Side - Turkey

21yrold

Hi all!

I'm going to Side on the 23rd of October with my gf, we have never been away together before and wondered if anyone knew of good places to visit/day trips etc?

We are staying in the Majesty Club Palm Beach Hotel after reading reviews etc and seems perfect as is all inclusive aswell, but we might want to eat out or do things off the hotel for extra!

Is it best to take over a few turkey lira then change £'s while over there? is this easy to do?

Will we be made aware of this £10 visa before we leave the airport! i don't want us getting in trouble haha

Thanks guys, i just want to make it special for her tbh :-)

PompeyPete

All your questions can be answered on here...

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowForum-g297968-i1200-Side_Turkish_Mediterranean_Coast.html

We didn't think Side much of a true Turkish experience. The ampitheatre is alright, and there's quite a lot of disorganised archaeological bits.
Have a day out in Alanya, Antalya and Manavgat. All easy enough to do by public transport.

wallbash

Will we be made aware of this £10 visa before we leave

You will be buying the £10 visa as soon as you get off of the plane . Follow everyone else to the booths , pay .......... then go thru passport control .

Another one here who did not think much of Side. At least it wont be as busy as its is in a July evening!!

As for currency , everything you will see will be marked in the Euro . Do you want to pay/convert to the Lira to save a little ?? your choice.But remember you lose out again if converting back.

djmagic

side is a lovely place to visit.... it will be quiet for sure ... not many boat trips or excursions for sure but if there are any you can haggle and get the price down.. they prefer the euro and you will find many germans and russians there.... enjoy your holiday..

21yrold

All i want from the holiday is to lay by the pool and sunbathe hehe

I will keep a eye out for the boats etc and thanks, i will take a mixture of all 3 currencies i think

Thanks for the advice about the visa.

wallbash

Re-reading your OP , you are going Ai , thats the way I go . I spend very little money ( not really tight fisted). Using ATM in Side is easy , so don't get to many TLira or Euro to take with you .As I said it costs to convert back .

To give you an example of my spending when in Side ( July a couple of years back)
Less than £100 , that for three of us. I bought 2 pairs of fake 501 's jeans . Look for the jeans dummies!the rest was spent on Taxi fares to reach the town centre.

hollie.weimeraner

We stayed just outside Side 10 years ago and went back to Turkey this year (Belek) and had a day out in Side. Side itself is lovely (we think so anyway) but the big difference between now and 10 years ago is that everything is expensive now - even the fake designer clothes/handbags.

We visited Manavgat market 10 years ago but didn't go back this time. Might be well worth a visit as it's the biggest matket in the area.

As far as currency is concerned you'll get a far better rate using the ATM provided you don't have one of the "cards from hell".

Oh and Turkey is the first holiday destination I've been to where petrol is dearer than the UK. 4.34TL per litre (£1.61 per litre) although diesel is slightly cheaper than UK.

claire16c

The hotel I stayed in Side was lovely. Thank god because Side itself was awful. I would never go back again, sorry to say.

We were half board so had to no need to eat outside the hotel, but one night we decided to try a restaurant (as we normally go self catering or B&B as I hate eating in the same hotel each night and like to get out and explore) needless to say we never left the hotel again.

Ive been to Egypt, but the level of hassling we got in Side was over and above that. We were hassled all the way along the beach - resorting to walking in the sea just to get out of earshot of any beach bar/restaurant owners, and then we were pestered non-stop by waiters. One of them grabbed my hand, would barely let go, they would find out your name to try to make you feel rude if you said no to them, some of them practically shouted at us, it was unbearable. Then when we finally got in somewhere they tried to con us into buying way more fish than we wanted.

I then wanted to see the amphitheatre, got a few pics of us there, but its not looked after properly and was a shame to see graffiti and a nightclub in it! Then we decided to get some drinks to take back to the hotel and walking into the shops was literally like running a gauntlet of people hassling us! We had to pretend we were with other people or didnt speak english, all sorts just to try and get away from some of them.

So youll have a great holiday if you avoid the town centre and stay in your hotel or do a couple of trips! There was nothing to buy there anyway, just a load of tacky souvenirs and leather clothing that looked like it was from the 1980s. Which is great for the russians of course

So I would advise booking a couple of trips where you can get on a coach and just get out of the place without having to physically walk through it!

PompeyPete

claire16c wrote: »

The hotel I stayed in Side was lovely. Thank god because Side itself was awful. I would never go back again, sorry to say.

When did you go?
I was there March this year, and while I didn't think much of Side (town side of the ampitheatre), the hassle was fairly minimal. That's because the local council were well aware of the problem and clamped down on it quite hard.

PompeyPete

wallbash wrote: »

As for currency , everything you will see will be marked in the Euro . Do you want to pay/convert to the Lira to save a little ?? your choice.But remember you lose out again if converting back.

If you do go down the Euro route then make sure you get your euros in low demoninational notes because any change you receive from vendors will be in Turkish Lira!