Family Rafting from Antalya: Köprülü Canyon National Park, No Swimming Required

The Experience

This is the Antalya departure that does not turn a young family away at the door. Seven is the minimum age to sit in a raft, but children under that come along and stay at the riverside picnic while the rest of the party is on the water. Worth knowing before you rule the day out. Swimming skill is needed by nobody. Pregnancy and back or heart conditions are the real limits. An air-conditioned vehicle collects you at your Antalya hotel in the morning and turns north-east, trading coastal sprawl for pine forest and mountain switchbacks until the noise of the Köprüçay reaches you at the base camp inside the national park. Helmet, jacket, paddle and wetsuit go on, the briefing is thorough, and then roughly fourteen kilometres of cold, clear river. Rapids come in bursts, separated by calm reaches where the canyon walls stand hundreds of metres above the boat. You pass under the arch of the Roman Oluk Bridge and stop to jump from smooth boulders into deep green pools. The paddling stage averages three hours; the whole day is around eight. Then a buffet with grilled dishes at a shaded restaurant on the bank, and back to your hotel in the afternoon. Adults €23, children €14, infants free, insurance included. Drinks, tips, river photography, souvenirs and any zipline or buggy extra are not included, and you pay nothing until the tour day.

Highlights

• Leap from rocks and swim in calm pools during onshore splash breaks
• Feast on a grilled riverside lunch surrounded by towering pine forest
• Cool off in the crystal-clear, ice-blue waters of the Köprüçay River
• Glide beneath the 2,000-year-old Roman Oluk Bridge spanning the gorge
• Paddle 14 km of foaming rapids through the dramatic Köprülü Canyon

Where You'll Be

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