olu deniz is gorgeous it has a lovely lagoon area with nice sandy beaches although the main beach is shingly. whereas fethiye is more a working town with a harbour, we didnt see any beaches there apart from the hotels private beach,having stayed in both places i personally prefer olu deniz. you could always go to fethiye for the day as its only about 8-10 miles away. there are more shops in fethiye but i would say olu deniz is more of a holiday resort

I will second that. Absolutely love Olu Deniz, it's not in your face, lovely stroll of an evening, great restaurants and as Ellie says beautiful lagoon.

I would say Olu Deniz to stay at and then to visit Fethyie from there a couple of times, as it has boat trips, lots of shops and is a Turkish town rather than just a holiday resort. That way you kind of get the best of both worlds.

Thanks everyone for all your help, think i'm happy with our desicion now, def gonna stick with Olu Deniz.
Gonna start a new link asking about Mavruka and things to do, if anyone can advise on this it would be very much appreciated!

Thanks guys!x

Olu is a bit touristy in my opinion but there is a lovely atmosphere there that I can't explain. Fethiye is very turkish being a working town but I wouldn't say it would be the best place to have as a base.

you have four areas within easy reach olu, hisaronu,ovacik and fethiye so you can mix and match without to much trouble its cheaper to stay in ovacik or hisaronu than olu and as mentioned before fethiye is a turkish working town

You will love Olu Deniz, its a beautful area and in my opinion has a really laid back young feel to it. Fethiye has nice harbour area and some great bars and restaurants in the old town. We have grown quite fond of it after starting/finishing many of our gulet trips there. The fish market is in a square surrounded by restaurants, where you can purshase your fish and take it to one of the restaurants for them to cook. They have a small standard charge for this that includes salad and bread. There's a great atmosphere there at night all lit up with fairy lights and very popular with the turkish people. We also love the Car cemetry bar where you can sit outside and watch the world go past. Its in the Old town/bazaar area. Also near here we found a shop selling antiques, so interesting as it contained lots of fascinating items such as weapons and jewellry and things you just wouldn't find anywhere else. Another interesting place is the ampi theatre right by the harbour and FREE you can see it on google

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=36.620841,29.105519&spn=0.002045,0.003433&t=h&z=18