Altınbeşik Cave & Ormana Village Tour from Side: Boat Ride on Turkey's Largest Underground Lake

Swap the beach for the Taurus Mountains on a Monday or Thursday day trip from Side. Glide by boat across the underground lake of Altınbeşik Cave — Turkey's largest underwater cave and the heart of its only cave national park — then wander Ormana's Seljuk-era button houses, built without mortar, and sit down to a traditional village lunch. Hotel pickup, guide and lunch included; free cancellation up to 48 hours before departure.

Some of the Turkish Riviera's finest scenery is nowhere near the coast — it hides deep in the Taurus Mountains behind Side. Running on Mondays and Thursdays, this full-day excursion collects you from your hotel in the morning, once breakfast is done, and climbs into a world of pine forests, canyon panoramas and villages where time still moves at walking pace. At a viewpoint around 1,200 metres up, the terrain opens over Green Canyon, Green Lake and the Manavgat plain — cameras ready. Along the way, watch for free-roaming Yılkı horses and the traces of Yörük nomad culture that still shape these highlands.

The headline act is Altınbeşik Cave, centrepiece of Turkey's first and only cave national park. Regarded as the country's largest underwater cave and the third largest in Europe, this three-level cavern conceals a crystal-clear underground lake. You board a small boat for a ride of roughly fifteen to twenty minutes, drifting beneath stalactites, stalagmites and rock curtains sculpted over millennia. Boat access depends on the natural water level: reliable through the warm months, occasionally suspended after heavy winter rain. There is no swimming inside the cave — this one is about silence and light on water.

Back in the daylight, the pace slows in Ormana, a village rooted in Seljuk history and famous for its 'button houses' — homes raised without mortar from interlocking cedar beams and stone. Stroll the lanes, peek into the historic mosque, then settle in for a traditional lunch at a local village restaurant before the easy drive back to Side.

Reservation is free: you pay on the tour day and can cancel at no charge up to 48 hours before departure. Cave entrance and boat tickets are purchased separately on site.