Taurus Mountains Tickets and Tours | GetExperience.com

The Taurus is what makes this coast what it is. Behind Antalya the range stands within thirty kilometres of the beach and passes three thousand metres. That compression explains most things here.

How the range is built

These are limestone mountains, and limestone leaks.

• Kizlarsivrisi. At 3,086 metres it tops the Beydaglari and the whole western Taurus, and it is visible from the sea.
• Karst. Rain sinks into the rock, travels underground and surfaces on the plain, which is why the coastal rivers stay cold in August.
• Gorges. The Koprucay has cut some four hundred metres down, and the Roman bridge at Oluk still spans it after eighteen centuries.
• Trees. Cedar and black pine hold the middle slopes; above them the rock is bare.
• Demirkazik. The classic Taurus climb at 3,756 metres lies far east in the Aladaglar, and is a different trip altogether.

Snow above a warm sea

Saklikent, fifty kilometres from Antalya, skis between two thousand and 2,400 metres from roughly December to March.

Late in the season people ski in the morning and swim in the afternoon, which the geography genuinely allows. Higher and further, the Lycian Way and the St Paul Trail cross the range on foot. Animals still go up to the yayla in June.

Practical

• Temperature. Reckon on ten degrees cooler in a gorge than on the beach, and colder again in the water.
• What is sold. Most mountain days from the coast are two-hour quad or buggy runs on forest tracks out of Alanya and Side.
• Wet by design. Rafting and gorge days soak you through, so bring clothes you do not mind and shoes that fasten.
• Dust. The safari tracks are dry from June, and a scarf over the face is not an affectation.
• Timing. Coastal pickups go between seven and eight in the morning and return in the late afternoon.
• Roads. Everything up here is switchbacks, so travel sickness is a real consideration.