last year the wife booked marmaris for this september. now its getting a bit closer im hearing tales of it being ‘the blackpool of turkey’. this doesnt fill me with glee as blackpool is my idea of hell.

has my wife made a big booboo and I’ll be coming back with a ‘kiss me quick’ hat, or is it in fact a lovely oasis of clean white sands, clear blue sea and quaint little taverns and shops with not a chav to be found within 1000 miles.

or is it somewhere in between 😀

Some of my happiest moments have been in Marmaris

Total shit hole

We stayed near Marmaris and cycled through it a few times and went over on the boat for an evening too. It was very busy, well maintained and not as tacky as Blackpool but very, very busy even late in the season.

The only thing that really got on me nerves were the restaurant owners all the way along the main drag trying to engage you in conversation and get you in to their restaurant. It made going out for a meal a bit of a mission and not really the relaxing experience that you might expect.

If you can get hold of a bike there’s some good riding in the hills behind the town though.

[edit]
Just re-read the original post.

… in fact a lovely oasis of clean white sands, clear blue sea and quaint little taverns and shops with not a chav to be found within 1000 miles.

You’re going to be disappointed, It’s closer to the Costa del Sol than it is to Santorini.

Went to marmaris but luckily for us we were further down the coast, tis a bit of a hell hole and if you have a blonde lady with you be prepared for them to get hassled!

We had Easter 2013 in the Grand Yaziki Mares in Marmaris, all inclusive. It was great and I’d happily go again. A lot of that was because it was good quality all inclusive, and partly because it wasn’t high season for them and it wasn’t very busy round town. Our hotel had private jetties and beach areas so there was no beach hassle, but we went for wanders out to Icmeler and along the bay to the big market area and Marina. Yes, tradesmen will banter to get you to come into your shop, but why go abroad if you want Tesco shopping styles. We only did one excursion, pony trekking, which we organised through a high street agent rather than the hotel/rep.

and if you have a blonde lady with you be prepared for them to get hassled!

mrs expunk is indeed…….blonde :-/

Icmeler just up the coast is a short ride in a dolmus and much less crowded.

The restaurants above the marina are more expensive and I got hassled less.

Mrs Dingo and I spent a day in Marmaris as part of a gulet cruise.She is blonde and quite attractive.I don’t mind men looking at her,but when they start laying their hands on,I tend to get upset,and so does she.I wouldn’t go there again as part of a couple because of that.Otherwise it is a big cosmopolitan mediterranean holiday resort,nice beaches,but very busy in season.

I worked there about 20 years ago and went back for the first time in 20 years last year. Last year we stayed at the Neilson resort the other side of the bay so away from the full on touristy side. It is probably twice the size it was 20 years ago.

It’s always been, well, Turkish! By that I mean a bit of hustle and bustle, a bit in your face. The locals are really nice (even the restaurant guys, who are just doing their job and respond well to friendly humour, though speaking a bit of turkish helps). Not really noticed the issue with ladies out there and when living there there were a good number a young pretty blonde girls in our team – might be a perception thing.

Don’t expect golden untouched beaches – think city with relatively skinny beaches along its coast, with a city’s worth of people trying to use them.

Don’t expect it to be that cheap – I was surprised how similarly it compared to UK prices whilst 20 years ago it was dirt cheap.

There are now lots of Russian tourists. To be blunt – they add a pretty chavvy edge to the place.

The mountain biking is indeed excellent- if you know where you are going.

In summary – if you are located on the fringes you should have an OK time. if near the middle it might not be the perfect holiday.

A Thomson rep I know worked in Bodrum for a couple of years. She and her team went to Marmaris for the day and all wanted to leave early. She described it as a toilet.

A Thomson rep I know worked in Bodrum for a couple of years. She and her team went to Marmaris for the day and all wanted to leave early. She described it as a toilet.

