Manavgat Waterfall

The Manavgat falls are not tall - a drop of a couple of metres - but the river is wide and the whole volume comes over a rock lip in a broad white curtain, which makes for a lot of noise and spray and a genuinely refreshing spot in a region where summer temperatures are brutal. Tea gardens and restaurants line the bank with terraces built out over the water, and the standard visit is an hour of tea, gözleme and photographs from the viewing platforms. River boats run up from Manavgat and Side and include the falls in a trip that usually takes in the river mouth and a fish lunch. Flow varies with releases from the Oymapınar dam twelve kilometres upstream, so the falls can be thunderous or comparatively modest depending on the day, and in floods they can vanish under high water. The falls appeared on the back of the Turkish five-lira note from 1968 to 1983. It is heavily commercialised, with a run of souvenir stalls at the entrance, and it is a stop rather than a destination.

The landscape

• The wide curtain - the full river over a low rock lip.
• The riverside terraces - tea gardens built over the water.
• The boat trips - river runs up from Manavgat and Side.
• The spray - the cool air the falls throw off.

When to go

April to June and September to November for the strongest flow. Mornings before the coach parties; flow depends on dam releases upstream.

Before you go

It is low and wide - visitors expecting a tall waterfall are disappointed. Heavily commercial, with stalls. Flow is dam-dependent and can be underwhelming.

Nearby

Side is fifteen minutes west; Tazı Canyon and the Köprülü river are north into the mountains.

Key facts