Saklıkent Canyon Adventure Tour

Saklıkent means "hidden city" in Turkish, and the name makes sense the moment the walls close in. The gorge runs roughly 18 kilometres into the Akdağ limestone and drops as much as 300 metres, deep enough in places that the sky is reduced to a bright crack far overhead. Snowmelt keeps the river flowing all year, and it stays cold enough to make you gasp on the hottest August afternoon.

You enter on a wooden walkway bolted to the rock face, following the water upstream until the boardwalk runs out. From there the canyon floor is the path. Wading begins at a shallow crossing where the current pushes hard against your shins; after that the ground alternates between gravel bars, smooth grey clay banks and standing pools. Rubber slippers are handed out, and they matter more than anything else you carry.

How far you go is up to you. Many people stop after twenty minutes at the first wide chamber, which is where most of the photographs come from. Stronger walkers keep scrambling over boulders deeper into the slot.

• Shorts or trousers you can roll above the knee
• A dry bag or sealed pouch for phone and wallet
• A towel and a change of clothes for the drive home
• Sun protection for the open ground before the gorge mouth

WeCare collects you from your hotel door and travels in an air-conditioned Mercedes, so the morning is not spent being shuttled between meeting points. Your guide works in English, entrance fees are covered, insurance is included, and lunch at a local restaurant is part of the package — in this valley that usually means a shaded terrace built out over the trout channels.

Set aside a full day. The canyon lies well west of Antalya, and the drive through the Lycian hinterland, past greenhouses, cotton fields and cedar ridges, is a real part of the experience rather than dead time.