Rides in Alanya

Rides out of Alanya rest on three vehicles: the buggy, the open jeep and the cable car. A buggy safari runs about two hours into the Taurus foothills, no driving licence required, along forest tracks and river fords, so mud on your clothes is the format rather than an accident. Jeep safaris take the whole day: the convoy climbs to villages above the Dimçay, stops at viewpoints and eats lunch by the river. Horse rides are calmer — the stables sit roughly half an hour from the town centre and take riders with no previous experience.

The cable car is its own story. Cabins run from Cleopatra beach to the top of the peninsula, up to the walls of Alanya castle, in a few minutes, and the whole bay opens up on the way with the thirteenth-century Red Tower below. You can drive up instead, but the cable car is shorter and shows more, which is why city tours usually fold it into the programme along with the fortress and the old shipyard.

A separate group is the combined package: two in one with rafting and buggy, three in one with a zipline added, five in one with cabrio safari and canyoning. They suit visitors short on days, since a single departure covers several activities, though each gets roughly an hour. Buggies and ziplines carry their own age and height limits, worth checking at booking: drivers are normally eighteen and over, passengers younger.