This is the version of the Taurus day built around the zoo stop: a stop up in the mountains where guests can have contact with a lion cub for photographs, with entry paid on site rather than included in the tour. Around it runs a full eight hours off-road — the Roman bridge where the asphalt ends, orchards and aqueducts, Green Lake from above, a swim and Turkish pancakes at Oymapınar, and lunch over Green Canyon. EUR 20 an adult, EUR 10 for children aged 4 to 12, hotel pickup and lunch included.
Two things are true of this day at once. It is a full eight hours of Taurus off-road, and it is the day with the zoo stop in it — a stop up in the mountains where guests can have contact with a lion cub for photographs. That stop is what the tour is named for, and for a lot of families it is the whole reason to take this day rather than another one.
Two things stated plainly before anything else. The park ticket is not part of the tour price and is paid on site. And what the park has out for visitors on any given day is the park's business rather than ours, so we describe the stop instead of promising you what you will find at it. If you would rather stay outside, nothing else about your day changes.
The day starts at the main entrance gate of your hotel in the morning, after breakfast time; pickup and drop-off across Side and the surrounding resort areas are in the price. From there it is a convoy of open-top 4x4s, eight to ten guests to a vehicle, each with a professional driver at the wheel, and eight hours before you are set down at the same gate.
Asphalt lasts as far as an old Roman bridge, and that is where the driving changes: dirt, gravel, dry riverbeds and stream crossings for the rest of the morning. What goes past the side of the jeep is working country rather than scenery laid on for visitors — orange, lemon and pomegranate orchards, cotton and sesame on the flat ground, Roman aqueducts left standing in the middle of somebody's field. Nomadic Yörük families move through these foothills and you may pass one, though nobody can promise it. Higher up the track opens onto a viewpoint over Green Lake.
The break is in Oymapınar village: a swim stop, and Turkish pancakes made fresh in front of you with a drink. And then the stop the tour is named for. Tickets are bought on site on the day, and inside it guests can have contact with a lion cub for photographs. It is the part parents film and the part children talk about at dinner for the rest of the week.
Past the village the route runs to the wall of Oymapınar Dam for photographs and on to the viewpoint above Green Canyon, where lunch is served at a lakeside restaurant and is already covered by what you paid. An hour on Green Lake by boat can be added afterwards for EUR 5 per person, paid on the day, which puts an adult's day at EUR 25 all in. It is optional and nobody is signed up to it in advance.
Open-top jeeps in summer mean sun, wind and dust on the tracks, plus water fights between the vehicles that are exactly as wet as they sound — a hat and something dry to keep a camera in are worth packing. Some programmes take in the Manavgat Waterfall on the way back, with the entrance paid there, but that depends on the day's programme and is never a fixed part of the route. You are back at your hotel in the late afternoon.
Adults EUR 20, children aged 4 to 12 EUR 10, infants under 4 free. Lunch, pickup and drop-off are in the price. The park ticket and the boat hour are not.
We collect from hotels in Side, Manavgat, Evrenseki, Kumköy. Travelling from somewhere else along the coast? Message us and we will tell you honestly whether we can reach you.
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Most booked If you want to leave the ordinary behind and embark on an unforgettable journey into the heart of nature, the Side rafting and jeep safari combo tour is…
When the beach empties and the heat finally lifts, the Side countryside comes alive. Climb into an open jeep with a professional driver at the wheel and roll out in convoy through villages and farmland as the sun sinks behind the hills — music playing, entertainment on the move and a few playful water fights along the way. Cool off with a swim in the clear water of Green Lake, then step aboard a catamaran where dinner is served on board and the deck turns into an open-air party under the evening sky. A stop at the Manavgat Waterfall in the cool night breeze rounds off the adventure before we drop you back at your hotel. Around five hours door to door, hotel pickup included. Reserve free of charge and pay on the tour day, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start.
Swap the beach for the high Taurus: an open-top 4x4 convoy winds out of Side past orange groves, a Roman bridge and ancient aqueducts to the emerald water of Green Canyon. Swim at Oymapınar, taste village-made pancakes, laugh through the summer water fights, then sit down to a lakeside lunch with canyon views. Full-day tour with hotel pickup across the Side area — professional drivers do the driving, you just hold on and enjoy. Reserve for free and pay on the day of the tour.