Pairing your Side days
Dolphin Tour or Quad Safari in Side: Planning Around Sea and Weather
On a quad safari you ride the machine yourself, off-road. On the dolphin tour a boat takes you down the river and out to sea. Here is how to order the two, especially if you travel alone or the forecast looks unsettled.
Short answer
If you want to ride, book a quad safari; if you want the sea, book the dolphin tour: a river cruise, a dip where the river water runs into the sea, lunch from the grill on deck, a long swim off Dolphin Island and foam on the way home. The boat sails daily from 1 April to 15 November, weather permitting, so give it the earlier date and let the land day fill in around it.
Riding versus being carried
A quad day is about handling a machine on rough ground: it asks for attention and a bit of nerve. The dolphin tour asks for neither. The captain and crew run the boat; you choose when to swim, when to sit at the bow and when to join the music.
That difference is useful when planning. Put the active day where you have energy, and the boat where you want a day that runs itself.
Weather: why the boat gets the earlier date
The dolphin tour runs weather permitting. If the boat cannot sail on your date, nothing has been charged online, so there is nothing to refund: we contact you, and you can move to another date or cancel. Moving only helps if there are days left, which is why the boat belongs early in your stay.
Our weather and wind guide explains what that phrase means for your plans. How a quad day deals with the weather is for the quad site to say.
Choosing the date inside your stay
The reasoning behind each line is in our guide to picking a day for the dolphin tour.
- Any day from 1 April to 15 November: the boat sails daily in that window.
- Early in the holiday, so a weather day can still move.
- Not the day before your flight home.
- Not straight after another full day out, quads included.
Travelling on your own
Both days work for a solo traveller. On the dolphin tour you book a single seat on a shared boat, pay one adult fare of €21, and are collected like everyone else: the day before, a phone call or WhatsApp message gives you your pickup time. Lunch on deck and the foam party are sociable without asking anything of you. The solo traveller guide has the details.
Booking the pair
The quad safari is sold by our sister site quadsafariside.com; see it for its price, times and what is included. On our side, the dolphin tour page has the full day: €21 for each adult and €15 for each child aged 2 to 10, hotel pickup and lunch included. Nothing is paid online, and cancelling without charge stays open until 48 hours before. Reserve your seats when you have picked the date.
Side Dolphin Island Tour: the price, what it covers, booking
