The age bands are the same on every belt
Three bands apply on all five departures: adults from 13, children aged 4-12 at the child rate, infants aged 0-3 free. The booking form shows the child rate for the belt you choose, and a booking may carry up to 10 infants. The band is counted by the child's age on the day of the tour, not on the day you reserve.
Children are not booked on their own. Every child must be accompanied by an adult on the same booking, and that adult is responsible for the child at the stops, at the water and at lunch.
What a child actually does for a day
A child on a jeep safari is a passenger in an open-top 4x4 with a professional driver, riding with the other guests — 8-10 to a jeep — and holding on while the jeep climbs dirt tracks, drops into dry riverbeds and splashes through shallow crossings. Nobody in the family drives at any point.
Between the driving there is more to do than to watch: a village stop, a swim or a wade in cold water, lunch beside a river or a lake, and in summer the water fights between the jeeps. The bouncing is real, the dust is real, and a child who cannot sit still for stretches of rough track will find the day long.
What gets wet and what stays dry
On summer departures everyone gets wet: water fights between the jeeps and stream crossings are part of the programme, and a child in an open jeep is a favourite target. Pack a full change of clothes and a towel for each child, closed shoes that can take water and dust, swimwear worn under the clothes, and a waterproof pouch for phones.
In winter the fleet switches to covered jeeps and the water games stop, so the day is dusty rather than wet. Whatever the season, drinks are not included and are paid on the day; bring some euros for them.
Which belt for which age
Where your hotel stands decides the departure; a family cannot pick a belt for its water or its length and be collected from another. What you can do is know what your belt offers a child before you reserve. The two eastern days are the longer ones at approximately 8 hours; Belek, the Antalya city belt and Kemer run approximately 7.
- Side belt · approximately 8 hours · lake swim stop, pancakes, optional boat hour paid on the day
- Alanya belt · approximately 8 hours · river crossings, swim and lunch on a platform over the Dim River
- Belek belt · approximately 7 hours · riverbank water-pistol fight, paddling in the stream at lunch, village gözleme
- Antalya city belt · approximately 7 hours · water fights at the river stops, crafts village, lunch beside running water
- Kemer belt · approximately 7 hours · wading in a mountain stream, forest crossings, riverside lunch in the pines
River, lake or stream: the five days for children
In the Alanya belt the water is a river throughout: the Alanya day on the Dim River crosses it in the jeeps and stops for a swim and lunch on a platform restaurant built over the water. Dim Cave can be added as an optional stop with a small entrance fee paid on site.
In the Side belt the water is still: the Side departure with its lake stops swims at a village with Turkish pancakes, eats lunch at the lakeside and can add an optional boat hour on the lake, paid on the day. It is a lake-and-viewpoint day, with a viewpoint above Green Canyon and a photo stop at the Oymapınar Dam, and it is the departure to look at if your children like water they can stand in.
Belek, the city belt and Kemer are stream days. Out of Belek there is time to paddle in the stream at lunch and a water-pistol fight on a riverbank; out of Lara, Kundu, Konyaaltı and the city centre the lunch table sits beside running water and there is a village stop with traditional crafts; out of Kemer the convoy stops at a clear mountain stream to wade and cool off before a rustic riverside lunch among the pines.
Who should not come
The tracks are rough on every belt. The day is not recommended for pregnant guests, and a back or neck problem is worth mentioning to the driver before you climb in; that applies to a parent as much as to a child. A very small child who cannot sit upright for a stretch of rough track is better left for another year, even though infants ride free.
If a grandparent is coming along, the same caution applies to them, and there is a page on grandparents joining the day that covers what older guests can expect.
Pickup with children
The convoy calls at your hotel's main entrance gate in the morning, at a time that is set per hotel and sent to you after the booking. Being at the gate a few minutes early with the children dressed for the day matters more than it does for adults.
Each departure serves one resort belt only, so the first thing to settle is how your hotel decides the departure: a family in Lara is on the Antalya list, a family in Avsallar on the Alanya list, and neither can swap.
Reserving for a family
A reservation is free and takes no card: you enter the hotel, the date and the number of adults, children and infants, and the child rate on every belt appears in the same form. You pay in euros on the day of the tour, and a booking can be dropped at no cost until 24 hours before departure — useful with children, whose plans change.
The steps are the same for every belt, and how a family reservation works is set out on the booking page with what to have ready on the morning.
If your hotel is in Lara, Kundu, Konyaaltı or the city centre, you can reserve the Antalya city departure for your family now; nothing is paid until you meet the jeep.