We don't drink, well one or two an evening on holiday. So perhaps for us AI is not that money saving.
Plus I would only go to the REALLY good AI's in Turkey.
But I don't have to say no-thank you to 10 or more restaurants before I sit down.

I did find it worse in Turgutreis last week. Perhaps they are struggling, but its counter productive.

You all know you CANNOT look at a restaurant menu or something in a shop without them pouncing, thats the lesser hassling places!
The worst places you can't even walk past, or past on the other side of the road even!

Elaine you just reminded me while reading through the posts about the Turkish not getting as much hassle.
After the first week of our hol we dont get nowhere near as much hassle, you see my hubby goes very dark in the sun and looks quite Turkish,
he has been spoken to in Turkish, they even joke that his mum tells him lies and his dad is really a Turk
We make sure that he wears nothing that identifies him as English

Wilson, i agree, i hope no one is put off if its their first time.
To all you Turkey virgins.. honestly dont give it a second thought, a polite no thanks is usually enough. Another thing i have used in the past is to pick an AI hotel and tell the restaurant hasselers that i am staying there and therefore im fed and watered enough already.

LouLou

My husband is dark and often gets taken for Turkish, he is also 6ft 5" with a 56" chest we dont get hassled much on holidays
The only problem he has is everytime we go into a bar or restaurant the waiters always massage his shoulders.

Lynn

we dont mind the freindly banter type hassling, I get to practice my turkish, if they are rude, I know enough to give it back in their own language.
I did once get phisically hassled , but that was in Kemer 10 yrs ago, not had it in Olu Deniz or Iclemere, just friendly you come in here etc, I think a fair bit of what we see as rudeness, is often the English phrases they have learned, I suspect often they do not mean to sound how they do ( if that makes sense ! )

para yok

Just got back from 3 weeks in Side WILL NOT GO AGAIN we had loads of hassle from shops and restaurants they now want to know why we will not use theirs if we say we are going somewhere else we have been to other places in Turkey and it as never been as bad as this time. In the shops they are on top of you and like other people have said if they would let you look you more than likely would see something you would buy. Also in the supermarkets there was no prices on things and we where over charged quite a lot a few times at the beginning of the hols till we got into the price of things in tlr, if you did not have the right change for the dolmus they tried to give you 50 cents instead of 1tlr. In Side they show everything in euro so when they calculated in tlr again you did not get the correct exchange.What ever you do do not buy anything to drink at airport we arrived late at night so again being tired after being up all day traveling we bought 1 1/2 ltr water 9tlr nearly £5. When coming home you could bring any drink from resort to drink air side in airport they do not stop any amount of liquid es. Sorry for being longwinded.

Leyland lass sorry to hear you had such a bad time. Hope it doesn't put you off Turkey.Philmarcus,you could be right we always stay in the Armutalan area, much prefer it, maybe that's why we don't get such dreadful hassle.

I'm sorry you had too much hassle in Side. We have never had a lot of trouble there. I found that the best way to stop any was to answer in Greek, That always made them stop and then laugh. No more trouble.

I love the place and will definitely go again.

Hi

Can anybody tell me if you still get hassled on leaving arrivals? I went to Kusadasi around 10 years ago and had a horrible experience when somebody grabbed our cases, bunged them on a trolley and insisted on taking our trolley to our transfer coach and then insisted on around £5 for the service (we tried to stop him originally but he went so fast and DH is too polite!)

S~

just got back from marmaris on monday.
the council have told all buisiness that if they hassle tourists they will close them down on the first occasion for three days then for a week and then all season if they continue.
On the tuesday we were sat in the bar next to the quicksiver shop down in the port when the police turned up and closed them down for three days,that day we were told they closed over 50 buiseness down.
They closed the bar next to cream on the front, apparently they went in as rose sellers checking on them.
you can walk up thro the bazzar and hardly anybody bothers you now, and if you look up you can see the cameras that have been installed.
sorry to waffle on
mike read

Thats excellent news Mike.

Itll be nice walking up through the Bazarr and be actually able to look in the shops. Great Stuff!

Wow you mean that you can actually brows in the Bazarr cant imagine what it will be like, but I bet that toursists will spend more money as they wont feel pressured anymore. Hope it last all season (well if only till 18th june when I get there)

just got back from marmaris on monday.
the council have told all buisiness that if they hassle tourists they will close them down on the first occasion for three days then for a week and then all season if they continue.

Oh i hope you are right and there is no more hassle!!!!!

I will find out for myself 2 weeks today coz i will be in Marmaris Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

In my opinion to take the hassle out of turkey is to take the atmosphere out of the markets and shops .It would be like trailing around tesco or asda with the wife ,and to me that is pure boring.I go to turkey again this sunday and will make upmy mind then if t makes any difference.

Bluepeterno1

Luckily Dalyan is good for hassle, hardly any and what there is is very friendly and stops with a no thanks. Being resident does help but it can be time consuming because people often want us to stop for tea and chat.

I have only been to Marmaris on a day trip and around the marina I did feel the hassle a bit OTT and this was in the middle of the day.

Many years ago an ex of mine dragged me kicking and screaming to Palma Nova in Majorca - that was HASSLE. Problem was it was Brits who where doing the hassle to get you into bars and they would often get aggressive if they'd seen you in another bar.

My husband absolutly loves the hassle and has a good old chat with them. I am a bit more reserved on it.We go back to Marmaris on the 11th June,it will be nice to go around the bazzar and have a proper look around and buy some things this time,sounds to good to be true no hqassle!!! mind you we have made some very good friends over the years,only because they hassled us,and they are the lovliest nation of people we have ever met,they really dont forget you, we went in June and again in September one year and I dont like garlic butter,and they remembered thatin september,amazed!!!.

IMO taking the hassle out of Turkey doesn't mean taking the atmosphere out of the markets and shops.

I am sure most if not all of us don't object to the banter that you get from the shop/market owners .. ie...
better than Asda price ect
or the bartering of the price with the workers ....... it is the grabbing hold of you and the shouting at you and the standing in your way and the not taking a polite No Thank you for an answer that we don't like.

Last year we went to the Bazarr and the marina area once during a 2 week holiday we stayed just long enough to buy what we needed,infact we went in to ONE shop had a meal and left the area as quick as we could due to the hassle that we got... we said that never again would we go to the Bazarr/marina again.

Now that i have read that the council have told all buisiness to stop hassleing tourists we will visit that area and we spend our money in the place's that WE want.

Hello!

I think it is a question of degree,been going to turkey since the early nineties and have noticed a definite increase in the level of "hassle" that we experience. Where a polite " no thanks" suffices then I don't mind at all, however the few that do resort to more agressive means is really quite concerning. We are off to the Hemera In Side in Julyy, the prospect of the hassle didn't contribute to our decision to go AI but on reflection it will undoubtedly make our holiday a bit morelaxed. We will still go out and about though enjoying a wee drink and a meal in the area. Interestingly my wife recalls a bar across the main road from the Hemera a bar where we did find the level of hassle to be both agressive and unacceptable, so we will be avoiding it like the proverbial plague!5 weeks on Sunday! Can't wait!Wonder if the Efes can be administered intravenously!?LOL! Well it is AI!LOL! Then they can hassle me as much as they like!

Alistair

Mike,

Does that also include Icmeler?

from what i was told its all of turkey.
all we got was the freindly banter from the lads