Food Allergies and Special Diets on the Suluada Boat

Tell us when you book. That is the whole system, and it works better than anything you can arrange at the harbour on the day.

Lunch on a Suluada day is cooked on board, in a working galley, for everyone sailing that morning. That has an obvious upside — the food is fresh and hot in the middle of the sea — and one honest limitation: it is one kitchen, not a restaurant with a separate allergen station. This page sets out what is served, what can be adapted, and where we stop promising.

What Is Actually Served

The menu is fixed and simple. Lunch is grilled fish or chicken — you choose — with pasta or rice. Alongside come the day's Turkish mezes, typically stuffed vine leaves, stuffed peppers and lentil patties, plus a seasonal salad. Afterwards there is seasonal fruit and Turkish tea.

That is the meal in full. There is no second menu, no à la carte and no buffet of alternatives. Drinks from the bar are not included and are paid separately, water included, so bring cash if you drink more than the tea that follows lunch.

Two things follow. First, most of the plate is naturally free of the least common allergens: grilled protein, a starch, vegetable mezes and salad. Second, there is no shop on the island and nowhere to buy an alternative once you sail. If lunch does not work for you, nothing on the itinerary fixes it. A fuller walk-through of the meal is in Suluada lunch: what to expect, and the food side of the product is set out on our boat tour with lunch page.

Tell Us When You Book, Not on the Morning

The crew provisions the boat before it sails. A note that reaches us at booking can be planned around; a note delivered at 05:30 in a hotel lobby usually cannot.

So write it down when you reserve, or message us afterwards with your booking name and the detail. Useful things to tell us: the allergy or the diet, whether it is a preference or a medical necessity, and how many people in your party it affects. "One vegetarian, one child who will not eat fish" is more useful to a galley than "we have some dietary requirements".

Then repeat it to the guide on the day. Two mentions cost nothing and close the gap between an office note and a plate of food.

Vegetarian, Vegan and Gluten-Free: The Honest Position

Vegetarian is the easiest of the three. The mezes, the salad and the pasta or rice are the natural base of a vegetarian plate, and telling us in advance means the crew keeps enough of them back rather than serving them as a side to everyone else's fish. What we will not do is invent a separate vegetarian main course that does not exist on the boat.

Vegan and gluten-free are harder, and we would rather be blunt than vague. We can pass your note to the crew and they will do what a small galley can do. We cannot guarantee that every meze is free of dairy, that no sauce contains wheat, or that the same surfaces and utensils are not used for everything. If you eat strictly, plan to supplement with food you bring yourself.

That advice is not us shrugging. It is the same advice we would give a friend: on a boat, ten hours from a supermarket, the reliable meal is the one in your own bag.

Serious Allergies: Carry a Backup

If a reaction would be dangerous rather than uncomfortable, treat the on-board lunch as a bonus and not as your meal plan.

Tell us at booking so the crew knows. Tell the guide again in the morning. Carry your own food, carry your own medication in your day bag rather than in a suitcase, and make sure whoever you are travelling with knows where it is and how to use it. There is no shop on the island and no pharmacy in the bay — the day is built around a boat, an island and open water, which is wonderful right up until you need something you did not bring.

We will not tell you a shared galley is allergen-free, because no honest operator can. What we can do is make sure the crew is not surprised.

Children, Fussy Eaters and the Breakfast Stop

Children who dislike fish can have chicken; that choice is built into the menu, so it is rarely a problem. For a younger child who eats a narrow list of things, the sensible move is to bring their favourites and treat the rest as a happy accident. More on travelling with children in Suluada with kids.

There is one more eating opportunity, on the Side departure only. After pickup the Suluada boat tour from Side makes an optional breakfast stop at Adrasan around 08:30, paid at the local restaurant rather than included in the ticket. It is a normal restaurant with normal choices — useful if you left the hotel in the 05:30–06:00 pickup window and before the breakfast buffet opened. The boat then sails at 09:40 and docks back at 16:00, about 10 hours door to door, and the minimum age on this departure is 6.

The Suluada boat tour from Antalya sails Tuesday and Thursday all year, plus Saturday from April to October, with pickup between 08:30 and 09:00 from central Antalya, Kemer and Beldibi and around 12 hours in total. Snorkelling masks and pool floats are included on that boat.

Lunch is included on both, at the same flat price: €40 per adult, €30 per child aged 4–10, infants 0–3 free, booked free online and paid on the tour day, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure.