Hi Wendy, There is a Kalkan Discussion Forum, if you scroll back through to June 23rd you will find the last post and all the info you require. Yes, Kalkan is very hilly but the place and people are really fantastic, you will see my recommendations for places to eat. We are also there from Sept 20th but for two weeks and we are flying out from Birmingham.

Les

Hi Les

Thanks for that

I found a post last next but all the posts seemed to be really old so I thought that there may have been some changes in the resort

We are flying from Birmingham on the 20th too. Onur Air 8.30am

Would you be able to post the link to your comments as having trouble finding it

Wendy

I would also suggest you look at the following

http://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/

We're returning to Kalkan for the 9th time in September and find that we cannot drag ourselves away to anywhere else for now!

We started going to Turkey 20 years ago, and went to Kalkan for the day on our very first holiday. It was lovely and quaint back then, and not a holiday resort to speak of, just a few harbour side restaurants. A village not a town, it was that small.
We went back to Kalkan 2 years ago, and found it more expensive compared to others parts of Turkey. We drove to Dalyan for the day and found the menus to be roughly 5 lira cheaper than in Kalkan. Not a lot I know, but why does Kalkan charge more?
It's a more 'up market' resort for want of a better description. The (what used to be be) quaint old part of town was full of 'chic/arty farty' places. We don't like Marmaris for the same reasons as you, and Kalkan is 100% better than Marmaris.
It is very hilly, the only flat area being once you are down at the harbour.
We stayed at the Samira Apartments and they had a courtesy bus, which got full of people who had bought apartments further up the hill, so we were lucky if we got on the bus sometimes because of them!
The beach isn't worth talking about - sorry! If you hire a car, the drive to Patara beach is worth it though - about half an hour or so.
On saying all that, we did enjoy our holiday, but wouldn't go back to Kalkan.

Hi,

We have just returned from Turkey. We spent our first week in Kalkan. Although we have been several times to Turkey and love it so much, this was our first and last visit to Kalkan.

It was very very hilly. You could climb up from the harbour to the top part of the resort either by following the roads or going up steps. By the second night, my calf muscles were like rocks!!!! The temperature was high, but it was also very humid, so any kind of physical exercise was impossible. Also the steps and pavements were like shiny crazy paving and were quite slippery, especially on the way back down.

There were quite a few contemporary restaurants which were more expensive, but for us you could go somewhere like that at home, we prefer the more traditional eating places. We had 2 lovely meals at Merkez (half way up), and the staff were friendly and prices very reasonable.

The other problems we encountered were that the bank was closed on evenings and the Post Office wouldnt cash travellers cheques. We have never experienced this before and it was an inconvenience to us, as we had to make a special trip into the town during the day to get our money out, as we were staying at the Patara Prince Resort, just outside of Kalkan.

The supermarkets we visited didn't have prices displayed, so I did feel a little confused as to what was the best buys. We couldn't budet how much we wanted to spend.

We found it lacked the charm of other places we have visited, although there were stunning views to be had of the bay from some of the restaurants rooftop terraces.

We definitely won't be returning to Kalkan but wouldn't let it put us off returning to Turkey.

We were in Kalkan in 2005 and Marmaris this July.

Marmaris wins, hands down. Cheaper, more to do, better shops, better trips, flatter (those hills in Kalkan - groans) and surprisingly less hassle.

The two are worlds apart. I loved Kalkan, absolutely adored it. So beautiful and very laid back.

I personally don't like Marmaris but can understand why it is a favourite for so many. If you like big towns with huge choice of bars, restaurants, nightlife ranging from proper turkish to totally british then you'll get that in Marmaris but you won't get it in Kalkan.