We run our Side quad safari as a morning session or an afternoon session, and your exact pick-up time is confirmed with your booking rather than published as a fixed hour. Both sessions follow the same route, with the same guides, the same briefing and the same price: €25 per adult and €15 per child, about 3 hours door to door. The choice is about how the rest of your day is built, not about getting a better ride.
Why there is no clock time on the page
Hotel pick-up and drop-off are free, and the transfer runs a loop through the resorts around Side, so the minute you are collected depends on where your hotel sits on that loop. We confirm it with your reservation instead of printing a number that would be wrong for half our guests. The shape of the day is fixed: pick-up, a short transfer to our base, safety briefing, supervised test drive, then roughly 1.5 to 2 hours of riding before showers and the ride home. Our hotel-to-hotel walkthrough follows that sequence step by step.
What genuinely differs between the sessions
Light, and the photos you take home
The morning gives you lower, softer light and long shadows across the forest tracks, which is the kinder setting for faces under a helmet visor. The afternoon runs the other way: harder light at the start, then warmer, richer colour as the sun drops behind the Taurus foothills, which is why afternoon riders tend to come home with the more dramatic frames. Photo and video service is a paid extra at our base in both sessions; if you bring your own camera, our quad safari photo and GoPro notes apply either way.
Dust, mud and the state of the track
This is the difference riders actually feel. In the morning the ground has had the night to settle: less loose dust hanging in the convoy, water still standing in the mud pits, a surface that reads a little firmer under the tyres. By the afternoon the same track has been worked all day, so ruts are deeper, the mud sections are looser and messier, and there is more dust behind the machine in front of you.
Neither state is a problem; they suit different tastes. Want the cleaner, tidier version of the route? Ride in the morning. Want the track at its most chewed-up and the biggest spray out of the water splashes? That is the afternoon. Either way, goggles and a bandana are sold at our base as paid extras, and in the afternoon they earn their money.
How the ride fits the rest of your hotel day
A quad safari is not a full-day commitment. About 3 hours door to door means the morning session hands you back a hotel afternoon: shower at our base, then pool, beach or the ruins in Side with the day still ahead of you. The afternoon reverses it. Slow breakfast, a swim, a lazy stretch on the sun bed, then the ride, then back cleaned up and ready for dinner. In high summer that timing question changes character a little, and we cover it in our guide to quad safari in the summer heat.
Who tends to pick which
| If your day looks like this | Session most guests choose |
|---|---|
| Early riser who wants the day free afterwards | Morning |
| Beach or pool in the morning is non-negotiable | Afternoon |
| Young children with a fixed nap rhythm | Whichever block sits clear of the nap |
| You want softer light and a settled, cleaner track | Morning |
| You want the messiest mud and warm low sun | Afternoon |
| All-inclusive meal times rule your day | The block that misses your main meal |
Families think hardest about this, and the deciding factor is almost never the terrain: it is meals and naps. Children ride as belted passengers from age 6, and a tired passenger stops enjoying the second half of the route, so pick the block that leaves them fresh.
What does not change, whichever you pick
- The route. Same forest tracks, dust, mud pits and water-splash stops in the Taurus foothills behind Side.
- The price. €25 adult, €15 child, infants free, paid on the day at our base.
- The safety routine. Briefing, supervised test drive and a helmet before anyone rides.
- The convoy. Guides front and back, maximum 40 guests per departure.
- The rules. Drivers from 16 with ID at the base; passengers from 6, securely belted.
- The base. Free changing cabins and showers; drinks, snacks, goggles and bandanas sold there.
The supervised test drive also settles who drives: if you are not comfortable on the machine afterwards, you ride behind a driver as a belted passenger, identically at both times of day. Departures are listed on the quad safari page.
One note on buggies
If you are weighing sessions because half your group would rather sit side by side with a steering wheel, roll cage and seat belts than steer a single-rider ATV, the machine matters more than the hour, and the Side buggy safari (€30 adult, €18 child, about 4 hours) is the better answer for them.
Frequently asked questions
Is the morning or the afternoon quad safari better?
Neither is better as a ride: route, guides and price are identical. Morning gives a settled, less dusty track and a free afternoon; the afternoon gives a chewed-up track, warm low light and a lazy morning first.
Do the two sessions cost the same?
Yes. The Side quad safari is €25 per adult and €15 per child in both sessions, infants free, paid on the day at our base. Booking online is free.
What time will I be picked up?
We confirm the exact time when your booking is confirmed, because it depends on where your hotel falls on the pick-up loop. That is why we ask you to choose morning or afternoon rather than an hour.
Is the afternoon session dustier?
Usually, yes. The track has been ridden all day by then, so there is more loose dust and the mud sections are more churned. Goggles and a bandana from our base deal with it.
Pick the block that fits your holiday and leave the rest to us: book the Side quad safari free now and pay on the day at our base, €25 per adult and €15 per child, morning or afternoon, with your exact pick-up time confirmed with your reservation.