Green Canyon Boat Trip Side

The Oymapınar Dam, completed in 1984, drowned a limestone gorge and created a reservoir whose depth reaches ninety metres in places. What locals call Green Canyon stretches fourteen kilometres along the reservoir's flooded valley, its name borrowed from the mineral-tinted water that mirrors the Taurus pine forests clinging to vertical canyon walls. The dam supplies hydroelectric power to the Manavgat district, but its accidental byproduct — a navigable ribbon of water threading between cliffs — has become the most visited natural site within an hour of Side. Tour operators began running green canyon boat trip side departures in the late 1990s, initially as extensions of existing jeep safari routes through the Taurus foothills. The standard itinerary pairs an off-road ascent through almond and citrus groves with a two-hour cruise on the reservoir, departing from a concrete jetty near the dam wall. Five main tour formats operate from Side hotels: boat-only cruises with lakeside lunch, combined jeep-and-boat safaris, and full-day packages that add swimming stops at secluded coves. All green canyon boat trip side tours include hotel transfers, onboard lunch, and a swimming break at the reservoir's widest point, where the water depth drops to thirty metres and the canyon walls recede to gentle slopes. The reservoir's water temperature holds steady at eighteen degrees Celsius year-round, fed by subterranean springs and snowmelt from the Taurus range. Boat captains navigate a fixed route: west from the dam toward the submerged village of Oymapınar, then north into the narrowest section where the canyon walls rise seventy metres above the waterline. The turquoise hue intensifies in the narrows, where dissolved limestone particles refract sunlight. Tour operators serve grilled chicken or trout at wooden platforms built into the north shore, beneath centuries-old pines. Return journeys pass fish farms anchored in the reservoir's eastern basin, where rainbow trout are raised for Antalya's coastal restaurants.