Koprulu Canyon Rafting

The canyon lies within Köprülü Canyon National Park, established in 1973 to protect 366 square kilometres of Mediterranean forest and the river corridor that supports 115 bird species and the endangered Anatolian leopard. The gorge is Türkiye's longest and deepest navigable canyon, and koprulu canyon rafting has drawn paddlers since the early 1980s when the first commercial operators mapped the rapids.

The Oluk Bridge spans the narrowest section of the canyon, a single Roman arch built in the second century under Emperor Hadrian. The bridge rises seven metres above the water, its keystone intact, and koprulu canyon rafting tours pass directly beneath it at the halfway mark of the descent. Archaeologists date the structure to 175 CE based on tool marks in the voussoirs and the absence of mortar, a technique abandoned after the third century. The bridge carried the Via Sebaste, the imperial road linking Perge to the Pamphylian highlands, and its piers show grooves worn by cart wheels over 18 centuries of use.

Köprülü Canyon National Park rafting season runs March through November, with water levels peaking in April and May from snowmelt in the western Taurus range. The river carries Class II and III rapids across its 14-kilometre route, with eight named drops including the Cascade rapid at kilometre six, where the river narrows to four metres and accelerates over a two-metre ledge. Operators launch from Beşkonak village at 320 metres elevation and extract at Bolasan bridge two hours downstream. The canyon floor supports endemic Anatolian black pine and calabrian pine, species that thrive in the microclimate created by the river's thermal inertia.

Köprülü kanyon rafting fiyat varies by operator but centres around 400 Turkish lira per person as of 2026, inclusive of transport from Antalya, safety equipment, and lunch on the riverbank. The park itself charges no entrance fee, and visitors access the canyon via a paved road from Manavgat that climbs 18 kilometres into the Taurus foothills. The site receives 180,000 rafters annually, with numbers controlled by a national park permit system that limits daily launches to preserve water quality and nesting sites for the Egyptian vulture, which breeds on ledges in the upper canyon.