Cappadocia Tour from Side: Pickup Times and the Two Days

Your pickup, resort by resort

The operator has given us named times for these resorts. They run west to east along the shore, a few minutes apart, and each one is approximate: traffic and the order of hotels can shift it a little, so the exact minute for your hotel is confirmed after booking.

Staying inside Side Old Town? Coaches cannot drive into its narrow, pedestrian-only streets, so guests there are given a convenient designated meeting point nearby; your exact pickup time and location are confirmed after booking.

Wait at your hotel's main entrance a few minutes before the time. The guide may phone if the coach is running early or late, so keep your phone switched on.

Sorgun, Çolaklı and Kızılot

Sorgun's pine-forest hotels lie just beyond Titreyengöl. Çolaklı and Kızılot stretch out on the other side of Side towards Alanya. All three are on the coach's run, but the operator has not given a fixed minute for each one, so we do not invent one. Your exact time arrives with your booking confirmation. Kızılağaç, between them, does have a time: about 05:00, as the last stop of the coach coming west from Alanya.

Please do not set your alarm by a neighbouring resort's time. Wait for the confirmed minute for your own hotel; if it has not reached you by the evening before the tour, call +90 536 603 75 84.

Staying in Manavgat town

Manavgat town is served, but none of its addresses are in our hotel list. On the booking form, type the name of your hotel or guesthouse in full. We check it with the operator and send you the exact pickup point and time before the day. A guesthouse name with its street or neighbourhood saves a round of messages.

Where Side sits on the coach's run

The coach collects along the coast and Side is the last stretch before it heads inland towards central Anatolia. Hotels further east around Alanya are generally collected much earlier, some from 02:45. From Side you are on board shortly before the long drive begins.

That drive is about 3 h 15 min, then a rest stop, then about 1 h 50 min to the Underground City. Somewhere before the main drive the coach also stops at a café so you can eat — bring a breakfast box from your own hotel, because the café breakfast is not included. Ask your reception for it the evening before.

Day 1 from Side

After a night pickup and the drive, the first visit is the Underground City, carved centuries ago as a refuge; your entrance ticket is in the fare. Lunch follows at a café (optional, extra cost). Then come Pigeon Valley, the panorama at the foot of Uçhisar Castle, an onyx and sultanite centre (a shopping stop) and Love Valley with its fairy chimneys.

If you choose it, the sunset at the Red Valley costs extra. You reach the 3- or 4-star hotel around 19:00 for dinner, with drinks extra. At 20:30 there is the optional Cappadocia show, with unlimited alcoholic and soft drinks and snacks.

Day 2 and the road back to Side

Early risers can take the sunrise transfer to the terrace where you watch the balloons lift off (optional extra). A balloon flight itself is a separate extra, generally €100–€300 per person depending on the day, and only when the weather and the day's aviation approval allow. Breakfast at the hotel is included.

The morning has two more shopping stops — a leather centre with a fashion show and a Turkish delight centre — before the drive home: about 2 h, a short break, about 1 h 20 min to lunch in Konya (optional, extra cost), then about 2 h and a short stop. The coach drops you at your Side hotel between 19:00 and 21:00.

What Side guests should know before booking

Full figures for every extra are on the price page, and every belt is compared on the pickup page.

Staying in Side for a while? Side-Turkey's excursions from Side and Manavgat list shorter day trips on the same stretch of coast.

• Departures are on Tuesday and Friday only.
• The guide's language depends on the group and season; tell us your preferred language when booking.
• Children aged 2 to 7 pay €40; babies aged 0–1 sit on a parent's lap and take no seat.
• The excursion follows a planned group itinerary: you stay with the group on both days and follow the guide's programme, so independent visits elsewhere are not possible.
• Nothing is paid online; the price is settled in euros, Turkish lira or US dollars on the trip, and plans can still change free of charge until 48 hours before departure.