Turkey · Mediterranean · Travel guide
What a week in Side costs, how to combine antiquity and beach in a single day and which excursions from the resort are really worth it.
Photo: Miraç Deniz Kaya / Pexels
Adjust the values to your trip: the calculator updates live (EUR, converted from CHF estimates).
Estimates for orientation, not booking prices. Flights and hotels vary strongly by season: current prices are behind the links below.
Money & payment: You pay in Turkish lira (TRY). The exchange rate moves a lot, which is why all prices here are given in francs and euros. Cards are accepted almost everywhere; you need cash for the dolmuş, markets and tips. Flight time: 3 to 4 hours.
Nine options in three price ranges, each among the best-rated on Booking.com.
Budget
Small hotel in the old town right on the east beach, with a garden full of ancient stones, a bar and a view of the sea. The rooms are simple, some with balconies, and the hosts have run the place for decades. The theatre and temple are five minutes away. Ideal for travellers who want to experience Side without a resort and without a buffet.
Small hotel on the edge of the old town, around 600 metres from the theatre and museum, with the beach also within walking distance. Rooms have a balcony, air conditioning and a fridge; 24-hour reception and parking. With more than 500 reviews it is one of the most reliable cheap options in Side, praised for location, cleanliness and friendly staff.
Small hotel on the edge of the old town with a pool, bar and rooms with balconies. The west beach and the centre are a few minutes on foot, and the dolmuş stop is around the corner. Plain, clean and quietly located, ideal for anyone who wants beach and ruins within walking distance and can happily do without buffet and entertainment.
Mid-range
Five-star resort in Kumköy with all-inclusive, its own beach, pools, slides and spa, around three kilometres from the old town. Well rated for food and service, and the dolmuş stops outside the door. The rooms are spacious, many with sea views. A solid choice for families who want resort comfort close to town.
Five-star all-inclusive resort in Kumköy with pools, spa and a kids area, around ten minutes by dolmuş from the old town. Guests praise the food, cleanliness and staff, but criticise the short meal times and the walk to the beach, which is not directly at the hotel. Solid rather than luxurious, for families who want a reliable package close to town.
Large family resort in Kumköy with all-inclusive, its own beach, several pools and slides. Regularly praised for food and cleanliness, the staff are multilingual and used to guests from across Europe. For families who want a whole week without organising anything and still want to be in the old town quickly.
Luxury
Five-star resort on the east beach of Side, a good kilometre from the old town, with its own beach, pine park, large spa and ultra-all-inclusive. Barut is a Turkish hotel group with a very good reputation, and the kitchen is considered one of the best in Side. The old town is reachable on foot along the beach or by dolmuş.
The rare combination of luxury resort and old-town location: pools, private beach, spa and all-inclusive, and still on foot to the theatre and the harbour. The rooms are large and well kept, the service is excellent and the breakfast generous. For anyone who wants both, resort and antiquity, without getting on a bus every day.
Luxury resort in the pine forest of Sorgun with several restaurants, pools, spa, its own beach and ultra-all-inclusive. Very good reviews for food, childcare and the generous grounds, where you hardly notice the other guests. The old town is ten minutes away by dolmuş or taxi, and the beach is one of the most beautiful in Side.
If you book through these links we earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
The 15,000-seat theatre in the middle of town, plus the Temple of Apollo at the harbour at sunset and the museum in the old baths. With a guide you understand how Side went from slave market to rich Roman city. Allow two to three hours.
The best-preserved Roman theatre in the world and the colonnaded streets of Perge in one day, often combined with the Aspendos aqueduct. A guide is worth it, and the drive takes around 45 minutes each way. Start in the morning, at midday the stones are hot.
White water through the gorge in the Taurus mountains, rapids suitable for beginners, children from six can join. Includes transfer, equipment, guide and lunch by the river. The water is ice-cold even in summer, bring water shoes or old trainers.
