Side stands on a small headland on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, about 75 kilometres east of Antalya. It is unusual among classical sites in one specific way: the ancient town was never fully abandoned or fenced off, so you walk through the ruins to get to a restaurant.
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THAT IS THE WHOLE CHARACTER OF THE PLACE AND IT IS WHY IT IS WORTH COMING. The modern village sits inside the Roman street grid, with column stumps in front of shops, a monumental gateway you drive through, and the agora and the baths a few steps from the harbour. AT THE TIP OF THE HEADLAND STAND THE TEMPLES OF APOLLO AND ATHENA, and the re-erected Apollo colonnade with the sea behind it is the image of Side and one of the most photographed things on this coast. Our Turkey travel guide for women covers the country.
THE SECOND THING IS THE THEATRE, which is the largest in ancient Pamphylia and held something like fifteen thousand people. It is different in kind from the Greek theatres further west because IT WAS BUILT ON ARCHES ON FLAT GROUND rather than cut into a hillside, which the Romans did when there was no slope to use, and it is substantially intact. It sits beside the main road into the village with the museum, housed in the Roman baths, opposite.
THE THIRD IS THE HONEST ONE: SIDE IS ALSO A RESORT, and a large one. The village itself is small and pedestrianised in its centre, but the coast either side at COLAKLI, EVRENSEKI and KUMKOY is a long run of all-inclusive hotels, and the bazaar in the old town is a dense strip of leather, carpets and jewellery with persistent sales pressure. THE TWO SIDES SIT ON TOP OF EACH OTHER and whether that charms or irritates you is the main variable in a trip here.
The Ruins, the Beaches and the River
A temple colonnade on a headland, a Roman theatre on arches, two long beaches, and a gorge inland.
THE SITE IS FREE TO WALK and that is remarkable for something of this quality. The main street runs from the Vespasian monument and the city gate down to the headland, past the agora, the public latrine, which is better preserved than it sounds and genuinely interesting, and the Byzantine basilica. THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO is at the end, five re-erected Corinthian columns with the sea on three sides, and SUNSET THERE IS THE THING EVERYONE DOES, which means a crowd and is still worth it.
THE THEATRE AND THE MUSEUM are ticketed and are the paid part. The museum occupies the Roman bath complex and holds the sculpture found on the site, which gives the empty streets outside their population back.
THE BEACHES: WEST BEACH, the long sandy stretch running towards Colakli, is the better one and is where the sunbeds and the watersports are. EAST BEACH is shorter and quieter. Both are sand, which is unusual for Turkey and is why this stretch was developed.
THE MANAVGAT RIVER is the inland half of a Side trip. MANAVGAT WATERFALL, about 15 minutes away, is a wide low falls on the river with tea gardens beside it, and it is pleasant rather than spectacular. THE RIVER BOAT TRIPS run up it from the coast and are a cool afternoon.
AND THE TWO SERIOUS SITES INLAND are the reason to hire a car for a day. ASPENDOS, about 40 minutes west, has THE BEST-PRESERVED ROMAN THEATRE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN, with its stage building complete to the roofline, and it is a genuinely astonishing building. SELGE, high in the Koprulu canyon, is a ruined city in mountain scenery that almost nobody visits.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Antalya, Alanya and the Pamphylian Coast
A city west, a castle town east, and the great Roman sites in between.
ANTALYA is about an hour and a quarter west and is the region's city, with the walled Kaleici old town, two excellent museums and the airport everyone uses; our Antalya packing list covers it.
ALANYA is about an hour and a half east, with its Seljuk castle on a rock and the Red Tower above the only surviving Seljuk shipyard; our Alanya packing list covers it, and the two make a natural pair since both are classical-and-medieval sites inside modern resorts.
PERGE, near Antalya, is the third of the great Pamphylian cities with a colonnaded street and a stadium, and is usually combined with Aspendos on the same day.
FURTHER AFIELD: the Kas packing list and Fethiye packing list cover the Lycian coast west, and our Cappadocia packing list the interior, which is a long day's drive or a short flight.
Getting around: Antalya airport is about an hour and a quarter and is the arrival point for almost everyone, with Gazipasa near Alanya taking some seasonal flights. THE OLD TOWN IS PEDESTRIANISED and walked; dolmus minibuses run the coast road constantly and cheaply. A car is worth it for one day, for Aspendos, Perge and the canyon.
When to Go
May, June, September and October. July and August are hot and the ruins are shadeless.
A hot Mediterranean climate: January and February 10 to 16C, July and August 26 to 34C and humid, sea between about 18C in spring and 28C in September, with rain almost entirely from November to March.
