Çolaklı is where we collect you — the safari is inland at Aspendos
Two places are involved in this day, and separating them before you book is worth a minute of your time. Çolaklı is the pickup: a hotel strip on the coast east of Side, and one of the fifteen resort areas our included transfer covers. The safari is somewhere else entirely — inland in the Aspendos area, on the open natural land that follows the Köprüçay river at the foot of the Taurus Mountains. That ground is ours to ride: shallow river sections, forest tracks, dusty open terrain, and mud when the soil is holding enough water. No part of the ride happens on the coast, on asphalt, or within sight of your hotel.
Because Çolaklı sits at the eastern end of the stretch we cover, the transfer runs west, and of the three coastal areas on this belt that have a page here, Çolaklı's is the longest run. That is a statement about the order of the coast and nothing more. Nobody has ever timed the run from a Çolaklı hotel to our base, so this page carries no minutes and no kilometres for it — we would rather leave the number out than publish one we cannot stand behind. Every duration you read below is the programme door to door, not the road.
Who it suits from a Çolaklı hotel — and who it does not
It suits people who want to drive rather than be driven somewhere and shown it. You choose the machine and you choose how long you sit on it: a short tour with one and a half to two hours of riding, or a long tour with two and a half to three. Quad — the ATV, if that is the word you were given at the hotel desk — or a two-seater buggy. Four combinations, four prices, and the decision is made before you book rather than at a counter in the lobby.
It suits pairs, because only the person at the wheel pays the full fare and whoever rides along pays exactly half on either machine. It suits families with a teenager, because drivers start at 16 and a sixteen-year-old drives their own machine instead of sitting behind a parent. And it suits complete beginners, because nobody is put on a machine on trust: every driver takes a compulsory test ride at the base first, and anyone who does not pass it, or would simply rather not drive, comes along as a half-price passenger and keeps their place in the group.
It does not suit you if the shortest possible transfer is what matters most. From Çolaklı you spend more of the day on the road than a guest we collect further west, and there is no honest way around that. What is on offer in exchange is a different course from the ones sold on your own doorstep, a choice of ride length instead of one fixed programme, a passenger fare that is genuinely half, and a transfer that adds nothing to the bill. If that trade does not appeal, book something closer with our blessing — we would rather you enjoyed the day than filled a seat.
What it costs from Çolaklı, and how a pair adds up
The price is per driver and it is the whole tour: the machine and its fuel, the instructor, the helmet, the round-trip transfer from your hotel in Çolaklı, and the programme itself. Nothing is added for the pickup, and nothing is added for sitting at the far end of the coast.
There is no child tier to decode either. Whoever drives pays the driver price, whoever rides along pays exactly half of it. Nobody rides free, whatever their age. The half is literal, which is why the short buggy passenger is €17.50 rather than a tidier €18. Two people sharing one quad on the short tour therefore pay €30 plus €15, transfer and all.
- Quad, short tour (1.5–2 hours riding) — €30 per driver
- Quad, long tour (2.5–3 hours riding) — €38 per driver
- Buggy, short tour (1.5–2 hours riding) — €35 per driver
- Buggy, long tour (2.5–3 hours riding) — €43 per driver
- Passenger riding along instead of driving — exactly half: €15, €19, €17.50 or €21.50
- Nobody rides free — every seat is paid
- One passenger per driver: both the quad and the buggy seat two people
How long you are away, and which of the two sessions to take
Plan on roughly four to four and a half hours door to door. That covers the transfer out, the briefing, the test ride, the riding itself and the journey home, and it is the same window whether you take the short tour or the long one — the long one simply spends more of that window on the machine, which is the honest reason to pay the difference.
We run two sessions a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and both do the same programme on the same ground. From a Çolaklı hotel the morning session takes the front half of your day and leaves the beach for later; the afternoon session does it the other way round. Exact timings shift with which hotel you are in and with the day's transfer run, which is why your own time is settled by a person after you book rather than printed on this page.
Pickup from Çolaklı: included in the price, timed after you book
Round-trip hotel pickup and drop-off from Çolaklı is included in the price, and there is no surcharge for the eastern end of the belt. The same holds everywhere else we collect: Kumköy, Evrenseki, Gündoğdu, Kızılot, Side and Manavgat along your own stretch, and Boğazkent, Belek, Kadriye, Kundu, Lara, Antalya, Muratpaşa and Konyaaltı to the west.
