Three things can happen on a wet morning
Only one of the three is a cancellation, and it is the least common of them. We look at the conditions on the route through the mountains, not at the sky above the beach, because the two can be telling entirely different stories.
- The tour runs as planned: the same eight hours, the same route, the same lunch included at the lakeside restaurant.
- The tour runs with a changed programme: a stop is swapped or dropped because conditions that day call for it.
- The tour does not run: we move your booking to another day of your holiday, or cancel it free of charge.
How you find out, and when
The principle here is the same one we apply to every booking: we confirm your pickup time after booking rather than publishing a fixed hour, because it varies from hotel to hotel, and a change on a wet morning reaches you by exactly the same route as your original arrangement did.
So nobody is left standing at the main entrance gate of their hotel guessing. If you want to hear it earlier, ask us the evening before.
What rain actually does to the tracks
It changes the character of the day rather than removing it. The dust that normally follows an open convoy along the mountain tracks is gone, and in its place there is mud, water standing in the ruts and softer ground under the wheels. The driving becomes slower and more deliberate; the drivers work these tracks all season and know them in both states.
In summer the jeeps are open-top, which is precisely why a shower is something you feel rather than something you watch through glass. In winter the convoy uses covered jeeps and there are no water fights between vehicles anyway, so rain changes less of the day than you would expect.
Some stops read differently when it is wet. The viewpoint over Green Lake and the viewpoint above Green Canyon can show you cloud where the photographs show you water. The swim stop at Oymapınar village becomes a colder proposition, and nobody is pushed into the water either way; the freshly made Turkish pancakes and a drink are there regardless. Lunch at the lakeside restaurant is included in the price whatever the sky is doing.
The parts we never promise, in any weather
One piece of the programme is conditional in every season, not only a wet one. The Manavgat Waterfall stop on the way back is programme-dependent, its entrance is paid on the spot, and we promise it in advance to nobody. The optional one-hour Green Lake boat trip is 5 EUR per person paid on the day, taking the day to 25 EUR per adult, and a wet afternoon is a perfectly good reason to leave it out. You decide on the spot.
None of that changes the shape of the day. The eight-hour Side jeep safari with lunch by the lake still runs the same route: the old Roman bridge where the asphalt ends, the orchards of orange, lemon and pomegranate, the Roman aqueducts, Oymapınar village, the dam and the canyon viewpoint, with a late-afternoon return to your hotel.
Where your money stands if the weather turns
This is the part that actually worries people, and it is the simplest part to answer. The reservation is free: there is no prepayment and no card is taken online, so there is nothing sitting with us that would need refunding. You pay in euros on the day of the tour, which means a tour that does not run is a tour you have not paid for.
You can cancel yourself free of charge up to 24 hours before departure. Inside that final day the decision is usually ours rather than yours: if we cannot run the departure safely, we move it or cancel it, and it still costs you nothing.
Moving a booking usually beats cancelling it, because most holidays have another day in them: send us the dates you have left and we will find a departure that fits.
Packing for a wet forecast
The list below is the wet-weather version of what to pack in the bag you take on the jeep. None of it is expensive, and all of it earns its place.
- A light waterproof layer that folds down small: the wind in an open jeep matters more than the rain itself.
- A full change of clothes for the drive home.
- Closed shoes with grip that you do not mind getting muddy.
- A sealed bag or pouch for your phone, money and documents.
- Swimwear and a towel anyway, because the swim stop stays on the itinerary and getting in is your decision.
- Something warm for the mountain part of the route, even in a summer month.
Are the tracks safe once they are wet?
The other thing a wet forecast raises is whether the tracks are safe when they are wet. The tour runs in 8 to 10 seat 4x4 vehicles with professional drivers, the convoy travels together rather than as scattered cars, and the policy fits in a single line: a departure we cannot run safely does not leave.
The roads are bumpy in places in any weather, and softer ground does not make them smoother. If anyone in your group has back or neck problems, say so before boarding rather than after the first stretch of track.
Rain and the other jeep days
A wet forecast lands on the other jeep days in exactly the same way, and their seasons only decide whether they are an option that week at all. The night safari runs from early June to mid-November: five hours at 35 EUR for guests aged 12 and over, with a late-afternoon pickup, dinner on board, a catamaran cruise with music and a swim at Green Lake. An evening built around a boat reads the weather the same way the day tour does: it runs, it changes, or it moves.
If you were thinking about water anyway, the seven-hour rafting and jeep combination from Side at 28 EUR per adult and 17 EUR per child is a day you finish wet whatever the sky does, with the jeep transfer, roughly 12 km of river in the Beşkonak stretch of Köprülü Canyon, all safety equipment and lunch. The nine-hour versions from Evrenseki, Kumköy and Manavgat are 40 EUR per adult and 24 EUR per child.
And if your hotel sits in the Alanya belt rather than around Side, the Dim River jeep safari answers a wet morning the same way: eight hours at 30 EUR per adult and 17 EUR per child aged 4 to 12, in season from April to November.
Deciding the night before
If you are still choosing dates rather than watching tomorrow's forecast, the question is which season suits your holiday, and that is a different decision from this one, answered in full by the season-by-season guide. This page is about one specific tomorrow.
For that, write to us with your date and your hotel area, and we will tell you how the convoy is running. Guiding on the tour is in English, German and Russian as well as Turkish, and so is the conversation before you book.