Green Lake (Yeşilgöl) and Gölbaşı Restaurant: the lakeside end of the Green Canyon day

Green Lake is where a Green Canyon day actually starts and ends, and it is worth understanding on its own terms. The famous gorge is upstream; the lake is the open, jade-coloured basin behind the Oymapınar dam where the boats tie up, where you swim, and where lunch happens. Most people see it only from a tour bus window on the way to the jetty. It deserves better than that.

What it is

The Manavgat river backs up behind the dam into a long reservoir. Its lower reach, about 12 km upstream of Manavgat Waterfall, is the part locals call Yeşilgöl — Green Lake. Bare limestone hills come straight down to the water, a handful of restaurants sit on the shore on stilts and pontoons, and the colour is exactly as improbable in person as in the photographs.

Beyond the lake the hills close in and the reservoir becomes Green Canyon, 14 km of gorge that you can only see from the water. The two are one body of water with two characters: open and sociable at the lake, closed and quiet in the canyon.

Gölbaşı Restaurant

Of the restaurants on the shore, the one we know best is Gölbaşı Restaurant — and in the interest of being straight with you, the owners are friends of ours and it is where our jeep tours stop for lunch. Take the recommendation with that in mind.

What it is: a terrace over the water with a full village breakfast — bread, cheeses, olives, honey, eggs, the whole spread — served until 12:30, then grilled fish, chicken and köfte through the afternoon. Below the terrace there is a swimming area, a diving platform and a water slide, and you can hire canoes, paddleboards and jet skis by the hour. It is open 09:00 to 17:00 daily in season.

It is the kind of place that works for a mixed group: the swimmers swim, the non-swimmers sit under the awning with tea, and nobody has to agree on anything.

Which of our days come here

Only the jeep tours. Two of them, and they are different days:

• The daytime jeep-and-boat tour — off-road through the hills, the waterfall, then down to the lake. Lunch at Gölbaşı, then the boat leg into the canyon from the restaurant’s own jetty.
• The sunset jeep safari — the same road late in the afternoon, dinner at Gölbaşı as the hills go orange, and a catamaran cruise on the lake as the light goes. A different mood entirely: fewer swimmers, more music.

Our boat-only and cabrio-bus days use a different jetty further along the shore and do not stop here — if Gölbaşı is the point for you, it is one of the two jeep days you want.

The electric catamaran

From Gölbaşı the boat is an electric catamaran rather than a diesel boat. That matters more than it sounds. Without an engine note the canyon is genuinely silent — you hear water on rock and not much else — and there is no exhaust drifting back over the sun deck. If you have the choice between a diesel boat and an electric one for the canyon, take the electric one.

Getting there without a tour

From Side, go back through Manavgat and take the road up to the Oymapınar dam; the lake appears below you and the restaurant turning is signposted. It is about 25 km and 35–40 minutes by car. There is no dolmuş service this far up; it is a taxi, a hire car or a tour.

If you come under your own steam you can eat, swim and rent a canoe, but the canyon itself needs a boat with a skipper — the restaurants and the operators at the jetty run trips, or you book the whole day with us and let someone else do the driving.

What to bring

Swimwear and a towel — the swimming area is the point. Something warm for after you get out; the water is cold even at the lake’s edge. Cash for the water toys and drinks. And sun cream, because the terrace is shaded and the water is not.