From the town of Manavgat down the river to its mouth, with a swimming stop at the sandbank where river and sea meet and the water has two colours. A relaxed half day with lunch on board, suitable for children and older travellers too.
The wide but low waterfall with its tea garden and the big Monday market with spices, cheese, fruit and textiles. Independently by dolmuş it is cheaper than the organised tour, and you have time to eat in Manavgat.
Boat tour on the emerald-green reservoir in the Taurus mountains with swimming stops, views of the rock walls and lunch on board. Around 20 kilometres inland, with transfers from all hotels in Side. A calm alternative to the pirate ships on the sea.
Dusty tracks, mountain villages, a swimming stop at the river and lunch under plane trees. Fun for families and groups, with water fights between the jeeps. Bring sunscreen, sunglasses and a scarf for your mouth, your clothes will get dirty.
The old town of Kaleiçi with its harbour, Ottoman houses and Hadrian's Gate, plus the lower Düden waterfall, which plunges straight off the cliff into the sea. Around an hour's drive from Side, easy to do as a tour or independently by bus.
If you book through these links we earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
Side cooks for resort guests and for locals, rarely for both at the same table. On the harbour with a temple view you pay for the backdrop; in the lanes behind the main street and above all in Manavgat you eat meze, grilled meat and piyaz at prices that match the rest of Turkey.
Haydari, acılı ezme, aubergine salad, yaprak sarma and fava, chosen from the counter. CHF 2.50 to 4 (about EUR 2.70 to 4.30) per bowl, a table with six meze CHF 15 to 20. The counters in the old town are often richer than the menus.
Tip:Walk to the counter with the waiter, then choose; meze with grilled meat is cheaper than with fish.
Charcoal-grilled meat with bulgur, onion-sumac salad and lavaş. A mixed grill plate CHF 12 to 18 (about EUR 13 to 19) in Side, CHF 8 to 12 in Manavgat. The meat here is more reliable than the fish.
Tip:Sit at the ocakbaşı right by the grill and watch; order the Adana spicy if you like it, otherwise it is toned down.
White beans with tahini sauce, lemon, parsley and egg, the side dish of the Antalya region. CHF 2 to 3 (about EUR 2 to 3.20) as a side, CHF 8 to 10 together with köfte.
Tip:Order it with köfte and mop it up with bread, that is how people eat it here.
Flatbreads baked fresh on the sac griddle with cheese, spinach or potato, with ayran. CHF 2 to 3 (about EUR 2 to 3.20) each, the cheapest meal on the whole coast.
Tip:Take the dolmuş on Thursday morning, eat before noon and buy spices, cheese and olives; from 2 p.m. they pack up.
Stone-oven pide with cheese or minced meat for CHF 5 to 8 (about EUR 5 to 8.50), lahmacun rolled with lemon and parsley for CHF 2 to 3. With ayran a lunch for under CHF 10.
Tip:Eat at lunchtime when the ovens are running; lahmacun is ordered two or three per person.
Grilled sea bream or sea bass, with salad and meze, on the harbour below the Temple of Apollo. CHF 20 to 30 (about EUR 21 to 32) per dish, without drinks. You pay for the view here, not for top quality.
Tip:Once at sunset, but have the price per portion confirmed before ordering, do not guess per kilo.
Hot cheese dessert made from kadayıf pastry with syrup and pistachios, meant for two, usually eaten alone. CHF 4 to 6 (about EUR 4.30 to 6.50) in Side, CHF 3 in Manavgat.
Tip:Always order it fresh from the pan, with Turkish coffee or tea, that is the end of the evening.
Pomegranate or orange juice from the presses at the roadside, in autumn and winter with pomegranates from the region. A glass CHF 1.50 to 3 (about EUR 1.60 to 3.20), on the harbour also CHF 4.
Tip:Watch it being pressed and order without sugar, the juice does not need any.
