Hi
I've just come back from Alanya Turkey yesterday. I went away for 2 weeks with my parents and little brother.

We stayed in the Hayat Apartments. The hotel was really clean! the hotel had a nice pool and poolside bar...their is lots of sunbeds!!!!

Theirs a Turkish night once a week on a thursday....which had folk dancing and belly dancing and a barbeque.

Hotel staff were really friendly! you could even exchange your money at the hotel. you had a safety deposit which you had to pay for - but at least our stuff was safe!

Now for eating out we went to an English Pub & Restaurant called Big Bens - situated on the sea front opposite Pubrica the nightclub!
Big Bens was a nice place to eat - that good we ate everynight..the staff were really friendly and dead helpful....i will miss them xxxxx

Anyone got anything they want to know get in touch xXx

Nicola

Big Bens is good fun. Memet and Diane own it and they also own Crusoes. I wouldn't eat there every day but the food we had there was nice.

We have become friends over the years with the guys from Crusoes and Big Bens (although Crusoes is closer to where we stay!!) and it is a place I would recommend if you are missing home/want to watch football/like karaoke!!

i came back monday from alanya...(third time ive been this year)....i miss it so much already! cant wait to go back.

im going back in october/november. im also going for christmas and new year this year...cant wait never been away that time of year before!xx

i came back wednesday from Alanya (first time!)

Apart from a couple of incidents i loved the place
One was when a man trying to show me a short cut up to the castle tried to get money off me (he demanded 110 million!) Be careful of this as i found out later about a couple last year got shown a short cut by two men who then robbed them of all their money. I threw 10ytl at the bloke just to get rid of him.

When i finally reached the top to the castle it was brilliant!
Got there just before call to prayer and to hear the many mosques echoing accross Alanya was fantastic experience.

The clubs and bars where great, especially James Dean, Bella bar, The Doors, The Kordon and Robin Hood. I urge everyone to avoid the Lambada bar, won't go into details but not nice people there

Very hot weather the beaches where spread out enough so you could find your quiet place away from all the germans.

Went on a excellent excursions to Perge and Aspendos.
Ergun Hotel was in a good central location, but still got lost many times!!
All in all Alanya is a really good holiday resort

Hi everyone,

I am going to Alanya in a week (fly 2nd oct) any last hints or tips? I hate nightclubs, but enjoy fun pubs/live music etc any recomendations?

also, whats the best place to go for a really top notch steak dinner? ohh and the best place to have real lamb kebabs (skewer meat type not donner)

Thanks

Where in Alanya are you staying? It's a big resort and it would be easier to recommend places that are closer to where you are staying.

For live music I would recommend Kordons bar. It's in the main area near the harbour. The big clubs are on the front but the street behind has quieter bars. Kordons have a live band that play everything from U2 to REM. They are really good.

have to agree wiyh crazyangel....kordons is a good place for live music..and also as this is a really spread out resort to recommend eating etc would have to know where you are staying. there are some great restaurants..spoilt for choice.
For a dippy pub type place try pubrico opposite the main Afra supermarket
for a great turkish night out ..where the turks go..try Dedi Kodu its on the street above bistro bellmans...
and this is for crazyangel...izzet is back in the dedikodu bar ..with the same band was there saturday..great night...took two english women and a swedidh woman..all of us well past the cocoa age...but it was a riot. theyd never been anywhere like that before ..but they got up and danced turkish style.
and if you read markymarks post i would agree with him about the lambardo bar..i dont like it either...its a bar at the back of Robin hood disco.

the Lambada has become a terrible place. Once apon a time it wasn't too bad, now the staff are rude and the drinks expensive!!

Glad Izzet is back at DediKodu, I prefer it there to the other place. It's a must if you fancy a bit of traditional Turkish music!! It is such a good night out.

Our favourite place for steak is the Star Omel II. It's really difficult to explain where it is though as it is off the beaten track. If you can ask around and find it though it's a great place. (You go down the street at the side of Migros supermarket on the main road opposite the east beach!)

For turkish food we like the Sultan Sofrasi which is near the Star Omel II funnily enough!! It's so cheap though and the kebabs are lovely (it's mainly turkish people that eat here)

We have just spent a week in Alanya. we stayed at the Alaiye, which we both loved. It had the odd strange moment, but overall was really good.

No bad experiences, lots of lovely ones, like going into a restaurant and asking if we could just eat local food none of this touristy stuff, and having the cheapest and best meal (a hard task as all the food was gorgeous) of our holiday. And lots of cuddles and laughs with the staff when we left, now you don't get that in an English cafe!

We went with Thomas Cook and avoided their tours. I organised a free Turkish night, found a hotel that did one for nothing - it was amazing - local dancers with audience participation, a very talented belly dancer and a couple that did fire eating and snake dancing! The thomas cook one was over £30 per person!!!

