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I know the foreign office says the resorts are safe, but would you take your family? No major terrorism incidents have occurred there yet but I guess it only takes one. Thinking of Antalya area.
We are having the same discussions in our house. We are still undecided.
I'd not be touching it with a 10' stunt cock. There may not have been major incidents for a while but there's plenty of smaller ones and I can't see it calming down any.
Turkey is an amazing country to visit. People are always happy to go out of their way to help, especially out of the resort areas. Rent a car/jeep and take to the hills. we spent days touring in the areas around Marmaris in a jeep and the kids loved it. You end up in the places that tourists dont go to and get to see a slice of the real turkey. Plus with kids in tow, the Turkish people always make more of an effort when you are the more rural spots.
My mate and his wife rode a triumph to Cappadocia a couple of years back, and are going back out next year they loved it so much. Nuff said!
I'm sure it will be OK in a resort, but other countries are available, so why take a chance to save a few quid?
If it was just to sit on a beach why take the risk. Other beaches available.
My mum and step dad live in Turkey in Dalyan most of the year only coming back to the UK for a few weeks at Christmas and again in the summer. They've been living like this for a few years now and me and my family went to visit two years ago.
We could go again this year but my teenage daughters don't want to go, mainly due to a fear of terrorism. I think it would be safe but I'm not forcing them to go.
Friends still going to Club Med near Antalya. Last year the family club at Palmyie was deserted even after opening much later in the season and the normally fully booked "singles" club at Kemer was 50% off.
Personally no and I have been on holiday there a lot in the past.
No, they reluctantly put up with the British but would rather have Germans or Russians or ideally none at all.
far more places in the world to visit, until they sort there sh1t out, it would be a no go for me.
No - go to Greece instead 🙂
anagallis_arvensis - Member
If it was just to sit on a beach why take the risk. Other beaches available.
This, although I was there at the start of 2016 doing some winter walking. Great country, seemed very welcoming. We were in the Taurus mountains so a long way from anywhere.
The risks are vanishingly small. Even if there was a bomb going off every week in tourist hotspots, and there clearly isn't, you'd still be very unlucky to find yourself directly involved.
People are weird - mathematically inept enough to find the national lottery enticing but unable to rationalise risks like this.
Are you avoiding France too? London is not short of its troubles historically; avoid that too?
I guess the bigger picture is do you avoid the country because you don't agree with the policies of the government? Do you actually know what the Kurds want? If so might they have a point? I lived there for a couple of years in the early 90's - the kurds get a poor deal, especially back then.
No - go to Greece instead
and this. love the greek islands and this year trying the mainland (peloponnese). the people are really friendly, and its just a nice vibe,
turkeys maybe a bit hotter, we've been twice and had great hols, but id be going greece if i were you.
[generalising] dont like generalising (so ill generalise then) but we personally found a nasty side to some of the hotel staff and shop owners, all smiley smiley until someone complains. one of the hotel staff punched a woman who complained about him being rude, and we also saw another woman thrown against a shop window and needing an ambulance for trying to return some shoes that were faulty. [i]in our experience[/i] there just seemed to be that undercurrent of people losing their rag too easy, which we've never come across in greece. [/generalising]
Probably no worse than UK in the 70s.
Are the Turkish resorts heavily discounted? If not then ...
anagallis_arvensis - Member
If it was just to sit on a beach why take the risk. Other beaches available.
If yes then I'd do more research.
TBH we just want all inclusive and will likely just stay in the resort, the complete opposite of what our last couple of holidays have been like. It's for the kids mainly, as for all the things we've done on the last two holidays, this kids still hark back to the last time we went to an all inclusive in Sharm a few years ago. Can't get anywhere in Greece anywhere like the deals in Turkey, plus the hotels we are looking at for the kids tend to have waterparks on site which I've not seen anywhere like elsewhere with a reasonable price tag.
go for it then mate. if you enjoyed sharm (we hated it) then id say turkey would be better than that. and no, i wouldnt be too worried bout terrorism, it can happen anywhere.
but you have been warned..
I would go to Turkey in a heartbeat. I agree with what convert said, above, but there are also so many places of huge historical significance that the benefits would outweigh the tiny risks anyway.
He's not going to historical sites, he's going to an all inclusive hotel with small glasses, losts of russians and staff who dont like westerners.
I'd go on holiday, without the Turkey though.
@loddrick have a look at Club Med Palmyie my gut feel is you'll be able to get 50% off. We used to go there with our kids although more recently it's been Kemer as going just with the new wife. All the Club Med resorts are "closed" and guarded.
Dr-J we stopped going to Greece in part due to Europe/UK level prices
In which case, why not just go to Spain? Isn't that destination littered with such places?