MAY, JUNE, SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER are the right months and here the reason is the archaeology rather than the beach. The site is open stone with no shade along its whole length, and walking it above 30C is genuinely unpleasant. SEPTEMBER IS THE PICK, with a 28C sea and the heat off the ruins.
JULY AND AUGUST are the resort peak: hot, humid, full, and the site punishing between eleven and five. If you come then, do the ruins at opening or in the last hour before sunset, which is also when the light on the Apollo columns is best.
NOVEMBER TO APRIL is low season with much of the all-inclusive infrastructure closed, mild days at 15 to 20C, and the ruins almost empty, which is the archaeologist's choice and the sunbather's disappointment. The sea is swimmable for the hardy into November.
AND THE ONE THING WORTH TIMING DELIBERATELY: THE ASPENDOS OPERA AND BALLET FESTIVAL, usually in late summer, stages performances in that intact Roman theatre. Sitting in a second-century auditorium for a live performance is the best thing available in this corner of Turkey and it needs booking.
Is Side Safe for Women Travelers
Read the resort warning. The sun on the ruins is the other real risk.
US State Department travel advisory: the Turkey advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/turkey, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
UK FCDO: the FCDO ADVISES AGAINST ALL TRAVEL WITHIN 10KM OF THE TURKEY-SYRIA BORDER, citing continued fighting across the border and a heightened terrorism risk, and notes that roads in Hatay province towards the border can close at short notice. Two further areas carry PERMIT requirements rather than advice against travel: in HAKKARI PROVINCE you must get permission from the local governor's office to visit areas near the Iraqi and Iranian borders, and MOUNT ARARAT in Agri province is a special military zone needing permission and a fee. Nowhere else in the country is advised against. On terrorism the FCDO states that terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks, that most attacks have occurred in SOUTHEAST TURKEY, ANKARA AND ISTANBUL, and that attacks could be indiscriminate including in places visited by foreign nationals. EARTHQUAKES are the other national risk: many parts of Turkey experience them, they can be high magnitude, and a 6.2 magnitude quake in the Sea of Marmara in April 2025 was felt strongly in Istanbul. AFAD, the national disaster authority, publishes current seismic information.
The FCDO publishes a specific sexual assault figure for Turkey and it is the single most important thing in this section. Of the 4.27 million British travellers who visited Turkey in 2025, 29 cases of sexual assault including rape were reported to British consular staff. THE MAJORITY OF REPORTED CASES TOOK PLACE DURING THE TOURIST SEASON IN COASTAL RESORT AREAS, the crimes were often committed by someone the victim had met during the day, and A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER WERE BY HOTEL OR SPA STAFF. That last clause is the one that changes behaviour, because it is not the stranger-in-a-dark-street scenario most advice is written around: it means treating a familiar face at your own hotel, a massage booking or a spa treatment as a situation to arrange deliberately rather than casually. Ask for a female therapist and confirm it on arrival, decline a treatment in a room you cannot leave freely, tell someone where you are, and do not let a member of staff you have been friendly with all week become an exception to that. The FCDO also records sexual attacks on minors who used toilet facilities alone.
SIDE IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF PLACE THE FCDO IS DESCRIBING: a Mediterranean coastal resort in the tourist season with a large all-inclusive hotel and spa industry. So the measures apply here rather than being boilerplate. ARRANGE A FEMALE THERAPIST FOR ANY SPA, MASSAGE OR HAMMAM TREATMENT AND CONFIRM IT ON ARRIVAL rather than accepting a substitution; decline a treatment in a room you cannot leave freely; tell someone where you are going and when; keep your room number to yourself; and remember that the pattern the FCDO records is someone met during the day and, in a significant number of cases, hotel or spa staff, so a week of friendliness is not reassurance. The all-inclusive model makes this more rather than less relevant, because so much of a stay happens inside one property.
Methanol poisoning kills visitors to Turkey and the FCDO has a dedicated section on it. People have died or been left seriously ill after drinking illegally produced local spirits or counterfeit bottles of branded alcohol, and the FCDO notes cases including in Ankara and Istanbul. EVEN SMALL AMOUNTS OF METHANOL CAN KILL, and it cannot be identified by taste or smell. Buy spirits from licensed shops rather than from a hotel minibar refill or a street vendor, be suspicious of unusually cheap branded bottles and of free cocktails, and treat a spirit poured from an unlabelled bottle as the specific thing to decline. The FCDO carries a separate DRINK AND FOOD SPIKING warning for Turkey, including the pattern of strangers approaching visitors to change money or to steer them to a particular restaurant or club.
