Three safaris from Side — and the question that picks yours
There are three products here and nothing else: the Buggy Safari, the Quad Safari and the Family Buggy Safari. All three run on the same private off-road course inland from the Side coast, with the same briefings, the same guide leading the convoy and the same showers at the end. What separates them is the vehicle you sit in and who is allowed to sit beside you.
The buggy is automatic — a wheel and pedals, nothing to shift and nothing to stall — and it carries a tubular frame around and over the seats that you climb into. The quad has handlebars and a thumb throttle. The Family Buggy Safari is the same buggy, booked so that a child aged 6–10 may ride as a passenger beside an adult driver, which the plain Buggy Safari does not allow. It is not a gentler route.
So the decision is about who is travelling with you, not which machine photographs better.
- Buggy Safari — €30 per person, adult places only (11 and over)
- Quad Safari — €25 per adult (11+) · €15 per child aged 6–10, riding as a passenger
- Family Buggy Safari — €30 per adult (11+) · €18 per child aged 6–10; at least one adult and at least one child in the booking
What the three safaris cost
Prices are per person, in euros, and the departure you choose does not change them: the 08:00, the 11:00 and the 13:00 safari cost the same. No booking fee, no card fee, nothing crossed out.
Everyone aged 11 and over pays the adult fare, whether they drive or ride along. The child fare exists only for a passenger aged 6–10, and only on the two products that carry passengers that young.
The form shows your total again before you send it, and the booking system recalculates that total from its own price rows — so the figure on the page is a preview, never an invoice.
Who may drive, and who rides along
Drivers are 16 or older and bring ID, which the base checks as proof of age. No driving licence is required: the safari runs on a private off-road course, not on public roads. What is required instead is that age with ID, the three briefings, the practice drive, and the guide's assessment at the end of it.
The assessment belongs to the guide and is not a negotiation. Someone who is not in control does not lead a buggy onto forest tracks with a group behind them; their day carries on as a passenger on the same route, in the same helmet, at the same adult fare.
Children have their own bracket. From 11 a young guest pays the adult fare and may take the wheel from 16. A child aged 6–10 rides as a passenger beside an adult — on the Quad Safari and the Family Buggy Safari only, and the family safari needs at least one child of that age in the booking. Children under 6 cannot take part on any of the three.
The day is approximately 4–4.5 hours; the drive is 18 km
Two numbers, worth keeping apart while you plan the rest of the day. Door to door, hotel to hotel, the programme takes approximately 4–4.5 hours. The off-road driving inside it is an 18 km route.
The difference is not padding: the transfer out and back, arrival and registration, three briefings, the practice drive, breaks on the route, and the showers and changing cabins that let you travel home clean rather than caked in dust.
The driving itself is forest tracks and dirt roads, dust, mud, uneven ground, small stream crossings and water-splash stops. How long the 18 km takes depends on the group, the weather and the season, so we promise no exact minutes — the route is given as a distance, not a time. We print no distance between your hotel and the base: that has not been measured. Old clothes, dark colours rather than white, closed shoes instead of flip-flops.
The transfer, and the nine pickup zones
The round-trip hotel transfer sits inside all three fares: hotel → activity base → the same hotel afterwards. No meeting point to find, nothing to pay for it at the base, no charge for the return leg.
It serves nine resort zones along the Side coast. On the form you choose your zone first, then type your hotel name — the form suggests hotels from that zone as you type.
- Side
- Kumköy
- Evrenseki
- Çolaklı
- Titreyengöl
- Sorgun
- Kızılağaç
- Gündoğdu
- Kızılot
Three departures, and why your date may show fewer
In season the safari departs three times a day: 08:00, 11:00 and 13:00 — morning, late morning and afternoon. Each is the time the activity starts at the base.
None of them is a hotel pickup time. Your transfer reaches you earlier, because it collects several hotels along its route before arriving at the base, and how much earlier depends on your hotel, your zone and that day's route. That is why no pickup time is printed anywhere on this site: one figure would be wrong for most hotels. Yours is confirmed with your booking.
The calendar is live. It asks the booking system which departures actually run on your date and shows only those, so a date in the shoulder season may offer two, or one. A slot that is not running is never displayed — a thinner calendar is the system telling you the truth.
Hotel outside the nine zones, in Manavgat town or further along the coast? Message us on WhatsApp before booking and tell us where you are staying — an honest yes or no beats a surprise on the morning.
The eight steps at the base
The three briefings and the practice drive in the middle of this list are what make the safari bookable with no off-road experience at all: you are told what you are about to do, shown the vehicle you will do it in, then you drive it under supervision before anyone reaches the forest tracks — and the practice drive has a page of its own if you want that part in detail. On every departure the order is the same:
- Arrival at the private off-road course
- Registration — drivers show ID as proof of age
- Information briefing — vehicle, controls, route, group organisation, rules, what to expect
- Safety briefing — following the guide, safe distance, overtaking and stopping rules, speed, emergency procedures
- Vehicle briefing — your own buggy or quad, at the wheel or the handlebars
- Practice drive — supervised, on the practice track
- Guide assessment — who drives the main safari
- Main off-road safari — the 18 km route behind the guide
What is included in every fare
The fare covers the day, not the vehicle alone. Nobody skips a step above either — not the guest who rides a quad at home, not the group that arrived last.
- Round-trip hotel transfer
- Your buggy or quad for the safari
- Helmet, worn for the whole safari
- Information briefing and safety briefing
- Vehicle briefing and practice drive
- Professional guidance on the route
- Insurance, where applicable under the operating policy
- Changing cabins and showers at the base
Extras, booking in six steps, and paying on the day
Four things sit outside the fare and all four are paid at the base: goggles and a bandana (optional, useful against the dust, bring your own if you have them), food and drinks, and photos or video by the base team. We publish no prices for those — the base sets them. Two facilities there are confirmed and that is the whole list: changing cabins and showers, both included. Lockers and a safe are not on it, so leave valuables in the hotel safe.
The form runs in six short steps: safari, date and departure, who is coming, hotel and pickup zone, your details, then a review screen with the total before you confirm. Dates open from tomorrow — there are no same-day bookings — and each departure has room for 40, counted across every booking on that date, so a large group is better sent to WhatsApp first. The counters are headcounts rather than an age check; the ages themselves are confirmed at the base.
No card is taken on this site and no payment is processed here: you book, you get the confirmation with your pickup time, and you pay on the day of the tour. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before your departure.
Anything still open — a hotel outside the zones, a health question, a group splitting between quads and buggies — goes to WhatsApp, or to the page that owns it: the price list, the hotel transfer, the departure times, the practice drive, what to wear and the family rules each have a page of their own.