The pound is worth nothing so going to Spain is actually quite expensive, Greece can be too but (and it hurts me say ) is on a fast track to being a third world country.
Hence the attraction of Turkey, you may have picked up on this already but I wouldnt go there though, not just because of recent developments, I first went in the 80's didnt like it been a few times since and havent changed my mind.
Spain or France would be my suggestion.
You should go.
Ive spent about 2 or 3 months in the country in the last 12 and love it there. Once you are there you will realise how great it is and feels very non threatening. At a push you may want to avoid Istanbul but you'd be missing out. My girlfriend used to live there and we still know westerners living there with no issue.
The people are amazing, the scenery is fantastic and the food is awesome. I would go back tomorrow with no hesitation and feel that its a shame people pass up on a country that offers so much.
I don't know what the prices are like these days compared to ~10 years ago, but I'd rather go All Inclusive in the Canary Islands, we did Gran Canaria and Tenerife. Back then, it was ~£350pp for a week.
You're many, many times more likely to die in a pile-up on the motorway on the way to Heathrow than you are to die in a terrorist attack in Turkey.
We go every year, including just after the coup attempt last summer.
he's going to an all inclusive hotel with small glasses, lots of russians and staff who dont like westerners.
I've never found any of this in Turkey. Mate you must have been on some terrible holidays 😉
Dr-J we stopped going to Greece in part due to Europe/UK level prices
But not France. I worry that you don't understand the Euro. 😛
But that's for another thread where you get called out for spouting shite.
Mate you must have been on some terrible holidays
Only the ones in Turkey.
I do know people who like you love it, but I can't post for them.
Never been & never had the inkling to go. I know a few people who love it, including someone who has a place there, & some people who'd never go back.
We love Goa but even that's not to everyone's liking.
@convert: agree with all that. Thought this thread might be about the morality of holidaying in places with repressive regimes (I can argue either side fwiw) but no. Also lived in Turkey for a year end of the 80s and still speak a bit. Fantastic country and you'll be in far more danger on the roads. Hey ho.
I had the same doubts in the back of my mind last year,but decided to go,stayed in icmeler with my wife and 9 year old daughter in October.We all loved it,very friendly people,and a really nice place.Not once did we feel in any danger whatsoever , everyone made us feel welcome and they seemed to really like the English.
We will probably return this year at some point.
quite a few years now but I went to Kalkan and had a great time - the people were genuinely friendly (and I've been to places where they make out they are but aren't really)
I'd go without thinking twice. I'd probably go to some places the foreign office warns against, too, though I wouldn't take the family there.
There's a risk of terrorism anywhere. Not going would be giving the terrorists what they want. It's a small risk of terrorism there, and I'm not convinced it's any higher than the UK (based partly on looking at the warnings re. UK travel from our corporate travel bunch).
Captain I used to go to Greece before the euro existed, stopped long before they adopted it. Rhodes prices where nuts. More expensive than rural France. Turkey always cheaper and better for sailing.
You are statistically more likely to die in a car crash in Paris but the Army are patrolling everywhere. It is what it is. Fear of terrorism has decimated Egypt's tourism industry, down 30% ? I have no doubt it's having a big impact in Turkey too.
You are statistically more likely to die in a car crash in Paris but the Army are patrolling everywhere. It is what it is. Fear of terrorism has decimated Egypt's tourism industry, down 30% ? I have no doubt it's having a big impact in Turkey too.
I imagine there are scaremongering idiots spreading all sorts of crap on internet forums that's putting people off travelling, don't you?
No.
Not because of the remote chance of death by blowing up. More because it's a country whose politics I don't agree with, and whose government's actions are pretty alarming in many areas.
So no, I'd get my sunshine somewhere else
Yes, same as I visit London
Went last year 3 days after the coup, was waiting for the foreign office to say don't go but they never did so we went, stayed in Side and loved it, a lot of hotels were closed though, shame for the locals for lack of trade, only time I was really uneasy was coming home at the airport, big cues out side waiting to go through first line of security just to enter the building, hundreds of us ripe for a bombing, would love to go back but will give it a miss till it gets settled down.
Another thing I noticed was how quiet the beaches were, supposedly this is because of the Tunisia attack and people stay in the hotel grounds.
I will never go to that country while Erdogan is in power.
Yes
Happy for mini THM to go last summer and would be now
Yes, went in September.
I'd sooner go there than Spain or Greece.
Fantastic place.
I'd just go to the Canaries like everybody else. Much safer and you can get a good cup of tea from Mick and Brian's Irish bar.
I don't think I'd be put off by the terrorism risk, but I'd not be in any great hurry to go to any country run by a populist strongman at the moment.