Side was founded in the 7th century BC by Greek settlers from Kyme; the name means pomegranate in the old Anatolian language. The city on the small peninsula had a sheltered harbour and grew rich: first through trade, then in the 2nd century BC as a centre of the slave trade, in league with the pirates of Alanya. Under the Romans Side had its golden age, with more than 20,000 inhabitants, a theatre for 15,000 spectators, an agora, baths, an aqueduct and the Temple of Apollo at the harbour. Arab raids, earthquakes and the silting up of the harbour sent the city into decline from the 7th century, and by the 10th century it was abandoned. Only at the end of the 19th century did Turkish Muslims from Crete settle among the ruins and found the village of Selimiye. Excavations began in 1947, tourism in the 1960s, when the fishing village with its ruins became a destination for artists and dropouts. Today the old town is protected, while the rest of the coast between Kumköy and Kızılağaç is built up with hotels. The ancient city and the modern village are still one and the same place.
Side has two faces. The old town on the peninsula with guesthouses, ruins, harbour and restaurants, and the hotel zone with dozens of five-star resorts stretching over 20 kilometres of coast from Kumköy in the west to Kızılağaç in the east. The resorts offer all-inclusive, pools, water parks and kids' clubs for CHF 100 to 250 (about EUR 107 to 268) per night for two people, often cheaper than a package holiday. The catch: from many of them you need 20 to 40 minutes by dolmuş to reach the old town. In the old town itself there are small hotels and guesthouses for CHF 50 to 90 with breakfast, in the evening you are right in the middle of things, and the beaches are within walking distance. Our rule of thumb: with small children, a resort, ideally in Sorgun or Kumköy close to the old town. Without children, or with an interest in antiquity, the old town or a resort within walking distance such as in Sorgun.
The theatre of Side held 15,000 people and stands in the middle of town, right next to the car park where the dolmuş buses stop. It is among the best preserved in Turkey, entry around CHF 12 (about EUR 13), cheaper with the museum pass. Come in the morning before ten or shortly before closing and you have the upper tiers almost to yourself. The Temple of Apollo at the harbour end of the peninsula is free and the photo motif of the town: five re-erected columns right by the water, full of photographers and wedding couples at sunset. The museum in the old baths opposite the theatre is small but good, with sarcophagi and statues, around CHF 8. The main lane from the city gate to the harbour is a mix of colonnaded street and souvenir strip, and the ruins of the agora and the bishop's palace in between cost nothing and are often deserted.
Side has two town beaches. The west beach (Batı Plajı) is long, sandy, shallow and full of sunbeds belonging to hotels and beach bars; a sunbed and umbrella cost around CHF 5 to 8 (about EUR 5 to 9). The east beach (Doğu Plajı) behind the theatre is wilder, with less infrastructure but dunes and more space, and you swim with a view of the Temple of Apollo. The resort beaches in Kumköy, Çolaklı and Sorgun are reserved for hotel guests, but the beach itself is public in Turkey, only the sunbeds belong to the hotels. Sorgun has pine forest down to the water and fine sand, Kızılağaç is quieter. The water is above 24 degrees from June to October, and the entry is shallow and child-friendly almost everywhere. In high summer the sand is too hot to walk on barefoot at midday. If you want to snorkel, Side is the wrong place, the seabed is sand without rocks. In return the sea is usually calm.
Manavgat is the real town behind Side, ten minutes by dolmuş. The Manavgat waterfall is wide but only around two metres high, more a rapid than a waterfall, and the entry fee of around CHF 3 (about EUR 3) is fair for the tea garden in front of it. Do not expect Niagara. More rewarding is the boat trip on the river from Manavgat down to the sea, with a swimming stop at the sandbank where fresh and salt water meet, around CHF 15 to 25 with lunch. The Monday market in Manavgat is one of the biggest in the region: spices, textiles, cheese, fruit, fake branded clothing and bananas from the Taurus. There is a smaller market on Thursdays. Here you eat for CHF 5 to 8, pide and köfte, and see the everyday life that is barely visible in Side itself. Be wary of the organised excursions that tick off waterfall, mosque and market in three hours: by dolmuş you can do it independently and more cheaply.