I worked in Bodrum for a year too and popped in last year to say hello to a few people. They are pretty similar in many respects but I would say Bodrum has gone downhill (expanded beyond what you would want as a punter) more than Marmaris has. To like or dislike one but not the other would make you a bit odd! If you lived in one there would however be very little reason to bother visiting the other and can understand why you might get bored quickly.

Stayed in Icmeler a few years ago and walked down the promenade to Marmaris one day. Swiftly turned round and walked back.
My first thought was Blackpool on speed.
Icmeler was busy enough, but Marmaris took it to another level!

For somewhere nice in Turkey try Calis Beach or around Side/Manavgat…

I agree with the shithole comment. Pervy waiters with no respect for women, open sewers flowing straight into the sea. .

Don’t go, you will enjoy yourself more at blackpool 🙂

I was told not to go by the woman who cuts my hair, she has a place in Turkey, but not Marmaris.

No. She said Bodrum and Gumbet were nice (we visited and thought it was actually better than expected) and that Marmaris was Blackpool abroad and a chavvy toilet. It wasn’t a case of getting bored. We stayed in Altinkum which was a fair way from the airport but very pleasant.

She said Bodrum and Gumbet were nice

😀 That’s funny! Sure she isn’t an 18-30 rep?

Even 20 years ago Gumbet was where you went for a pint of Guinness in an irish bar, some karaoke and a good fight! I went through there last year and not a lot seem to have changed (apart from it used to be a ‘village’ outside Bodrum and now it is swallowed up inside the metropolis). Marmaris is a lot of things, but it is not as pikey as Gumbet.

just been looking on the dedicated marmaris sites and google maps. looks like our hotel (club cettia apartments) is set back from the ‘long beach’ by a few streets, mid-way along. possibly towards an area called armutalan? the site implies this is a decent enough part and that the ‘old town’ right on the northern-most part of the resort is the noisiest (away from icmeler and by the marina).

apparently there are free buses to icmeler from the hotel, but how long would it take to walk along the front to icmeler? hour or so?

thanks a lot

The only good thing I could say about the place is that I had the best kebab of my life in Marmaris. I would actually prefer to go to Blackpool!

We spent an idyllic couple of weeks driving up the med coast in Turkey. We stayed in beautiful unspoilt fishing villages, tree houses, and on little islands. with mile after mile of empty unspoilt beaches. All on the recommendation of our Turkish friends, as it’s where they go for their holidays. Amazing holiday!

Their advice on the ‘resorts’ that get sold as packages? They’re all shitholes! Steer well clear of them! Just drive around them, quickly, and carry on to the gorgeous places where they all stay. The places we stayed were dirt cheap too. Probably ended up costing not much more than a package holiday. The Turkish aren’t daft. They do not want you to know this. They want to keep everyone herded into a few concrete hellholes, so they get to keep the rest of the coast to themselves.

ygm binners 🙂

Usually I would write something more useful…but….it’s a complete shithole.

Sadexpunk – it’s a good 45min stroll from Marmaris to Icmeler along the sea front.
Icmeler is still quite in your face and bustling, just not as much as Marmaris.
It gets bloody hot walking along the front, so be sure to stick a hat on and take some water.

considering hiring a car now so we can get away from the area a bit. anyone got any car hire recommendations? something i should look at once we’re over there or mebbes try and get it sorted this end?
never hired one on holiday before as ive always been too paranoid about being fleeced.

Just used a broker called holiday autos for 2 separate hires in Europe. They came out cheapest on a comparison site I found through the money saving expert web site. Ended up with Citer(enterprise) and Alamo (europcar) for about 70% of the cost of going direct.

Had no problems at all and wasn’t fleeced. Went through a separate company for my insurance excess which meant I saved more ££s over what the hire companies wanted to charge but had to leave a large pre authorisation charge on my credit card.

+1 to the ‘shithole’ comments.

We’ve only ever done overnighters there as part of gulet cruises and can never get out of there fast enough. Do you have the option to change location?

Fethiye is nice, just along the coast:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fethiye

thanks for the car info, ill look into that.

