A nine-hour escape inland from Alanya: coach up to the Oymapınar reservoir, then a slow cruise between pine-covered canyon walls with an open-buffet lunch and swims in genuinely cold spring water.
Quick answer
A nine-hour escape inland from Alanya: coach up to the Oymapınar reservoir, then a slow cruise between pine-covered canyon walls with an open-buffet lunch and swims in genuinely cold spring water.
Green Canyon is not a sea trip — and that is exactly the point. An air-conditioned coach collects you from your hotel in Alanya or Avsallar and climbs into the Taurus foothills, where the dam at Oymapınar holds back a lake of improbable emerald green. That colour alone justifies the space on your camera roll.
On the water the programme is pleasingly simple: cruise, look up at pine-clad cliffs, stop, swim, repeat. The lake is fed by mountain springs, so the swim stops are a genuine jolt — properly cold, wonderfully clean, and exactly what an overheated body wants. Along the route you pass the trout-farm springs, where fish are easy to spot in the clear headwaters of the Manavgat River.
A local guide travels with the group, travel insurance is included, and lunch arrives as an open buffet served on deck mid-cruise. One honest note: drinks — even bottled water — are sold separately, so carry a little cash. After roughly nine hours you are back at your hotel door.
It is a flooded gorge behind the Oymapınar Dam — a freshwater reservoir ringed by the Taurus Mountains, not a bay. That is why the water glows such a deep emerald and why you swim in pure spring water without a trace of salt.
Pack a swimsuit, towel, sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses. The day demands no fitness at all, which makes it as good for families with kids as for couples who just want scenery.
We collect from hotels in Alanya Center, Oba, Okurcalar, Konaklı, Avsallar, Türkler, Mahmutlar, Kargıcak, Incekum, Kestel. Staying somewhere else along the coast? Message us and we will tell you honestly whether we can reach you.
Questions
Most booked Not a sea trip at all — from your Side hotel you head inland to the emerald Oymapınar reservoir, where a music-free catamaran cruises the canyons with lunch and two cool-water swim stops.
Most booked Leave the Belek shoreline behind for a full day afloat on Green Canyon, where the boat threads between pine-covered cliffs, anchors in cool turquoise coves and serves lunch straight off the grill.
Most booked A mountain lake within easy reach of your Side-area sunbed: cruise the emerald Oymapınar reservoir for seven hours with swim stops, a grilled lunch on deck and pickup right from Kumköy.