Aspendos, around 35 kilometres to the west, has the best-preserved Roman theatre in the world: 15,000 seats, the stage wall stands complete, and the acoustics still work today. Entry around CHF 15 (about EUR 16), get there by taxi or as part of a tour, as dolmuş connections are awkward. Two hours are enough, combine it with Perge or the aqueduct behind it. The Köprülü Canyon lies around 60 kilometres north in the Taurus mountains and is the rafting centre of Turkey: 14 kilometres through the gorge on the Köprüçay river, class two to three rapids, no experience needed, children from six can join. From Side the day costs around CHF 30 to 45 including transfer, equipment and lunch. The water is ice-cold, a neoprene jacket is provided. There is also a Roman bridge in the canyon that is still in use. With a rental car both excursions can be combined in one day, with a tour they cannot.
If you have all-inclusive, you will mostly eat at the hotel. Still, at least two evenings in the old town are worth it. The restaurants at the harbour with a view of the temple charge CHF 20 to 30 (about EUR 21 to 32) per dish and are often only mediocre. Better are the places in the lanes behind the main street, or straight away in Manavgat, where you eat for CHF 8 to 12. Fish is not cheap on this coast, grilled meat, meze and pide are. A beer costs CHF 3 to 5, cocktails at the harbour CHF 8 to 12. Side has many restaurants with German-speaking staff, which is convenient but no mark of quality. The bazaar in the old town sells leather goods, spices and fakes; always haggle, the starting price is roughly double the target. Tap water is not recommended for drinking, bottles cost little in the shop and five times as much at the hotel bar.
A week is the right measure: three to four beach days, one day in the old town with the theatre and temple, one day in Manavgat, one excursion to Aspendos or the rafting. With two weeks, combining it with Antalya, Alanya or a detour to Cappadocia is worthwhile.
May, June, September and October: 25 to 32 degrees, warm water, resorts cheaper and less crowded. July and August are hot at up to 40 degrees and the main season for families from Europe. April and November are pleasant for ruins and excursions, but the sea is still or already fresh then, and many resorts close over the winter.
Direct to Antalya (AYT) from Zurich and most major European cities, around three hours from Central Europe with Edelweiss, Turkish Airlines, SunExpress or Pegasus. From Antalya it is 65 kilometres, transfer around one hour. The Havaş bus to Manavgat costs around CHF 8 (about EUR 9), a private transfer CHF 40 to 60, and many resorts offer the transfer.
Side is one of the most child-friendly destinations in Turkey: shallow sandy beaches, resorts with water parks and kids' clubs, rafting from the age of six, a boat trip on the Manavgat river and a theatre where children are allowed to climb around. Many hotels have multilingual staff.
Yes, absolutely. The dolmuş from all the hotel zones runs to the theatre for around CHF 1 to 2 (about EUR 1 to 2), in the evening too. Theatre, temple, harbour and lanes can be seen in three to four hours. Most beautiful in the late afternoon through to sunset at the Temple of Apollo, followed by dinner in the old town.
Yes. The rafting in the Köprülü Canyon is designed for beginners, the rapids are moderate and every boat has a guide. Children from around six can join, being able to swim is mandatory, and a life jacket and helmet are provided. Bring water shoes or old trainers, the water is cold even in summer.
Direct flights from Zurich, turquoise water, a 2,000-year-old old town, and far more than the all-inclusive resort most people book.
Turquoise lagoons, ancient Lycian rock tombs and one of the wildest gorges in Turkey: Fethiye is more than the most famous paragliding spot in the country.
What a week in the most relaxed town on the Turkish Mediterranean costs, why no package-tour buses stop here and which experiences are really worth it.
What a week in Alanya really costs, why the castle and the Dim River are more than a resort add-on and how to combine all-inclusive and city cleverly.
