The wide white curtain
Only five metres tall, but the whole river drops over one shelf with a volume that earned it a place on the old 5-lira note.
Thomas Gensler — CC BY-SA 2.0 de · Demonlord1982 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Evatutin — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Evatutin — CC BY-SA 4.0
It is barely five metres high, yet Türkiye put it on the 5-lira banknote from 1968 to 1983. The point was never height. The whole Manavgat River tips over a single limestone shelf here, turning from placid green to a roaring white curtain that fills the banks with spray and noise. The water rises from springs in the Taurus mountains, so it stays cold even in August, which is precisely why locals have treated this bank as their refuge from coastal heat for generations. The site is a fenced municipal park: you pay around 50 lira a head at the gate (museum passes are not valid), then follow paved, shaded and pushchair-friendly paths to viewing platforms on the bank. Fish restaurants and tea gardens sit right over the water, souvenir stalls line the way in, and there is grilled corn and çay to be had while the children watch fish in the shallows. Swimming is forbidden, and rightly so: the current is fierce and the water genuinely cold. Manage your expectations. The falls themselves are a twenty- to thirty-minute stop; anything longer is a riverside sit-down. In July and August coach groups roll in from noon until mid-afternoon, and the gate fee is set by the municipality and can change with the season. Go before ten in the morning, or come between April and June when the flow is at its strongest. In winter, heavy rain or a release from the Oymapınar dam upstream can drown the cascade entirely, leaving a broad, angry river with no step in it. Getting here from Side is easy: about 12 km, 15 to 20 minutes by car or taxi, with parking at the entrance. By public transport, take the dolmuş from Side to Manavgat bus station and pick up the short Şelale minibus from there. Most visitors come on the standard half-day tour from Side or Alanya that bundles the falls with a boat trip on the river and Manavgat market (Monday is the big one). With your own car, carry on around 15 km north to Oymapınar dam and the Green Canyon, which round out the morning nicely.
Only five metres tall, but the whole river drops over one shelf with a volume that earned it a place on the old 5-lira note.
Fish restaurants and tea gardens sit right over the water, and the cold spray makes them the best seat around in August heat.
Oymapınar dam and the Green Canyon lie around 15 km further up the same road, turning the stop into a full morning by car.
Şelale Mahallesi, Manavgat, Antalya
On its own it does not justify more than half an hour; it is low and small next to the Düden falls in Antalya. It works best folded into the river boat trip and Manavgat market, or as a stop on the drive to the Green Canyon. With children it is an easy, shaded pause with no walking to speak of.
No. The current is strong and the water bitterly cold even in summer, and swimming is explicitly banned. For time on the water, take the river boat trip or continue to the Oymapınar reservoir, where the boat tours make swimming stops in the lake.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet — be the first.