THE ALL-INCLUSIVE POURING IS WHY METHANOL BELONGS HERE. Unlimited spirits at a hotel bar is the environment in which counterfeit branded bottles and illegally produced local alcohol circulate, and the FCDO notes that even small amounts of methanol can kill and that it cannot be identified by taste or smell. Prefer beer or wine, be suspicious of a spirit poured from an unlabelled bottle, and buy anything you drink off-site from a licensed shop.
THE SUN ON THE RUINS IS THE OTHER GENUINE RISK AND IT IS SPECIFIC TO THIS DESTINATION. The site is a kilometre of open marble and limestone with no shade whatsoever, the stone reflects, and people walk it in the middle of the day because it is free and adjacent to their hotel. Heat exhaustion here is common and entirely preventable.
THE STONE IS THE SECOND. Roman paving worn by two millennia is uneven and polished slippery, there are open channels and unfenced drops at the agora and the harbour edge, and nothing is railed because the site is free and unmanaged. Proper shoes matter more than at a ticketed site.
THE SEA: the FCDO is blunt that people drown in Turkey every year, in the sea and in pools. Side's beaches are sandy and shelve gently, which makes them among the easier on this coast, and lifeguard cover is still partial and the FCDO's warning about hidden rocks and never diving into unknown water applies at the headland.
ORDINARY CRIME IS LOW. The bazaar's sales pressure is persistent and good-humoured rather than threatening, and a clear no without stopping handles it. The FCDO notes COUNTERFEIT BANKNOTES in circulation in Turkey, so check cash change. It also advises using REGISTERED METERED TAXIS and says lifts from unofficial drivers are highly risky.
STRAY DOGS are present across Turkey, congregate in parks and wasteland and can be aggressive, and RABIES IS PRESENT, so a bite needs immediate medical attention.
Turkey has no reciprocal health agreement with the UK or the EU, so travel insurance with medical cover is essential and should cover any activity you actually intend to do, because paragliding, quad biking and jeep safaris are all common here and all commonly excluded. Private hospitals in the cities and the larger resorts are modern and will expect payment or an insurance guarantee up front, and some have been reported for inflating bills for insured foreign patients, so keep your insurer in the loop from the start. An eczane handles minor problems and Turkish pharmacists are well trained. TAP WATER IS CHLORINATED AND GENERALLY SAFE but tastes heavily of it and almost everyone drinks bottled. RABIES IS PRESENT and the FCDO notes that packs of stray dogs congregate in parks and wasteland and can be aggressive, so a bite needs medical advice immediately rather than later.
Socially Side is thoroughly international and relaxed, with Turkish, Russian, German and English in daily use and European beach dress normal throughout the resort. In Manavgat, the working town inland, and at any mosque, covered shoulders and knees are the courtesy with a headscarf in a mosque.
The Side Packing List
Shoes for worn Roman stone, which is the first item
The site is uneven, polished paving with open channels and unfenced edges, and you will cross it repeatedly because it is the route into the village. Trainers or walking sandals with a real sole and no heel. This is the single piece of kit that decides whether the ruins are a pleasure.
Sun protection for a kilometre with no shade
A wide brim sun hat, high factor sunscreen and a long sleeve sun hoodie, which is what actually works on open marble at midday. Our affiliate registry holds no sunscreen, so that is advice rather than a product recommendation.
Water, and more than the walk looks like it needs
An insulated water bottle. The site has limited supply along its length, Aspendos has little, and Turkish tap water is chlorinated and generally safe while tasting strongly of it.
A light layer for evenings and boats
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women covers an October evening at the temple, a morning river boat and an air-conditioned coach to Aspendos, and stays wearable in August humidity without holding smell.
A windproof layer
A packable rain jacket for women, taken for boats and for a shoulder-season or winter visit, when the rain on this coast arrives heavily.
A rash top for the beach
A long sleeved rash top, which is sun protection that does not wash off and is the right answer on a sandy beach with no natural shade and a sea breeze that hides the burn.
Something modest for Manavgat and the mosques
A light long-sleeved shirt and a large scarf that doubles as a headscarf, which also solves the sun on the site.
The small things
Sunglasses, which on reflective marble are protective kit rather than an accessory. A dry bag for the river and sea boats. Cash in lira in small notes, checked for counterfeits. And two planning notes: do the ruins at opening or at sunset rather than at midday, and if you intend to use a hotel spa, arrange a female therapist in advance and confirm it when you arrive.
Essential Resources for Women in Side
Emergency numbers: 112 is the single emergency number in Turkey for ambulance, fire and police. 155 reaches police directly in towns and 156 the Jandarma in rural areas, which covers the canyon and the inland sites. 158 is coastguard.
