Sapadere Canyon

Sapadere is a gorge cut into the Taurus about forty kilometres inland from Alanya, and it was made accessible in the 2000s by building a wooden and steel walkway along the rock wall for several hundred metres into the canyon. The walk ends at a waterfall dropping into a pool where people swim; along the way the walls close to a few metres apart in places, with the stream running green and very cold below and smaller falls and pools stepping down it. It takes half an hour to walk in and out, and the appeal is the cool and the enclosure rather than any great length. At the entrance are a restaurant, a small ethnographic display and a trout farm, and the drive up through pine forest and goat country with the coast dropping away behind is a good part of the outing. Tours from Alanya combine it with the Dim valley; independently it needs a car and a slow hour on mountain bends.

What you actually see

• The walkway - the built path along the gorge wall.
• The end waterfall - the drop into the swimming pool.
• The narrows - walls closing to a few metres apart.
• The mountain drive - pine forest and the coast behind.

When to go

April to October. Spring has the most water; late summer thins the falls. Weekdays are quieter than weekends and tour days.

Honest expectations

The walk is short - this is an hour's attraction after a long drive. The water is extremely cold. Walkways are wet and slippery, and the canyon is busy when tour buses arrive.

Nearby

Dim Cave and the Dim valley are on the way back; Alanya is 40 km down on the coast.