What we will not do is print a collection time for Çolaklı. Average pickup times exist only for the resort areas that have actually been recorded, and Çolaklı is not among them. Taking a neighbouring area's average and setting your hotel name beside it would look tidy on a page and would still be an invention. Your own time is confirmed to you after you book, once we know which hotel we are coming to and which session you are on.
- Round-trip transfer from Çolaklı is inside the price — no pickup surcharge
- Two sessions a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon
- No average pickup time is published for Çolaklı — yours is confirmed after you book
- Send your hotel name in Çolaklı, your date, and how many of you want to drive
- If your hotel sits outside the fifteen areas we cover, write to us on WhatsApp and we will answer honestly
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure
What actually happens at the base and on the course
The sequence is the same for everyone. You arrive, meet the instructor, listen to the safety briefing and are given a helmet. Then comes the compulsory test ride, a short supervised run that decides who takes the wheel. After that the group heads out onto the course: shallow river crossings, forest tracks under the pines, open ground where the machine can stretch a little, and a stop partway where drinks and snacks are on sale. Then it is back to the base and into the vehicle for the return run to Çolaklı.
Two honest notes about the ground. Dust is a certainty, which is what the clothing advice further down is for, and it is why goggles are sold at the base for anyone who wants a pair. Mud and water are not a promise: the river sections belong to the route, but how wet and how deep they run depends on the conditions on the day, and we would rather under-sell that than show you a photograph we cannot reproduce for you.
Who is allowed to drive, and what the test ride settles
No driving licence is required, and the reason has to travel with the claim: the route is a private off-road course rather than a public road, so it is not judged the way road driving is. Drivers must be 16 or over and should carry ID, which is an age check and nothing more. Sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds drive their own machine.
Every driver then takes a compulsory test ride before the tour starts. It is short, it is supervised, and it is not a formality: completing it is what puts you at the wheel. Anyone who does not, or who simply decides they would rather look at the scenery than steer through it, rides along as a passenger at half the driver's price and loses nothing else about the day.
Both machines seat two, so the rule is one passenger per driver. In the buggy your passenger sits beside you; on the quad the passenger sits behind. Quad passengers must be at least 8 years old, while in the buggy a younger child may ride next to an adult. The tour is not recommended for pregnant guests or for anyone with back or neck problems, because the ground is rough by design.
What the price covers from Çolaklı — and what it does not
Everything you need in order to ride is inside the price:
The helmet is the only piece of protective kit that comes with the ride, and we would rather be blunt about it here than have you arrive expecting more. A dust mask is not included. Goggles are not included either, though a pair can be bought at the base — we quote no figure, because the price is set there. A bandana is not included; if you own one, bring it with you from the hotel.
- Round-trip hotel transfer from Çolaklı and back
- An instructor and the full safety briefing
- Liability insurance for the activity
- A helmet
- The machine itself, fuelled and ready — quad or buggy
- Dust mask, goggles and bandana are not included — the helmet is the only protective item in the price
- Goggles can be bought at the base; we do not publish an amount because it is set there
- Photo and video service is extra
- Drinks and snacks at the rest stop are paid for there
- Tips for the instructor and the driver are yours to decide
Booking from Çolaklı, and what happens after you press the button
Booking online creates a real reservation. No card details are taken, nothing is prepaid, and you pay in euros on the day of the tour. It is not an instant confirmation, though, and we will not dress it up as one: your reservation is saved and a person then confirms the pickup arrangement with you, which is also the point at which your collection time in Çolaklı is settled. The earliest date you can book online is tomorrow — if you want to ride today, write to us on WhatsApp at +90 536 603 75 84. Cancelling is free up to 24 hours before departure, so booking early costs you nothing.
You will find no star rating, no review count and no awards on this site, because none of them would be real. What a guest in Çolaklı can check instead is everything on this page: where the course actually is, four prices instead of one, a passenger fare that is exactly half, the driving rule with its reason attached, an included transfer, and a short list of what the price does not cover. Judge us on that.
- Wear old or comfortable clothes — dust is certain, mud depends on the conditions
- Closed shoes only; flip-flops and sandals do not work on these machines
- Bring sunglasses, sunscreen and a change of clothes for afterwards
- If you own a bandana or a buff, bring it with you from the hotel
- No card is taken online and nothing is charged before the tour
- The earliest bookable date is tomorrow; for a same-day ride, use WhatsApp
- This site and the booking form run in English, German, Russian and Polish