Side Boat Trips

Side · old town & centre

Dolphin Watching Cruise from Side

Quick answer

Staying in the old town puts you last on the Dolphin Watching Cruise round: pickup reaches the centre after every coastal resort, so breakfast is unhurried and the walk to your hotel door is all the travelling you do before the boat. The classic Side day at sea: cruise the Manavgat river, take a long swim stop where river and sea meet, then more swims offshore with lunch served on board. Pickup 08:30–09:25, back at your hotel around 17:30. Booking is confirmed instantly, you pay on the boat on the day, and cancellation is free up to 24 hours before.

Dolphin Watching Cruise from Side

Your pickup from Side

Guests in the centre are collected last, once the coastal hotels are aboard. You are met at your hotel entrance rather than at the harbour, which matters here — the streets inside the walls are pedestrian, and the minibus comes to the nearest point it can reach. The return, in the afternoon or evening, works the same way.

  • Meeting point is usually your hotel's main entrance or security gate.
  • Your exact pickup time is confirmed the day before the tour.

What Side is like

This is a working resort built inside a Roman city: a peninsula about a kilometre long and four hundred metres across, with the tour harbour at its southern tip and the Temple of Apollo standing on the waterfront beside it. The theatre and the museum in the old Agora bath are a walk from most hotels, so a day on the water begins and ends on foot.

About the Dolphin Watching Cruise

A full day on the water without the guesswork: morning pickup, a gentle river cruise, one long swim stop where the Manavgat meets the Mediterranean, and lunch served on deck. Turtles sunbathe on the branches along the river — and on lucky days dolphins show up offshore.

Tour programme

  1. 08:30–09:25 — pickup from your hotel
  2. Slow cruise down the Manavgat river, turtle spotting on the way
  3. About 1.5 hours of swimming and free time where river and sea meet — cool fresh water on one side, warm sea on the other
  4. Further swim stops offshore; lunch and the foam party on board
  5. 16:30–17:00 — arrival back at the harbour
  6. ~17:30 — drop-off at your hotel

Water sports at the beach stop (jet ski and similar) are optional and paid on the spot.

Your booking is confirmed instantly, you pay on board on the day, and cancellation is free up to 24 hours before departure.

Included

  • Life jackets for all ages
  • Professional guide
  • Foam party
  • Lunch on board
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off

Frequently asked

What time is hotel pickup from Side?

Last of all. The round finishes in the centre, so the old-town hotels are the final collection before the boats leave and you have the longest morning of anyone on the coast. The exact time depends on the day's route and is confirmed with you the evening before.

Where do the boats depart from?

It depends on the boat. Coastal trips sail from the harbour at the tip of the peninsula, a short walk down the main street; river cruises leave from a pier on the lower Manavgat river instead, and the included transfer covers that leg. Your confirmation names the point your boat uses.

Do I pay in advance?

No. Booking is confirmed instantly and you pay on the boat on the day, in cash or by card. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before.

What time does the tour start?

Hotel pickup runs between 08:30 and 09:25; the boat then sets off down the Manavgat river in the morning.

How long does it last?

About 5–6 hours on the boat; with transfers you are back at your hotel around 17:30. In midsummer the day can run slightly longer.

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