Tourist police and women's support: Turkey operates a Turizm Polisi in the main tourist destinations including Antalya province, handling visitor complaints with language support. 183 is the Turkish Social Support Line, which handles violence against women and children and can direct you to a shelter or a prosecutor.
Main hospital or clinic: Side and Manavgat have private hospitals and clinics used to foreign patients and international insurance, and the Manavgat state hospital has a 24 hour emergency department about 15 minutes inland. ANYTHING COMPLEX GOES TO ANTALYA, about an hour and a quarter, which has the region's major hospitals. AN ECZANE handles minor problems. NOTE THAT SOME PRIVATE HOSPITALS IN TURKISH RESORTS HAVE BEEN REPORTED FOR INFLATING BILLS for insured foreign patients, so contact your insurer before agreeing to treatment rather than after.
Official health authority: the Turkish Ministry of Health. Turkey has no reciprocal health agreement with the UK or the EU, so insurance with medical cover is essential and should cover any watersports or jeep safaris sold along this coast, which many policies exclude. Contact your insurer before agreeing to private treatment, and note that anything complex goes to Antalya
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Ankara.
Official tourism authority: Go Turkiye, the national tourism board. And with the Antalya provincial directorate of culture and tourism, which is the right body for a complaint about a hotel, a shop or an excursion operator, and which publishes the Aspendos festival programme
The ruins are free and unfenced and you walk through them to reach the village. That is what makes Side unusual, and it is also why the paving is unrailed, uneven and slippery.
There is no shade on the site at all. Do it at opening or in the last hour before sunset, which is also when the light on the Apollo columns is best.
Aspendos has the best-preserved Roman theatre in the Mediterranean, 40 minutes west, and stages an opera and ballet festival in late summer that is worth booking around.
The FCDO records 29 sexual assaults reported by British travellers to Turkey in 2025, the majority in coastal resort areas, often by someone met during the day, and a significant number by hotel or spa staff. Arrange a female spa therapist in advance and confirm on arrival.
Solo women safety assessment: Side is thoroughly international and relaxed, with Turkish, Russian, German and English in daily use, European beach dress normal throughout the resort, and a woman alone drawing no particular attention; in Manavgat inland and at any mosque, covered shoulders and knees are the courtesy with a headscarf in a mosque. Ordinary crime is low, the bazaar's sales pressure is persistent and good-humoured rather than threatening and a clear no without stopping handles it, and the FCDO notes counterfeit banknotes circulate so check cash change; it also advises registered metered taxis and warns that lifts from unofficial drivers are highly risky. THE WARNING THAT MATTERS MOST APPLIES DIRECTLY HERE, because Side is a Mediterranean coastal resort in the tourist season with a large all-inclusive hotel and spa industry: of 4.27 million British travellers in 2025, 29 cases of sexual assault including rape were reported to consular staff, the majority IN COASTAL RESORT AREAS, often by someone the victim had met during the day, and A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER BY HOTEL OR SPA STAFF. The all-inclusive model makes that more rather than less relevant, because so much of a stay happens inside one property. So arrange a female therapist for any spa, massage or hammam treatment and confirm it on arrival rather than accepting a substitution, decline a treatment in a room you cannot leave freely, tell someone where you are going, keep your room number private, and treat familiarity as no reassurance. METHANOL BELONGS IN THE SAME PARAGRAPH because unlimited spirits at a hotel bar is exactly the environment in which counterfeit and illegally produced alcohol circulates, and the FCDO notes small amounts can kill and cannot be detected by taste or smell, so prefer beer or wine and buy off-site spirits only from licensed shops. THE SUN ON THE RUINS IS THE OTHER REAL RISK AND IS SPECIFIC HERE: a kilometre of open marble with no shade, which people walk at midday because it is free and next to their hotel, and heat exhaustion is common and entirely preventable. The stone is uneven, polished slippery and unrailed, with open channels and unfenced drops at the agora and harbour edge. The beaches are sandy and gently shelving, among the easier on this coast, with partial lifeguard cover and the FCDO's standing warning never to dive into unknown water. Stray dogs are present with rabies in the country, so a bite needs immediate attention. 183 is the Turkish social support line.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the Turkey travel guide for women. The natural pair is the Alanya packing list, the other classical-and-medieval site inside a modern resort on this coast, and the Antalya packing list covers the region's city. West along the Lycian coast are the Kas packing list and the Fethiye packing list, and for the Aegean sites the Ephesus packing list and the Kusadasi packing list. Inland, the Cappadocia packing list. For why merino rather than cotton in humid heat with cool evenings, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
