Manavgat Waterfall: entrance fee, opening hours and how to get there from Side
What Manavgat Waterfall is actually like, what it costs, when to arrive to beat the coaches, and how to reach it from Side by taxi, dolmuş or tour.

- Opening hours
- Roughly 08:00–19:30 in season (April–October)
- Entrance fee
- About €1 per person — verify at the gate, the lira figure changes
- Best time to go
- Before 10:30, or late afternoon
- Getting there
- ~8 km from Side. 15–20 min by taxi, around €30 return
Manavgat Waterfall is wide, not tall. It is not a plunging cascade — the Manavgat river spreads across a rock shelf and drops a few metres in a broad white curtain, with a walkway and tea gardens along the bank. Knowing that before you arrive is the difference between a lovely hour and a disappointment.
What it costs and when it is open
The entrance fee is small, on the order of €1 per person. It is charged in lira and revised often enough that we will not print a hard figure here that would be wrong by next season. In season the site runs roughly 08:00 to 19:30; outside April–October the hours shorten.
Getting there from Side
The waterfall sits just north of Manavgat town, about 8 km from Side old town.
| How | Time | Rough cost |
|---|---|---|
| Taxi | 15–20 min | ~€30 return |
| Dolmuş | up to 90 min each way, changing in Manavgat | a few euros |
| Guided tour | usually part of a longer day | varies |
The dolmuş is cheap but it is not direct: you take the Side–Manavgat minibus to the centre, then a second hop. If there are three or four of you, a taxi is usually the better trade.
The time of day that matters
Coach groups arrive mid-morning and again after lunch. Arrive before 10:30 and the terrace is calm enough to hear the water. Late afternoon works too, and the light sits better for photographs with the sun behind you rather than flaring off the spray.
Allow 45 to 90 minutes for the falls themselves.
What to combine it with
The waterfall is at its best as one stop in a longer day rather than a destination on its own:
- Manavgat bazaar — but only on a Monday or a Thursday. Monday leans towards clothing and textiles, Thursday towards produce and spices. (Side’s own market is Saturday, Kumköy is Sunday, Çolaklı is Wednesday.)
- The Manavgat river, with boats leaving from the quay in town.
- Green Canyon, the reservoir behind the Oymapınar dam about 12 km upstream — a completely different, slower kind of day out.
Book it locally
We run these trips ourselves from our office in Side — same guides, same vehicles, no reseller in between.
City of Side: Green Canyon Jeep Tour, Boat Trip & Waterfall
Price checked on 11 September 2026. Live price on the booking page.Operated by Seven Tours · TÜRSAB 14576
City of Side: Green Canyon Boat Tour with Lunch and Drinks
Price checked on 11 September 2026. Live price on the booking page.Operated by Seven Tours · TÜRSAB 14576
City of Side: Green Lake Boat and Cabrio Bus Tour
Price checked on 11 September 2026. Live price on the booking page.Operated by Seven Tours · TÜRSAB 14576
Seven Tours is our own TÜRSAB-licensed agency (licence 14576). If you book through these links you are booking directly with us, at the same price you would pay at our counter in Side. Price checked on 11 September 2026. Live price on the booking page.
Frequently asked questions
How far is Manavgat Waterfall from Side?
About 8 km. A taxi takes 15–20 minutes and costs in the region of €30 return. By dolmuş you change in Manavgat centre and should allow up to 90 minutes each way.
How much does Manavgat Waterfall cost to enter?
The entrance fee is small — around €1 per person. It is charged in lira and the figure is revised often, so treat any number you read online as indicative and check at the gate.
Is Manavgat Waterfall worth visiting on its own?
On its own it is a 45 to 90 minute stop. Most people get far more out of it as part of a day that also takes in the Manavgat river, the bazaar on a Monday or Thursday, or Green Canyon upstream.
When is the water at its most impressive?
Spring, when snowmelt from the Taurus mountains is still feeding the river. By late summer the flow is gentler but the gardens around it are at their best.
Keep reading
- Green Lake (Yeşilgöl) and Gölbaşı Restaurant: the lakeside end of the Green Canyon day
Where the Green Canyon boats leave from, where our jeep tour stops for lunch, and why the water is that colour. Gölbaşı Restaurant, the electric catamaran, and getting there without a tour.
- Green Canyon boat trip from Side: what it actually is, and who it suits
Green Canyon is a reservoir, not a river you raft. What the boat day involves, why the water is so cold, who enjoys it, and who should book Köprülü Canyon instead.
- Seleukeia (Lyrbe): the empty Roman city in the pine forest above Manavgat
A two-storey agora, nine-metre walls and usually nobody else there. Where Seleukeia is, why scholars call it Lyrbe, how to drive the forest track, and what an unattended site asks of you.