Top Side destinations and vacation advices
High quality Side Alanya attractions and vacation advices: Side Museum may be small but it offers a well curated collection, and it is worth popping in simply to have a look at the building itself. The museum is based in the town’s 2nd-century Roman bathhouse building, which was heavily restored during the 5th century. It sits just across the road from the main entrance into Side’s Roman theater site. Come here to view the exhibits of finely detailed statuary, sculpture, sarcophagi, and engraved stele, all of which was found locally at excavation sites within and around Side. The museum makes for a good rest stop after scrambling through the agora ruins and puffing your way up to the top tier of seating at the theater next door.
Our tour that we have organized bringing the Jeep safari and the rafting tour together takes you to the climax of adrenaline and enjoyment. While watching village life in the Taurus mountains in Jeeps on one side, see the wild nature along the Köprülü canyon river on the other side. Have a meal in a restaurant in the forest with a spectacular view on this tour lasting 8 hours. Don’t miss out on this adrenaline-filled activity organized for those who want to go on the Side Jeep safari and the rafting tour on the same day. The one-of-a-kind naturality of the Taurus mountains which is visited by thousands of people every year and the Köprülü canyon national park is waiting for you on this tour. We will pick you up in the morning from your hotel in the Side and Belek regions in 4×4 Jeeps. You will be able to see wildlife in its unique beauty as we begin our journey into the Taurus mountains.
Lonely Travel is a professional licensed travel agency in Alanya & Side. We organize travel tours services since 1997. We let our customers to save their time and money also providing them a high quality service. In our Travel Agency employees highly trained specialists that are licensed by the Ministry of Tourism of Turkey. We work 7 days a week to provide the best service to our guests. We organize more than 50 tours around Alanya and Side, each and every single excursion of ours is fully insured and maintained by our professional tour guides. Read even more info on Side Green Canyon Boat Tour.
Alanya Castle was built in 1221 by the Seljuk Sultan, Alaaddin Keykubat, who captured the city and had it rebuilt. You can take the cable car to go up to the castle. The cable car station is near Atatürk Park. You will need to walk uphill another 1 km to reach the entrance of the castle after exiting the cable car. İçkale (Inner castle) is the top sight up there. It’s an open air museum at the summit of the peninsula. Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman artifacts can be found in the inner castle. When you go to Alanya Castle by cable car, you will come across the Süleymaniye Mosque, a Seljuk work renovated during the Ottoman period. There is also a covered bazaar (bedesten) behind the mosque.
The Dim River weaves down the east side of Alanya from the Taurus Mountains. As well as nourishing an abundance of vegetation on its banks, the river is wonderfully cool, even during the fierce heat of the summer months. It’s a local family tradition to visit the river below the Dim Dam to paddle in its calmer stretches, come fishing and take a barbecue on the banks. And catering to the many day-trippers are dozens of restaurants, many with shaded terraces on little wooden jetties or even on pontoons floating on the water. Some of these river restaurants have pools, slides and diving boards on the river, and others will give you a fishing rod to catch your own trout. Upstream from Dim Dam you can go rafting on a 5.5-kilometre course, setting off from Akköprü, and with lots of places to stop for a picnic on the banks.
This sleek resort is squeezed against the Gulf of Antalya by the dark slopes of the Taurus Mountains. The scenery is defined by a 250-metre-high promontory, sticking out into the Mediterranean and fortified since time immemorial. In Alanya, your days will be spent lazing on an enticing beach and adventuring through those lofty castle ruins, which can be reached by a cable car that opened in 2017. This is one of a few projects that have helped turn Alanya into a 21st century beach resort. The city is also a jumping off point for scuba diving, cruises and trips into the Taurus Mountains where you can hike in canyons, explore caves and bathe in cool mountain streams.
For the travelers who overnight and have time to explore other sites around Ephesus, we recommend to visit the following sites. They are all nearby Ephesus. Some can be added to private Ephesus tour, some can be visited in a day trip from Kusadasi, Selcuk, Sirince or Izmir. All the below sites, are recommended for travelers who have been to Ephesus already. Ephesus is the main highlight of the area. Some of the sites can be combined with Private Ephesus Tours. For tour enquiries and/or questions please do not hesitate to contact us. For the travelers who will be staying in Kusadasi, Sirince or Selcuk, we offer 3 days tour of western Turkey tours.
Alanya is a worldwide center of attention with a large number of beach resorts. The İncekum region is sought by those who do not like the crowd of Alanya city center and want to have a relaxing holiday. Here, facilities are lined up along the beach like a set. Avsallar has a unique 10 km long sandy beach where you can find various forms of accommodation, from all inclusive hotels to boutique hotels and homestays. Konaklı and Türkler (Fuğla) are some of the places close to entertainment and are the liveliest spots in Alanya.
Trajan Fountain, M.S. It was built between the years 102-114 in the name of Roman Emperor Trajan and Artemis of Ephesus. The original architecture of the fountain, which has 2 floors, was later restored and rebuilt as a single-staired. Some of the sculptures in the fountain are exhibited today in the Ephesus Museum and some in the British Museum. The fountain used to be Rome’s most famous fountain, we also can see that within its architecture which includes lots of engravings on the columns. Find more information on www.sideexcursion.com.
When the Seljuk’s took control of this region in the 13th century, they built on the foundations of previous rulers. Much of the remaining building works still standing today in the castle area date from this period, when Alanya became a commercial hub. The lower castle area, nearest to the entrance gate, is known as the Ehmedek neighborhood. Wander the alleyways of red-roofed Ottoman-era houses and historical buildings here, then follow the winding lanes up to the Iç Kale (the castle’s inner fortress) for older Seljuk and Byzantine ruins plus views that soar across the sea, the coastal plateau, and the peaks of the Taurus Mountains beyond.
Oluk Bridge, Köprülü Canyon: Köprülü Canyon National Park is about 120 kilometers to the north of Alanya. It’s primarily known as one of the best places to visit in the region for rafting trips, which take place on the icy-blue river that winds through the canyon, but for more things to do, the area is also home to Roman ruins and plenty of hiking opportunities. Selge is the main Roman archaeological site in the area. The remnants of this once thriving city of 20,000 sit amid the lonely village of Altınkaya, 11 kilometers northwest of the canyon itself. The large Roman Theater, cut into the hillside and looming over the modern village houses, is well worth a visit here, despite the theater being partially destroyed. In the canyon itself, several tour companies run rafting trips along the Köprü River. The trips traverse the most scenic section of the river, heading under the Roman-built Oluk Bridge, which dates back to the 2nd century. The canyon is 14 kilometers long, with its walls soaring up to 400 meters high in places.