Turkey Tips please

PompeyPete

maman wrote: »

It's just like the UK in that respect. Imagine the difference perhaps between Southwold and Blackpool. Horses for courses.

Horses for courses is fine, but a lot of folk (horses) don't know where the course was. Then, when they've had a crap time they'll moan like heck tarring the whole country.

I can count half-a-dozen blokes that I know who've recently been to Turkish resorts. In conversation they hadn't got a clue which resort is was though, as they only went to appease 'her indoors' who did all the booking and organising. They admitted the beer was good, the kebabs great and much tastier than at home.

So I reckon lots of people judge a whole country and it's people on their one or two week closeted on AI in a small manufactured tourist trap like Side.

claire16c

PompeyPete wrote: »

Claire 16c.

I think Turkey is a fantastic destination, but the one place I didn't go much on was the Side tourist area. Too tacky and plastic, and hardly a good advert for Turkey. But get away from that area and things change for the better, much better.

We were on a D-i-Y tour, so we only had a couple of nights there. We stayed on B&B at the Leda Beach Hotel, just outside the tourist area, and it was fantastic value. Obviously on B&B you can choose where you go for your main meals, and finding busy, quality and inexpensive eateries not far from the tourist area was easy.

But as for hassle. There was none. Blatant hassling of tourists in Side was banned a while ago by the municipality. Anyone caught hassling or reported as being a nuisance to tourists might find themselves in a bit of bother. I'm not suggesting it's been eradicated completely but like I mention there are consequences.

So what went on a few years ago when you visited isn't the situation you'll find today.:)

Can they really change their behaviour that much? The hassling was worse there than anything I've encountered in say Asia or like I said Egypt.

I hope they have clamped down on it and what you say is true, but it's not somewhere ill be going back to! And not just due to the hassling.

PompeyPete

Claire

Have a look on the TA forum for Side...

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

I'm sure if getting continually hassled was still a problem then the forum would be littered with threads on the subject.

worried_jim

I am off to Turkey in two weeks and this time I will be taking Sterling and changing there, as of today I can get 3.2TL to the £ which is brilliant! Last year it was around 2.8Tl so it makes it about a £1 a pint- lovely.

I am going back to Gulluk which is a small working fishing town with zero hassle from the locals- they are lovely and it is the real Turkey.

http://gulluk.net/

Last year we couldn't get any accomodation in Gulluk so ended up staying in Gumbet and getting the Dolmus over to see friends.

After the delights and friendliness of Gulluk, Gumbet was a bit of a shock but we soon learned to walk down the street and just tell all the hawkers to foxtrot oscar. Many people at the hotel went back to Gumbet year after year but I bet if they discovered some of the real Turkey they wouldn't go near the place.

This will be my fourth time in Turkey, started in 2005 in Bitez on a watersports holiday which was charming (no riff raff). In 2011 we ended up in Gulluk by mistake and had a brilliant time (terrible hotel, Mavi) but made some brilliant friends who invited us back last year for their wedding. This year they are letting us use their spare apartment so we have just had to buy flights only and with Gulluk being just 10km from the airport out holiday will start very quickly.

I feel very blessed to have discovered this hidden Gem on the Bodrum peninsula and can't wait to return and sit in the cafe drinking cay with the locals then going for a shave before having some Pide washed down with Effes @ 3TL a bottle.

maman

worried_jim wrote: »

Many people at the hotel went back to Gumbet year after year but I bet if they discovered some of the real Turkey they wouldn't go near the place.



..... can't wait to return and sit in the cafe drinking cay with the locals then going for a shave before having some Pide washed down with Effes @ 3TL a bottle.

Oh I envy you, it sounds idyllic.:)

I'm not sure you're right that everyone else would. I adore the resort we visit but I've heard 'newcomers' complain about lack of sandy beach, no nightclubs, too long transfer, too expensive, too hilly etc. Which is precisely why I like it!:rotfl:

worried_jim

maman wrote: »

Oh I envy you, it sounds idyllic.:)

I'm not sure you're right that everyone else would. I adore the resort we visit but I've heard 'newcomers' complain about lack of sandy beach, no nightclubs, too long transfer, too expensive, too hilly etc. Which is precisely why I like it!:rotfl:

Thank God! :rotfl:

balletshoes

maman wrote: »

Oh I envy you, it sounds idyllic.:)

I'm not sure you're right that everyone else would. I adore the resort we visit but I've heard 'newcomers' complain about lack of sandy beach, no nightclubs, too long transfer, too expensive, too hilly etc. Which is precisely why I like it!:rotfl:

I think it also depends on who is in your party - we're just home from Bitez, and I absolutely loved it, no hassle, fantastic beach, beautiful weather, and lovely food (even though its grown since I was last there 12 years ago). I'm used to Gumbet and knew I didn't want to stay in the resort, but to be honest, my daughter (aged 12) preferred Gumbet for shopping and the shows some of the hotels there put on in the evenings (avoiding Bar St completely).

maman

balletshoes wrote: »

I think it also depends on who is in your party - we're just home from Bitez, and I absolutely loved it, no hassle, fantastic beach, beautiful weather, and lovely food (even though its grown since I was last there 12 years ago). I'm used to Gumbet and knew I didn't want to stay in the resort, but to be honest, my daughter (aged 12) preferred Gumbet for shopping and the shows some of the hotels there put on in the evenings (avoiding Bar St completely).

Glad you enjoyed your break. Horses for courses, as I said earlier.

I'm guessing most of us would prefer to be in Turkey (in our chosen resort of course;)) RIGHT NOW!

[Deleted User]

Horses for courses indeed.
I've been to Greece more than 30 times and Turkey twice, to Gumbet and Kusadasi.
One country is like riding Red Rum past the winning post in the Grand National, the other is a seaside donkey in the back of a knacker's van heading for the glue factory.

balletshoes

Deleted_User wrote: »

Horses for courses indeed.
I've been to Greece more than 30 times and Turkey twice, to Gumbet and Kusadasi.
One country is like riding Red Rum past the winning post in the Grand National, the other is a seaside donkey in the back of a knacker's van heading for the glue factory.

.... in your opinion .