Great "Cheap Holidays & Excursions" Hunt: Southern Turkey

MSE_Jenny · 30 June 2009 at 12:05PM

What’s this about? The weak pound means buying things abroad costs up to 30% more. To help, we're launching a Great ‘Cheap Holidays & Excursions’ Hunt, tapping the massive collective resource of all MoneySavers. Did you find a bargain way to book outings, or cut costs on places to go?

We've split this into popular holiday destinations. This discussion is specifically to talk about tips for attractions & days out in:

Southern Turkey
(inc. Antalya)

If you want to discuss other excursions for other destinations, please go to the appropriate discussion below.

If you’ve got a suggestion/tip

Simply click reply and add your suggestion, though its worth scanning down first to check it's not been duplicated.

Related Great 'Cheap Holidays & Excursions' Hunt Discussions

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Ibiza
Canary Islands
Greek Islands
Orlando
Phuket
Costa Blanca (inc. Benidorm)
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Algarve
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Related guides:

Cheap Package Holidays
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thamesmatt · 1 July 2009 at 11:47AM

Hi, just got back from Kalkan, Southern Turkey. Nothing really mega cheap as they have a habit of selling things in Euros.

However, a couple of things to watch out for.

If you fly Thomas Cook be prepared for an awful experience. The legroom is 28 inches which is 3 inches less than the much maligned BA. I'm 6ft 3 and I couldnt actually fit my legs into the seat. I was helpfully moved to a front row seat for £30! the planes are freezing and they "rent" blankets to you! there is constant stream of deafening announcement for stratchcards, duty free drinks and snacks so if you take a night or late evening flight as I did its impossible to sleep. They make Ryanair look like Silverjet!

What made it worse was the fact it was a similar price to flying BA to Antalya. This is no budget airline!!! Antalya was 30 mins further to drive though so we stupidly opted for Thomas Cook. Never again!

If you are going with them be sure to bring your own sandwiches, drinks snacks etc...

Anyway, once at Dalaman airport we noted that they are in full tourist rip off mode. The cafe outside charged £7 for 2 cans of coke and around £5 for a beer.

In Kalkan its much more reasonable without being cheap. You can hire a boat all to yourself for about 350 lira, (2.5 to the pound). you dont have to choose the standard general public ones if there is group of you. You spend the day sailing around the bay, swimming, snorkelling, sunbathing and they feed you so all in all for 6 of us we ate great food, drank and sailed around the bay for less than £30 each!

Salikent Gorge is a must and the restaurant at the bottom does reasonable food and its not a rip off despite its fantastic location.

Patara Beach, world heritage site, where St Nicolas (santa) was born, supposedly the 3rd best beach in the world! it isnt but it is 5 Lira each to enter although you do have all the old ruins and a splendid lycean stadium.

Myra where Santa lived and died is worth a visit too. splendid tombs carved into stone, 8 lira to enter though!

Kas is lovely, Kalkan is lovely and thoroughly recommended!

Tourist prices operate everywhere and the Turks are very savvy in terms of what Brits earn/will pay/ what they can get away with. Dont expect much haggling even in the markets, you will get a bit of discount but not much!

Matt

Becles · 1 July 2009 at 1:19PM

We went to Olu Deniz this year.

Book trips with the locals rather than through the tour operator. It's much cheaper and you get better value. Ask the locals for advice and you will get a better deal. We had Turkish bath in a proper Turkish hamam with Turkish people, rather than the conveyor line tourist offering.

Use public transport and taxi's to make your own way to local attractions like nearby towns, markets, beaches etc. It costs much less than tour operators trips.

I agree with the tips on Dalaman airport. We travelled back on the 8th June and you were allowed to take liquid right through the airport and onto the plane. We bought sandwiches and water in the resort and took them with us.

In Olu Deniz, the bars, restaurants and shops in the side streets and towards the back of the resort were cheaper than the ones on the main street and beachfront. It is worth paying a bit more if you want to sit by the beach and watch the sunset though - it's gorgeous!

mikeashbee · 1 July 2009 at 6:38PM

I have been holidaying near Fethiye for some years, and have an apartment there, also a house near Altinkum. Sorry I do not let them! I am not sure if you are allowed to post links but I can recommend www.calis-beach.co.uk for loads of independent advice. Main advice is haggle, haggle, haggle!!!

Davros78 · 1 July 2009 at 7:08PM

Hello

I went to Patara last year for a week which was lovely but as mentioned above food at Dalaman airport was extortionate!! We had been warned but I was still amazed at how expensive it was and the lack of choice - A MacDonalds would have worked out at about £30+ for 2 of us!