Do you have the option to change location?

again, gonna look into that today, although the wife thinks itll cost a good few hundred to do so, in which case we may just bit the bullet. ill report back on what i find out.

thanks again for all your advice.

Only been once a couple of years ago with the family – we went at the end of the season (couldn’t have coped with the heat in the Summer!)

To balance what’s been said, in October it was quiet as a lot of the hotels were closed. We enjoyed our time there but did get out of Mamaris a fair bit.

My wife is blonde but we had no issues with disrespectful guys. In fact the locals we met were genuinely decent people, we actually kept in touch with one local family we met.

The hills behind Mamaris had some cracking trails which outside the Summer would be great for mountain biking.

the national park in the hills behind the place is the best thing about it unless you can get sailing of course 😀

just a bit of an update. holiday is booked through loveholidays.com, we’ve rang them and theyve said its possible to change holidays. itd be at least a £50 admin fee, plus whatever else is due when we’ve given them a list of 3 hotels we’d want to change to, and what the supplier charges for that. so………… dont know how much thatd come to.

next job is to choose 3 hotels and ring them again. with that in mind, and the suggestion of fethiye ^^^, would you choose fethiye or olu deniz, as they seem to be asame area?

thanks

if i recall correctly there are 2 parts. the old town/marina side is quite nice.

the hotelly bit is a shithole.

that was 10 years ago.

had some **** ace nights out including one ending up watching rawhide overdubbed in turkish on a quayside at 5am drinking ouzo with a local guillet captain who spoke no english. this was after getting a lift on the back of scooters to a local ‘nightclub’ that played the worst euro pop ever and commando crawling through a 5* hotel garden to gain entrance to the free bar and a boat ride back – happy days.

Sorry, not been to Fethiye or Olu Deniz.

They are on our list of places to try next time we visit Turkey.
Habe you looked on Trip Advisor? Don’t forget the large pinch of salt, if you do…..

We stayed at Olu Deniz several years ago. it was amazing & quiet then. A friend went on our recomendation two years ago and thought it was ok.The bay is lovely.
I seem to remember you get the little bus to Fethiye (which I thought was ace- bustling market action.)
fwiw – you are right to swerve Marmaris(blackpool) & Icmeler(southend).
We had amazing time at Kumlubuck , to the south of both , as we passed though Marmaris we were openmouthed at the horror of it all…..
Hope you get a good deal and have a lovely time.

another update…..

just back from corfu, where we hired a car for a couple of days from enterprise which all went ok. first time driving on the right but it wasnt too busy and i got on ok 🙂 so id be prepared to hire a car in marmaris if it means making the best of a bad job.

had the prices back for a change of location, and thomas cook would want £100 admin fee, loveholidays would want £50 admin fee, and then plus the difference in holiday. the prices quoted for some of the olu deniz hotels are around £1300 for us as a couple. we paid £550 for marmaris (you can see why 🙂

so…… its looking like well over double to get to olu deniz.

whats the general opinion on my best option now? accept the hit of marmaris and hire a car to leave the place every day? or try and find the cheapest hotel in OD, still pay a bit more and just be happy im in a nicer place?

thanks for all your help so far.

How big are the hotels? All inclusive large place with multiple pools, or smaller independents?

If it’s a larger place, I would go for Marmaris and see what it’s like. You can always get the bus to Icmeler or use a hire car as you say.

we’ve gone self catering apartments, so we’ll have to be out and about. the hotels voted no1 in marmaris on tripadvisor, but i realise that could be the same as saying ‘bob and dots b&b is best in blackpool’. its all relative.

looking at the map, anyone know if dalyan would be a good place to drive to?

well we’re here 🙂

as mentioned, yep its a bit of a shithole. not being hassled as much as expected an its lovely and hot. hotels nice tho and we’re in a quietish area. food and drink dirt cheap. got a jeep safari and boat trip to dalyan booked. we’ll make the most o it but its not our sort of place and we won’t come back again.
thanks for all the advice.

Pop up the road to Fethiye for a day out….