We found a bar near our hotel called Green beach, which has "international live music" the nights we were there there was a duo that did a dazzling array of songs in a heavy Turkish accent, like The Gambler by Kenny Rogers, Hero by Julio Iglesias, then to Another Brick in the Wall by the Floyd. It was very funny (but probably not meant to be!!!) We really enjoyed it, and went back a few times! I kept gathering up people from our hotel and made them come out with us!!! Alaiye gives up on entertainment in the off season.

I found this discussion board really useful when I was planning our holiday and wanted to share our experiences, thanks for all your helpful comments.

Hi everyone...

I cannot believe that there is a whole thread dedicated to Alanya...my most favourite place in the world!!!

It is so good to hear so many of you having a good time there...I have chatted to Shirley recently on another discussion..

I have been to Alanya 13 times now and arrived back from my 2nd visit on the 26th September...desperately missing the place and the people!!

If anyone needs any help I have stayed at the Aytap, Aytur, Parador Hotel and Oxford Appartments. My favourite is the Aytur, the people who work there are great and the beach is lovely. There are very few English staying here but I like this...the Aytap is more popular with the English..

Good places to eat are Kordons...ate there twice this time...know the manager there and all the staff do an excellent job...Casper's on the East Side and for 24 hour service Sefin Yeri, again on the East Side...

Fave bars are definately James Dean and Murphy's...also spend a lot of time in London New York...on the East Side as my friends run this bar...it's a good place to start off and have a cocktail and a chat....Summer Garden is good for the early hours although it is a way from the Harbour....

Sadly I won't be back til next year now...gutted....one of my friends text today to say he is missing us already...I'm missing them too....my friend is off there in 4 weeks...she own's an appartment there and has a Turkish man....soooooo jealous of her....still Xmas is not far off and then we'll be in 2006 and we can start the countdown to the next trip!!!! Yippee

Take care everyone and chat soon

Detox xxxx

We are going to Turkey in may , just wondered has anyone got any feed back on the Sydera Princess hotel? how far is it away from the Harbour etc!?

Syedra Princess Hotel..
You are my neighbour buddy! I can see from my apartment into Syedra Princess Hotel..
You will have to get the bus to the harbor.. It's between 8-12km to Alanya Centre on the bus..
Taxis cost between 20ytl-30ytl...
There is a few pubs around the area.. A lot of irish bars..
Ask me for any other information.. I'll be sure to get back to you.

hi Syedra princess gets mixed reviews...love it or hate it...no middle road.
its in Mahmutlar which is about 15 kilomteres away from alanya town centre.you have to take a taxi or bus..the buses are very cheap but they don't run all night.should you wish to go into Alanya...which i am sure you will!!
Mahmutlar doesn't have much going for it in the way of entertainment,it's a quiet resort..but has it's own charms. The hotel has a private beach..across the road...i'm sure this hotel has an underpass as the main road down to eastern Tuekey is always busy.
All in all depends what you are looking for in a holiday and May is low season.
there are some super trips to be had from the Alanya/Mahmutlar area..but do go with the local tours they are exactly the same as what the reps offer at half the price.
and i would also recommend you to eat out as the restaurants are limitless and proper turkish food is superlative.
xx

forgot to add that the best thing thats happened to Mahmutlar the last couple of years is the amount of irish people who are settling here...and they brighten the place up ...might even find some guiness

Yes there is a lot of of irish people there i'm one of them
Yes Syedra Princess has it's own tunnel to beach.. It has it's little section of sunloungers and that's the private beach for you..
I heard from people there in Septmeber that it's a nice place but nothing for the kids to do...
A good place to go for a laugh is Pat Foely's Bar you can be dancing on the bar til the early morning

I liked Alanya however it is the only place in Turkey I have been in danger of being ripped off. Beware if you decide to climb the hillside up to the castle and a bronzed Turkish guy joins you. He will show you things that you may otherwise not see, however about half way up (15-20 mins) he says he must go but demands 40 YTL per person. Needless to say he didn't get that from me but others may have been intimidated by him. He was not best pleased when we refused to pay more than 20YTL total and became quite aggressive. His trick is of course to appear as a helpful local at first but has selective language skills when you realize what he is up to and try to get rid of him.
My Turkish friends were appalled when I told them what had happened and suggested that the reason he does not go right to the castle is that other locals do not like what he does.

Hi all,

I have been searching the net for a while trying to find a review of KArat Hotel in Alanya where I'm off to in May. It's my first time in Alanya (have been in Kusadasi 3 times) and I'm really looking forward to it.
Has anyone any info on it or on the resort itself?

Cheers!!

Karat hotel is centrally located... It's really nice! What time of year are you going?

Hi Turkeygal!

I'm going 2nd week in May. I'm sooo excited!!! It's great to get feedback this is a great site!!

Nadyx