In Patara the food at the Golden Palace pensions was fantastic - really really good home cooking and very reasonably priced!

wannaberichbtch · 1 July 2009 at 7:34PM

Thanks Thamesmatt for Thomas Cook info, Ive got my first flight with them to Bodrum in October,and only picked it for the convenience of the date. Will pack my beach towel as cabin baggage too keep warm, and take some earplugs! Have been too Turkey a couple of times. If you can fit it in a £15.00 each way per person domestic flight to Istanbul with Pegasus airlines is good value for an amazing city break (Best if you can go from Izmir to Attaturk). Haggle with local agents for trips and expect a discount for multiple bookings. Alcohol, especially wine is expensive in Turkey due to government tax, so all inclusive is usually cost effective if you like a drink.

greenface · 1 July 2009 at 11:26PM

going in july for the first time to Marmaris . Mankchester to Dalaman with Onur Air any advice or problems with this airline and general tips on marmaris will be helpful thanks 3 adults (1 wheelchair) 1@ 12yo

fi-be · 2 July 2009 at 10:32AM

My tips for travelling to Southern Turkey:
* Don't exchange all your money into Lira - Take sterling as the market traders, excursion trip companies, and hotels all accept Sterling, and will give you a much better price than they would in Lira.
* We used the company Holiday Taxi's to transfer us to and from the airport. Cost far less than the holiday operators charge, and it was a lovely air conditioned mercedes with TV, free bottles of water and magazines! Plus, it helps to miss the rush at the airport when the coaches arrive by getting them to collect you half an hour earlier/later.
* Be careful (as always) with the weight of your luggage when leaving. There's no where to weigh them, and they take your bag from you at the desk so that you can't reduce the weight once you hand it over. Once again the exchange rate they charge you for paying in Lira (rather than sterling) is no where even close to the official exchange rate.
* Can confirm other posts on the cost of food and drink at Dalaman airport. A shot of whiskey with ice costs £27!
Enjoy!

Keith9122 · 2 July 2009 at 11:02PM

I have been to Marmaris many times and would like to pass on some tips/suggestions for an enjoyable stay.

I normally stay at the Epic hotel (B&B) I eat at the "Yes Sir" restaurant across the road cos they are a great bunch especially JJ.
If you like a curry and also need some Turkish Lira firstly book a table at the Taj Mahal on the main road to Icemeler it is great!!! when you have finished cross the road and head for the seafront on the left hand side of this road is a change shop who give the best exchange rates in Marmaris otherwise use the local mini markets as they were good last year.
If you fancy a boat trip go to Sunshine Boat and ask for "Ali" and tell him Keith & Ruth recommended him. ask him for all inclusive especially if you like a few beers as it is included in the cost.
I never fly THOMAS COOK but do like Thomson or Monarch

All you need do now is ENJOY YOURSELF!!!!!:j:j:beer:

macwise · 3 July 2009 at 4:15PM

Marmaris is a fantastic place for a holiday - the best I've found in Turkey so far, and I've tried Kusadasi, Izmir, Istanbul, Cesme, and Antalya.

I can't remember who we flew with (prob Thomas Cook) but we stayed in a hotel on the seafront for 2 weeks (called Friendly or Best Friends - something like that) and it only cost us £199 each inc flights and transfers, so we weren't complaining.

As someone else quite rightly said, the furthest away from the seafront and the main drag is usually where you find the cheapest deals. However, the best AND cheapest place we found to eat was actually on the seafront, not too far from our hotel. It was probably aimed at Turkish tourists and hardly any Brits went there so I'm guessing you would need to speak Turkish a bit to order. Proper home cooked style Turkish food, set out in baine maries so you can see what it looks like and its served immediately too. Delicious and very affordable! :T

As a general rule when shopping, the more chatty you can be with the sellers the better price you will get. As there are usually no prices on items in holiday resort areas, if you brighten their day, they have the power to brighten yours.

macwise · 3 July 2009 at 4:36PM

greenface wrote: »

going in july for the first time to Marmaris . Mankchester to Dalaman with Onur Air any advice or problems with this airline and general tips on marmaris will be helpful thanks 3 adults (1 wheelchair) 1@ 12yo

I'm sorry to say I've had a bad experience with Onur Air and I vowed never to fly with them again. I had an 11 hour delay on the way back from Dalaman, because there was something wrong with the plane. I can only guess that by the time they checked out the problem and decided to fly, we had missed our slot, because no one could tell us anything!!! Their English speaking was very limited but I'm not sure that the cabin crew were even being kept informed.:eek: They tried to keep us on the plane for a long, long time but some passengers demanded to be let off so they had no choice but to let us all get off.

We were herded back into the departure lounge, then kept in there for half the day, where we could only purchase bottles of water for about one euro each and were offered no refreshment or explanation. As you can imagine, passengers were getting pretty irate by this time and started helping themselves to water from the shop which was left unattended. Cabin crew called security and tried to make people pay for what they had used but it was chaos. :mad:

Eventually they took us to a local hotel and gave us somewhere to wash, eat and snooze (if you can sleep in a foyer surrounded by strangers). Announcements were eventually forthcoming about what would happen next but no one ever explained why we hadn't taken off. As a result, when we were finally boarded (11 hours later) I was terrified. I'm not normally afraid of flying but other passengers were convinced it was the same plane we had earlier and I had no faith left in the airline by that time.

However, looking back with the benefit of hindsight, I'm grateful that we were delayed - rather than the flight leaving on time if there was potentially something wrong - so I'm not suggesting the airline is unsafe. Merely lacking in a good communications policy for incidents like this. Better communication could have resolved a lot of the frustrations of that awful day. :mad:

Great "Cheap Holidays & Excursions" Hunt: Southern Turkey

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