Day five: when the sunbed stops working
It is a real stage of a beach holiday and it arrives on schedule: somewhere around the middle of the week the sea is still beautiful, the book is finished, the shoulders have had all the sun they can take, and the sunbed starts to feel like furniture you are contractually obliged to lie on. Nobody plans for that moment, which is why it so often turns into an afternoon of scrolling.
The useful thing to know is that Side's holiday coast is a thin strip. Stand on the beach, turn your back to the sea, and everything in front of you — the wall of the Taurus Mountains, the farmland, the villages, two entirely different canyons — is countryside that plenty of visitors never touch. You do not need a new destination. You need a different direction.
Turn around: the mountains start behind the hotels
The foothills begin almost as soon as the resort streets end, and they are farming country first: orchards of orange, lemon and pomegranate, fields of cotton and sesame, Roman aqueducts standing in the middle of it all, and an old Roman bridge at the exact point where the asphalt gives out. Beyond it the tracks cross dry riverbeds and streams and climb between villages — there is even a chance of passing nomadic Yörük families in the foothills, though seeing them is luck, not a programme item.
The straightforward way in is the full-day jeep safari behind the resorts: eight hours in 4x4s carrying eight to ten guests each, with professional drivers at the wheel all day — guests never drive. It costs EUR 20 per adult and EUR 10 per child aged 4-12, infants aged 0-3 go free, and it includes hotel pickup, lunch, and a village stop with a swim and freshly made Turkish pancakes with a drink. The tracks are bumpy in places, so mention back or neck problems before boarding.
The emerald water you cannot see from the coast
The region's best-kept visual secret sits behind the Oymapınar dam: the Manavgat river backs up into a long reservoir known as Green Lake, with the flooded gorge of Green Canyon running along it. None of it is visible from the beach, which is exactly why a mid-week escape inland feels like changing countries. The jeep day takes in a panoramic viewpoint over the lake, a photo stop at the dam and a viewpoint above the canyon, and lunch at a lakeside restaurant is included in the price.
If looking at the water is not enough, an optional one-hour boat trip on Green Lake runs after lunch at EUR 5 per person, paid on the day, which brings the day to EUR 25 per adult. And if you want to know the destination in depth before you go, the emerald water hidden behind the Oymapınar dam has a full page of its own.
White water, for the properly restless
If the boredom has an edge of energy to it, the answer is not a viewpoint but a river. Köprülü Canyon lies further inland to the west — a different canyon on a different river, running water rather than a flooded gorge — and it is where the rafting happens. The seven-hour rafting and jeep combo from Side pairs the off-road drive with roughly 12 km of river through Köprülü Canyon near Beşkonak, with helmets, paddles, life jackets and lunch included, at EUR 28 per adult and EUR 17 per child.
Staying in Evrenseki, Kumköy or Manavgat? Each of those resorts has its own nine-hour rafting and jeep day at EUR 40 per adult and EUR 24 per child. The Kumköy departure runs 14 km of Grade II-III rapids on the Köprülü river and crosses the Roman-era Oluk bridge; all of them include the full safety kit and lunch.
The ancient town, saved for the evening
Side is one of the few resorts where the old town is genuinely old: the Roman town stands inside the peninsula, and wandering it in the evening costs nothing and asks nothing of sunburnt shoulders. It is the natural counterweight to an inland day — mountains while the light is high, columns after dark.
If you would rather have the evening organised for you, there is the five-hour night safari with dinner and a catamaran cruise at EUR 35, for guests aged 12 and over, running from early June to mid-November. Its route sees the Manavgat Waterfall in the evening and includes a swim at Green Lake, dinner on board, music and entertainment — a break from the hotel programme that does not involve a quiz.
Summer or winter: the inland day changes costume with the season
A beach day only works under one kind of sky; the mountain day is built for both halves of the year. In summer the jeeps run open-top and the convoy fights its water battles between vehicles — bring nothing you cannot get soaked. In winter the same day runs in covered jeeps and the water games stop.
If it is specifically the forecast that pushed you off the sunbed, what the jeep day looks like in rain — including when a departure has to be moved or called off — is answered honestly on its own page.
Deciding late, paying nothing today
Fifth-day plans are late plans, and the booking side is built for them: reservation is free, no prepayment is taken and no card details are asked for online. You pay in euros on the day of the tour, and cancellation is free up to 24 hours before departure, so a changed mind costs nothing. Hotel pickup and drop-off are included, the meeting point is the main entrance gate of your hotel, and the exact time is confirmed after booking.
This page is the escape hatch for one flat day. If you would rather see the whole holiday laid out — beach days, river days, mountain days, evenings — there is a full week in Side planned day by day on its own page. Prices here were last updated on 17 August 2026.