself rather than twice on this site. What Oymapınar adds is the vantage point: from the village and from the dam you are always above the water, never on it. For the wider picture of the gorge and what the water looks like from the viewpoints above it, we have written that up separately.
The village stop: swimming, and pancakes made in front of you
This is the part of the day people describe when they get home, and it is why Oymapınar earns a page of its own. The programme puts a swim stop here, and freshly made Turkish pancakes with a drink are served at the same break. It is one of the few stretches where you are properly off the vehicle. If what you want is the broader picture - village life along the whole route, the farmland, the mosque visit - that is a different page on this site.
What we will not do is guarantee the swim. Whether you get in, and for how long, depends on the day, the weather and the group, and that call belongs to the guide standing there rather than to a page written months earlier. Bring swimwear and a towel in a small bag, and in summer a dry change of clothes, because summer departures include water fights between the jeeps; winter runs use covered vehicles with no water games. We keep a longer list of what to pack for a day that includes a swim stop.
The dam photo stop, and what we refuse to publish about it
In the running order the dam comes after the village and before the viewpoint above Green Canyon, and it is the one stop where the day looks at something built rather than something grown. It is a short photo stop rather than a tour of the structure, so plan for pictures and stay with the group.
What you will not find here is a height, a year of construction or a capacity figure. Numbers like those travel from one holiday site to the next without anyone checking them, and the only thing our own tour sheet records about the dam is that it is a verified photo stop inside the day. Where a fact is not ours to verify, we leave it out rather than round it.
The optional hour on the water
The boat comes up once lunch is over: one hour on the lake at EUR 5 per person, paid there and then. The safari itself is EUR 20 per adult, so an adult who takes it spends EUR 25 for the whole day. There is no separate with-boat product and no combined figure on the booking form, because the decision is genuinely made at the water.
From the village, the dam and the viewpoints you only ever look down at the lake; the boat is the one hour spent on the surface. Whether that is worth five euros after a long morning is personal, and we have set out whether to take the boat hour or skip it in more detail elsewhere. Declining costs nothing and changes nothing else in the programme.
Where Oymapınar falls in the running order
The village and the dam sit in the middle of an eight-hour day, which is why the stop feels like an arrival rather than a chance to stretch your legs. The order below is what our tour sheet lists; timings move with the group and the season, and the guide sets the pace.
One stop on the return leg, the Manavgat Waterfall, depends on the day's programme and its entrance is paid on site if it runs. We list it as possible rather than promised.
- Morning hotel pickup after breakfast time, meeting at your hotel's main entrance gate
- Old Roman bridge, where the asphalt ends
- Orchards and fields, then the ancient Roman aqueducts
- Panoramic viewpoint over Green Lake
- Oymapınar village: the swim stop and the pancakes
- Photo stop at the Oymapınar Dam
- Viewpoint above Green Canyon, then the included lakeside lunch
- Optional one-hour boat trip on the lake, EUR 5 per person
- Village mosque visit with the guide, and a late-afternoon return
Practical notes for the Oymapınar stops
The tracks up there are bumpy in places, so mention back or neck trouble before boarding. In summer the jeeps are open-top and the day comes with sun, wind and dust, so sunscreen, a secure hat and sunglasses matter more than anything else you carry. Pickup is from your hotel's main entrance gate, and the exact time varies hotel to hotel, so it is confirmed after you book.
The money side is simple. Nothing is charged online and the fare is paid in euros on the day of the tour. The optional items are settled on site: the boat hour, drinks, the mini zoo tickets some guests take during the village break, the waterfall entrance if that stop runs, and any photos or videos taken by the tour team.
- Swimwear, a towel and in summer a dry change of clothes
- Sunscreen, a secure hat and sunglasses for an open-top vehicle
- Closed shoes you do not mind getting dusty
- A little money beyond the fare for the optional extras
What the day costs, and how booking works
The full day is EUR 20 per adult aged 13 to 99 and EUR 10 per child aged 4 to 12, with infants aged 0 to 3 free, and lunch plus hotel pickup and drop-off are already inside those figures. If you are working out how the fares add up for a family, we keep a page that does exactly that, including where the optional EUR 5 boat hour lands.
Booking is a free reservation: no prepayment, no card taken online, and free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure. The vehicles are 8 to 10 seat 4x4s with a professional driver, guiding runs in English, German and Russian as well as Turkish, and the day goes out as a shared convoy - we do not sell a private jeep.