Hi Woodyrocks
Cant help you in regard to accomodation up Bodrum way, as Im conversant with Icmeler.
But I can assure you of one thing, your child.
The Turkish people absolutly love and respect children, I am 100% sure you wont have a problem in this respect.
On the contrary young mothers find it hard to belive the genuine and loving way they treat kiddies here,becouse it goes compleatly against your thoughts, due to the way you have to "watch your child" in UK
Colour, creed, whatever, predjudice, Just does not exist here.
Come and enjoy!!
Best Regards
Peli

hi

the turkish people love children no matter what they look like, my daughter gets lots of attention because she has blonde curls and shes also 8, i feel very safe in turkey with my daughter and even allowed her and an older friend to go to a nearby shop as we were staying in a very small village, for the first time ive never let her out of my sight in the uk .

we stayed in turgutreis in june which is near bodrum and found the prices in shops and restaurants very high compared to akyaka where we only returned last week .

you are limiting yourself a lot by only wanting to travel 30 mins most resorts are around 1 hr. good luck

TYSM Peli & Ellie, that is so reassuring to know. Ellie, following your advice, I think a more realistic limit should then be 1hr away from the Airport - do you know how many kilometres that would roughly be as a lot of the places only state this info and not how far they are!

One thing to bear in mind is that the weather in the Bodrum area in April may be unreliable.

Marmaris is definitely too far from Bodrum airport, so count that one out!

I think the ParkimAyaz Hotel in Gumbet would be good for you and your daughter. It is right on the beach and has two great pools.

Gumbet is the beach area for Bodrum, so quite close by.

woodyrocks, what exactly are you looking for, if you want somewhere thats good value for money, quiet and scenic what about akyaka, its 50 mins from dalaman airport or do you have to go to bodrum,if so then its going to be about 2 hrs i guess. the beach is lovely in akyaka although the weather in april can be dodgey, i have been the last few aprils and it hasnt been the best, pools and sea fairly cold and could only sun bathe about 3-4 hrs max and out of a week about 3-4 days as weather was too cool. i know akyaka is 40 miles from dalaman and thats 50 mins approx

a lot of places will be closed still in april, we went to gumbet and didnt like it but everyone likes different things. i think where ever you go in april will be fairly quiet

Mmm, it is sounding like April is not a good choice of month. I had heard it was in the early 20's which to me, whilst not hot hot, is good enough. I am now thinking it may actually not be as hot as I have led myself to believe :confused:

Ellie, I don't mind quiet at all. Infact quiet would be a bonus as long as it was lovely and warm! I am one of those sad types that think a holiday is about spending 70% of my time laid on my back in the sun with a bikini on whilst burning

I would say May is probably better than April, early to mid May has lovely weather, not too hot.

the few times ive been to turkey in april over the last few years its been around 21-23 but thats only between 11am-3pm ish and not every day, some days it was around 16-18, its a very risky month,we have had rain too and very cloudy days, i certainly wouldnt pick april as my main holiday, i just go to visit family so the weathers not so important for me

My Mom always says act in haste repent at leisure and I am just so thankful that I didn't book those flight tickets yesterday. Due to school timetable, I am limited as to when I can go on holiday which is why April worked for me but I shall now look at flight prices for May Half term now and see if it is still as viable.

so far we have been in april, may/june and aug/sept this year, may/june was about 25-30 with a cool breeze, aug was around 40-45 and very hot, we going in oct too. so i think may half term will be a good choice, if you can get flights to dalaman ,then you could go to akyaka were i know the food prices are a lot cheaper than main resorts ie

when i visited icmeler for the day chicken burgers were 7-8 lira akyaka was 3.5 lira
spag bol was about 12- 15 lira in icmeler but in akyaka it was around 6 lira

pizzas in icmeler were around 12-15 lira and akyaka 5-6 lira

these prices i got were from the beach restaurants for both resorts, i should imagine away from the beach is cheaper but if youre looking for a budget holiday then akyaka is certainly good value for money as its not a typical uk holiday resort mainly full of turkish people hence the prices are good

Hi woodyrocks

I haven't been to any other part of Turkey yet, but have for the past 2 years gone to Olu Deniz, I travel alone with my son who is 7. We went to Olu in the may half term last year, stayed for 10 days and the weather was lovely for most of the time we were there. A couple of days it was misty, but the temperatures were mid-high 20's, it was warm enough for the sea and the pool and we came back with a lovely tan!

I have been travelling alone with my son since he was 2, and I have to say that Turkey has been the most wonderful place, I feel totally safe being there, and the welcome you get and your child is just overwhelming. The locals in the shops etc would play football with my son as we were walking down the street, and I felt that he was so very safe in being there. The blue lagoon at Olu is ideal for children with shallow water and sandy beach, we love the main beach and the waves, but it is deep and shelves quite steeply but my son loves it too. There are loads of places to eat, and its ideal for lots of different trips. Also, you have Hisaronu which is a livelier place if you want to visit.

We've been to the Caribbean, Cyprus and various Greek Islands, and although we have had good holidays, they do not come close to the times we have had in Olu. We flew out this year (altho in August) with Onur Air, and stayed at the Karbel, which we did last year too, and there were other children for my son to play with, and as he isn't into kids clubs etc it was always a good base. Also, just up the main strip, so its quiet, yet still only 5-10 min walk down the street to the main beach.

You fly into Dalaman, and its about 50 minute transfer if you go by taxi/private transfer, we booked our accommodation this year through sunshine.co.uk. We paid £30 a night bed and breakfast, and this was only because we paid to upgrade to have a suite with jacuzzi bath etc, but the original price through sunshine was £22 for the room. Lots of other places to stay tho depending on what you want from your hotel. But, I would always recommend Olu
We did go to Cyprus in may half term, and the sea was freezing, the pools not much warmer, so going to Turkey it was lovely to have that better weather.

Karen x

Karen, that really is very useful information. I am like you and love taking Woody any and everywhere but the further we go from home, the more I find that I now need to know exactly what I am getting into before departing!

I have revised the original plan and think that a week in May in great weather is better than 2wks in April in iffy weather. Just hope I can find cheap flights for the May half term

I found it quite hard to find a bargain for the May half term to be honest (my DIY in August for 2 weeks was half the price but helped by the cheap aegean flights!) but in the end in May of last year, I booked a 10 day holiday. Yes it meant my son missing 2 days off school (other was inservice day) but it meant the holiday for 10 days was cheaper than trying to fit one week into the weeks holiday. Also, as we had a night flight back (not unusual for one part of the journey) he wouldn't have been fit for school on that day.

One thing that is difficult of course, if you're booking a package and a single parent with one child, is that we have to pay adult fares/prices for the child, this is one reason I would not now choose to go AI as it just doesn't pay.

But, I never thought I would like Turkey until I went . . .going back for the 2nd time this year (first time we've ever returned to the same place let alone the same hotel) it was just as perfect as the first time round even tho we had a few hotel problems on arrival. For me as a single parent and travelling alone, I like to not only feel safe, but comfortable, and I felt this and more in Turkey and especially Olu. I am looking at Turkey again next year, but am unsure if I will do a 3rd year to Olu and am thinking of venturing somewhere else . . .just no clue yet as to where LOL

Coming back I felt homesick for turkey LOL and wish I could be there now

Karen x