Altınbeşik Cave & Ormana Village – Boat Ride on an Underground Lake

On a July afternoon the coast can touch 40°C; inside Altınbeşik Cave it is 16°C all year round. That contrast is part of the charm of this trip into the Taurus Mountains behind Side and Manavgat, where pine forests, stone villages and a hidden lake replace the beach for a day.

Above the Green Canyon

The road climbs steadily from the coast, and the first stop is a viewpoint high over the Green Canyon, where the turquoise reservoir winds between steep, wooded walls. It is the best place of the day for a panorama photo.

Ormana, the village of button houses

Ormana is known for more than 300 traditional houses built in an old local technique: layers of stone are locked together with timber beams, and the round beam-ends dotting the walls look like buttons – hence the name. Your licensed guide leads you through the narrow lanes and into the village’s Ottoman mosque, some 600 years old; please dress modestly. Lunch follows in the shade of the pines: chicken skewers or oven-baked trout with salad.

By boat into Altınbeşik Cave

A short drive brings you to the national park and the mouth of Altınbeşik Cave. Here you climb into an inflatable boat and glide across Turkey’s largest underground lake, its water a deep emerald green, through a three-level cave hung with stalactites and studded with stalagmites. Afterwards there is time for photos around the entrance before the drive home.

Practical points

The tour runs on Mondays and Thursdays. Pickup in Side and Manavgat is at about 08:30 – guests in the Alanya area are collected earlier – and you are back at about 17:00. Bring a light jacket for the cave, shoes with good grip for the damp paths and clothes suitable for the mosque. Transport, the guide, the boat ride, lunch and insurance are included; drinks and photos are not. Adults pay €50, children aged 3–11 €30 and under-3s nothing. To see the canyon from the water, add the Green Canyon boat trip; for Roman ruins, choose Aspendos and Side.