A taxi in Side for the short rides that fill a holiday

The old town of Side is built on a narrow peninsula, and its streets are pedestrianised. Cars go no further than the car park by the ancient city gate, where the ancient walls meet the road and the monumental Vespasian gate stands beside the entrance. From there it is a walk of roughly a kilometre down the main street, past the Roman theatre and the museum in the old baths, to the harbour and the columns of the Temple of Apollo at the tip.

For anyone who would rather not walk it, a small road-train shuttles between the car park area and the harbour. Families with pushchairs and older travellers find it useful, especially on hot afternoons; in the evening, when the temperature drops and the lights come on along the waterfront, most people choose to stroll.

A taxi saves you the one genuinely tiresome part: finding a space in summer. The driver drops you at the gate and, if you like, comes back to the same spot at the time you choose, or when you send a message.

Hotels on the Side coast are spread along a long shoreline, and the distances between them are bigger than the brochure maps suggest. People often need a ride from one strip to another: to meet friends staying elsewhere, to try a different beach, or to get to a restaurant recommended by someone at the pool.

• Kumköy runs right up to the old town; from its western hotels the gate is close but not quite walking distance at night
• Evrenseki, Gündoğdu and Çolaklı lie further west along the beach, each with its own string of large resorts
• Sorgun sits east of Side in pine woods, with hotels set back among the trees and a quiet beach road
• Titreyengöl is named after the freshwater lake behind its dunes, a little further east again
• Kızılağaç continues the coast towards Alanya, with resorts that feel well away from the town

For all of these, our drivers know the gate arrangements, the back roads and which hotel entrance a guest actually means when they say the name. That knowledge is what keeps a ten-minute ride from turning into a twenty-minute one.

Manavgat is the working town behind the resorts, three to four kilometres inland of Side. On Mondays it holds a large market: fruit and vegetables piled high, spices, olives, cheese, textiles, shoes and household things. It gets busy by mid-morning, so going early is cooler and calmer. A taxi drops you near the market and picks you up with your bags when you are done, which is the main reason people book a car for it.

The Manavgat river runs through the town, and boats leave from the jetties along it for trips down to the river mouth, where the river meets the sea. Many of these tours include a stop for swimming and lunch. Your driver can drop you at the jetty and collect you at the end of the trip.

About four kilometres north of the town is the Manavgat waterfall: not tall, but wide and low, with the water spilling over a long ledge between shady trees, and restaurants and tea gardens along the bank. It is a short trip, ideal for an afternoon when the beach gets too hot, and an easy one to combine with the market or the river.

Dinner at the harbour in Side, a fish restaurant on the river in Manavgat, a show at another hotel: the trip out is easy to plan, and the trip back is the part that tends to go wrong. Hotel shuttles stop early, and at eleven at night the queue for a car at the old town gate can be long.

1. 1Book the ride outSend a WhatsApp message with your hotel, where you are going and when you would like to be picked up.
2. 2Agree the returnEither set a time now, or say you will message when you are ready. Both work; the price is agreed in advance either way.
3. 3Message when you are doneIf you chose the open return, write when dessert arrives. Dispatch tells you how long until the car is at the agreed meeting point.

Some guests also go to the Roman theatre at Aspendos for an evening performance, on nights when one is staged there. The theatre is about 45 minutes back towards Antalya, off the D400 near Serik. For an outing like that, the driver usually waits and brings you back after the show, so you are not looking for a car among the departing crowd.

The same cars and drivers can take you further afield for a day. Popular choices include Aspendos in daylight, Kaleiçi, Antalya's walled old quarter with its harbour, a round of golf in Belek, or Alanya with its castle on the rock. Inland, the road to Köprülü Canyon leads to the rafting stations, and north of Manavgat the Green Lake behind the Oymapınar dam makes a calm half-day trip.

For each trip you choose how it works: the driver waits while you visit, or drops you off and comes back at an agreed time. Tell us the plan, the number of people and the vehicle you want, and the price is fixed before you leave the hotel.

Side has more than one way of getting about, and each suits a different moment. The dolmuş, the shared minibus that runs along fixed routes, links Manavgat bus station with Side and with several of the hotel strips. It is cheap, frequent in season and used by locals and visitors alike; you flag it down at the roadside and pay the driver on board. It works well for a single person with a beach bag in daylight, less well for a family at eleven at night.

Metered taxis wait at ranks in Manavgat, near the old town and outside some of the larger hotels. They are convenient when one happens to be there, and the fare is set by the meter at the end of the ride.

A booked car from us sits between the two: arranged in advance or on the day, at a price agreed before you get in, with a driver who comes to your hotel door and, if you like, waits or returns for you. For a group, for children who need seats, or for anything with a fixed time at the other end, that certainty is usually what people are paying for.

The quickest way is WhatsApp on +90 551 464 26 32. Write where you are, where you are going, how many people and when. A phone call to the same number works too, in English or Turkish. Dispatch is open around the clock, every day of the season and outside it.

We do not publish a list of local fares, because short rides vary so much: one person from Kumköy to the old town gate is a different job from a family of six with a pushchair going from Çolaklı to the waterfall and back. Instead, every local ride is quoted when you ask, and the price is agreed before the car sets off. There is no meter running, and the figure does not change once you are in the car.