What to Bring on a Suluada Boat Tour: The Honest Packing List

Pack swimwear, a towel, a hat, sunglasses, high-SPF sunscreen, sea shoes and some cash. That is the honest list, and it is short for a reason: there is no shop on Suluada. Whatever you leave behind stays behind until the boat docks again at 16:00.

Suluada is a small rocky island off the Adrasan coast, west of Antalya — a light-sand bay, water clear enough to see the seabed through, pine-clad cliffs standing over it. People call it the Turkish Maldives. Every cruise sails from Adrasan harbour; your pickup point only changes the road leg that gets you there.

Here is what to bring, what is already on board, and what is better off in the hotel safe.

The Essentials

Swimwear, worn under your clothes. The Side departure collects you between 05:30 and 06:00 and the boat leaves Adrasan at 09:40. When the engine cuts at the first swimming break, you want to be ready, not queuing to change.

A towel. Bring your own. Many hotels will lend you a beach towel if you ask at reception the evening before.

A hat and sunglasses. You are on open water for most of the day, and the sea doubles the light by throwing it straight back at you. A brim beats a cap.

High-SPF sunscreen — more than you think you need. Reapply after every swim, because the swimming breaks come one after another. There is nowhere on the island to buy a second bottle.

Sea shoes. Suluada is a rocky island with a sandy bay. Shoes turn getting in and out of the water over rock into a non-event, and they earn their space in the bag.

A bag for wet things. A dry bag, or simply a plastic bag, keeps a wet swimsuit away from your phone on the drive back.

Optional but genuinely useful: a light layer for the air-conditioned transfer, a change of clothes for the journey home, and your own snorkelling mask if you prefer one you trust.

Cash Is the Item People Forget

Your ticket covers the two-way hotel transfer, the cruise itself, guidance, all the swimming breaks and lunch on board. Two things sit outside it. Drinks from the boat's bar are excluded and paid separately, and the optional breakfast stop at Adrasan at around 08:30 is payable at the local restaurant. Both are worth having. Neither is worth discovering with an empty wallet at half past eight in the morning.

The tour itself is also settled on the day. €40 per adult from every pickup point on the coast, €30 per child aged 4–10, and infants 0–3 sail free — one flat price, no prepayment, booked free online. The prices page sets it out in full.

What Is Already on Board

Lunch is cooked and served on the boat: your choice of grilled fish or chicken with pasta or rice, daily Turkish mezes — stuffed vine leaves, stuffed peppers, lentil patties — and a seasonal salad, then seasonal fruit and Turkish tea afterwards. You do not need a packed lunch. Our guide to lunch on board walks through the whole table.

The Antalya departure also includes snorkelling masks and pool floats, along with marine insurance and harbour fees. If you sail from Side and snorkelling matters to you, bring your own mask — the swimming and snorkelling guide explains how the breaks are structured and where the clear water sits.

Packing by Departure

The two departures ask for slightly different things. From Side the day runs about ten hours door to door, pickup falls in the 05:30–06:00 window, and the minimum age on board is 6. Pack the night before — at that hour, nobody packs well.

From Antalya, Kemer or Beldibi the pickup window is 08:30–09:00 and the full day is around twelve hours. That departure sails Tuesday and Thursday all year, plus Saturday from April to October. The later start is kinder, the day is longer, and masks and floats are already waiting. If you are weighing one against the other, our Side versus Antalya comparison puts them side by side without spin.

Cameras, Valuables and What to Leave Behind

The bay photographs almost by itself. Light bounces off the pale sand under the water and produces the turquoise that earned the island its nickname. Two practical notes. First, there is no shop and no way to replace a drowned phone, so a waterproof pouch or a closable dry bag is worth the small effort. Second, the boat anchors offshore and, where conditions allow, tender boats shuttle guests into the bay — so anything you carry ashore should travel in something that shuts. Our photography guide covers the rest.

Leave jewellery and anything valuable in the safe. You will be moving between deck, tender boat and water, and salt water is unsentimental about electronics.

Leave the suitcase-sized beach bag as well; one small bag per family travels better than four separate ones. And leave the minute-by-minute schedule at home. Pickup times are confirmed individually inside the published windows, so the only plan you need is to be ready early.

That is the whole preparation. Book free online, choose your departure, pay on the tour day — and if anything on your list is unusual, such as a dietary requirement or a pickup point outside the standard bands, tell us in advance so we can confirm it before you travel.