The cave behind the falls
A stone stair leads into a wet hollow behind the curtain of water; slippery underfoot and unforgettable.
Saffron Blaze — CC BY 3.0 · Saffron Blaze — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Sinan Şahin — CC BY 3.0 · Sinan Şahin — CC BY 3.0
One river makes two waterfalls that have almost nothing in common, and the whole trick is knowing which one you mean before you get in the car. This page is the Upper Düden (Düdenbaşı) in Kepez, about ten kilometres north of central Antalya: a river that resurfaces after a spell underground through the limestone, then drops fifteen to twenty metres into a narrow green gorge several degrees cooler and damper than the street you have just left. Locals also call it the Alexander Falls, after a folk tale that Alexander the Great watered his horses here on his march through the region. What sets it apart from every other cascade in the region is the rock passage behind the curtain. You take a stone stair down, duck at the cave mouth, and stand in a wet hollow with the whole river crashing past your face at a volume that swallows everything else. The floor is permanently slippery, children adore it, and parents hold hands tightly. The park around it is a tidy municipal affair: paved paths along the river, picnic lawns, little timber bridges, and cafes and restaurants, some sitting right over the water, serving fresh fish, tea and grilled corn. With small children and a pushchair, the upper level of the park is flat and easy; the cave and the descent to the gorge floor are stairs and spray, so park the buggy at the top and take turns. In August heat this is one of the few spots in Antalya that cools its own air, which is why the city's own families come in the afternoon. The catch is that coach tours arrive around midday and turn the narrow passage behind the falls into a photo queue, so an early weekday morning is the golden hour. Flow is fullest in spring after the winter rains and can thin noticeably by late summer. The Lower Düden, twelve kilometres away at Lara, is a different spectacle altogether: the same river leaping about forty metres off a sea cliff straight into the Mediterranean, seen free from the clifftop park or from the boat trips out of the old Kaleiçi harbour. If you have time for only one, the upper falls are the one you go into and spend two hours in; the lower is the one you look at and photograph in half an hour.
A stone stair leads into a wet hollow behind the curtain of water; slippery underfoot and unforgettable.
Cafes and restaurants perched right over the water, with fresh fish, tea and air several degrees cooler than the city.
Arrive at opening on a weekday and the passage behind the falls is yours before the midday tour queues.
Düdenbaşı Mahallesi, Varsak, Kepez, Antalya
If you want somewhere to spend two hours with children, walk behind the water and eat by the river, it is the upper falls in Kepez. If you want one spectacular photo of a river leaping into the sea, no ticket needed, it is the lower falls at Lara. Summer visitors with a family usually pick the upper one, because the shade and the cool there are real.
The upper level of the park, yes: paved paths, lawns and restaurants. The cave and the descent to the gorge floor are wet, slippery stone stairs, no good for a buggy or anyone who struggles with steps, so take turns going down.
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