Mountains or water: what the choice actually is
A boat day and a jeep day are not two versions of the same excursion. One keeps you on a single deck while the coast slides past; the other climbs out of the resort belt into the Taurus Mountains and changes the scenery every half hour — orchards, riverbeds, Roman aqueducts, a viewpoint over Green Lake, a village. The real question is not which is better, but whether you want to be carried through a landscape or held still on the water.
Everything compared below about the jeep side is something we sell and can be held to. Everything said about a boat day is about the shape of that day, not about anybody's product. If you would rather understand the mountain day first and compare afterwards, the full guide to how a jeep safari from Side works walks through it in order.
The jeep day, in numbers we can stand behind
The flagship is the eight-hour day in the mountains with lunch included: EUR 20 per adult, EUR 10 per child aged 4 to 12, and infants of 0 to 3 travel free. Hotel pickup and drop-off from Side and the surrounding resort areas are part of that price. The vehicles are open-top 4x4s carrying eight to ten guests each with a professional driver, and they travel as a convoy rather than setting off alone.
The route leaves the asphalt at an old Roman bridge, passes orange, lemon and pomegranate orchards and fields of cotton and sesame, runs by ancient Roman aqueducts and a panoramic viewpoint over Green Lake, breaks in Oymapınar village for a swim and freshly made Turkish pancakes with a drink, stops for photographs at Oymapınar Dam and above Green Canyon, and sits everybody down to the included lunch at a lakeside restaurant. Guiding runs in English, German and Russian alongside Turkish.
- EUR 20 per adult, EUR 10 per child aged 4-12, infants 0-3 free
- Eight hours, with hotel pickup and drop-off included
- Lunch at a lakeside restaurant, included in the price
- A swim stop at Oymapınar village, not a swim from a deck
- Open-top 4x4s, eight to ten guests, professional driver, convoy
What a sea boat day is instead, and why there are no prices for it here
A day on the sea is the flatter, slower shape of holiday. The horizon barely changes, the programme is measured in swim stops rather than in landscapes, and the shade, the food, the music and the queue for the ladder all happen inside the same few metres of deck. For some holidays that is exactly right. It is also the opposite of an off-road day: no dust, no stony tracks, no mountain village, no mountain air.
We do not sell a sea boat trip on this site, so there is no price, no duration and no inclusion list for one on this page, and we will not send you to an operator either. Comparing our own tour against a product we do not run would mean inventing the other half of the comparison, and this site does not do that.
You do not need a sea day to get in the water
If the hesitation is really about swimming, the jeep day answers it twice. There is the swim stop at Oymapınar village, and after the included lunch you are offered a one-hour boat trip on Green Lake for EUR 5 per person, paid on the day, which brings the day to EUR 25 per adult. That is fresh water between canyon walls rather than open sea, and the decision is made at the water, not in the booking form.
The hour is optional in the real sense: saying no costs nothing and changes nothing else in the programme. If you would like to weigh it up before you travel, we have a page on whether that extra hour on the lake is worth taking, and another showing what Green Canyon and the lake look like from above.
The night safari: a jeep and a catamaran in the same evening
Guests who genuinely want both do not have to spend two days on it. The night jeep safari is EUR 35 per person for five hours and includes the jeep drive with a professional driver, a catamaran cruise, dinner on board, music and entertainment, hotel pickup and drop-off, and a guide. It runs from early June to mid-November and is designed for guests aged 12 and over, so it is not the family answer.
It is the one tour on this site that puts a jeep and a catamaran in the same evening: the Manavgat Waterfall seen in the evening, a swim at Green Lake, and then the boat half of the night takes over. Pickup is in the late afternoon and the exact time at your hotel is confirmed after booking, because it differs from one hotel to the next.
- EUR 35 per person, five hours, ages 12 and over
- Catamaran cruise with dinner on board included
- Early June to mid-November only
- Guests do not drive the jeeps, and the tour is not suitable for people with mobility impairments
Which day suits which traveller
Most groups already know which way they lean; what they need is confirmation that the day will not fight them. These are the practical dividing lines, all of them things we can state about our own tours.
- Small children in the party: the full-day jeep safari takes children from four at EUR 10 and infants of 0 to 3 free, while the night safari is for ages 12 and over
- Anyone uneasy on open water: the only boat element in the jeep day is one optional hour on an inland lake, and nobody is obliged to take it
- Back or neck problems: the tracks are bumpy in places, so tell us before boarding — flat water may be the kinder day
- You want the view to keep changing: mountains, orchards, aqueducts, a dam and a canyon viewpoint in a single day
- You want to do nothing at all for a whole day: that is the sea day's strength, and it is not what we sell
Practical information before you book either
Reservation is free: nothing is paid online, no card is taken, and you pay in euros on the day of the tour. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before departure. Pickup for the full-day safari is in the morning, after breakfast time, the meeting point is the main entrance gate of your hotel, and the exact hotel time is confirmed after booking because it varies from hotel to hotel.
In summer the jeeps are open-top, so expect sun, wind and some dust, and expect water fights between the vehicles; winter departures use covered jeeps and no water games. The Manavgat Waterfall stop on the way back depends on the day's programme, and its entrance fee is paid on site, as are the mini zoo tickets during the village break and the Green Lake boat hour. If you are still choosing between activity types rather than between mountains and sea, see how the day compares with a quad, a buggy or the river.
- Free reservation, no prepayment, payment in euros on the day
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure
- Meeting point: the main entrance gate of your hotel
- Paid on site if you want them: the EUR 5 Green Lake hour, the waterfall entrance, the mini zoo
If you have more than one free day
None of this is exclusive. A week in Side has room for a mountain day and a sea day, and they do not really compete — they cover different halves of the same coast.
If there is only one free day and it has to satisfy everybody, the eight-hour jeep safari is the one that asks the least and returns the most different things: a driver doing the hard part, a swim stop, an included lunch, a landscape that changes all day, and an hour on the lake you can add or refuse when you get there.