" BITEZ "

i would say icmeler fits the bill, although there isnt a prom as such you could walk along the seafront into marmaris if you wanted a very long walk. but theres plenty of bars, good nightlife,,beach not bad, day trips and a few water parks in marmaris 5-10 mins away in taxi, and nearly forgot both places great for shopping.

another option is olu deniz which i prefer but its not as lively as icmeler so not so many shops, bars etc to visit although hisaronu 5 mins in a taxi or dolmus has more choice of shops, bars ,restaurants etc, and plenty of places to visit,boat trips, loads of water sports, paragliding etc and of course the beautiful blue lagoon

Thanks, sounds good. How long would you say it takes to walk from Icmeler into Marmaris, roughly? And what are the day trips you could do in Icmeler?
Jayne

hi

its a good walk about 1 hour & 15-25 mins , you walk past an outdoor ice skate rink if you like skating, think its the only 1 on a beach and its about 30 mins walk from icmeler. there are plenty of boat trips taking to various places, we went to turunc on a water taxi which is the next resort further along the coast ,very quiet and pretty and came back over the mountains on a bus, very high but scenic. theres plenty of things going on, trips to most of turkeys famous places, ie the mud baths, but some are far away so depends what sort of things you like to do. we love akyaka which is 40 mins away and thats a lovely day out , we also visited bosborun and semileya, sorry about spelling but lovely places to visit if you can either hire a car or get a car with driver to take you there, out of the main resorts are some beautiful places to see

Hi,

I recommend Antalya. Antalya has pretty beaches. I know there are at least 3 aquapark best one is in Hotel Dedeman. Historically, Aspendos antique city is near. Kaleici historical place is in the city centre. There are pubs, restaurants and stores in Kaleici. Also Bodrum is the another place which i can recommend. Bodrum has good night life a little smaller than Antalya.

Enjoy!
onur

I also agree about Antalya of the areas around Antalya..just finished writing up a big reply on another post ..here is the link..have a look..

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=114262&p=1140303#p1140303

everyone enjoys different places, ive been all over turkey for the last 27 years,including antayla and bodrum and didnt like them as much. probably best you read up on the resorts and see what suits you best

Have to say Icmeler does it for me..pretty little place with lots of good bars and restuarants, theres always plenty of boat trips and Marmaris is just across the bay if you like things a little more hectic...
Yep Icmeler for me...

ellie_meg ....What did you not like about Antalya ??..I have been living here for 11 years...also I did say the surrounding areas of Antalya..does not always mean the city of Antalya...Yes Antalya is a large major city in Turkey and if that is not what you are looking for then fine..but outside of Antalya plenty of lovely places to vist and explore..In fact the entire Antalya coastline of the Lycian way is really interesting for history..

My personal favorite is the village of Cirali 80kms southwest of Antalya..a better beach, historical ruins of Olympos, and the flames of the Chimarea...but Cirali is not a major resort area therefore maybe for some a bit limiting when it comes to nightlife...but for a peaceful holiday away from the '' Package tourists hordes '' and ideal place....

I would say Icmeler, it has got a promenade but not like the ones you see in Benidorm or tenerife for example, it is very narrow, trees and hotels on one side and beach on the other, there is plenty off trips to go on from there, we have been 7 times now and not got bored yet. There are 2 water parks in Marmaris which you can get to by Dolmus or boat

caretta i didnt say i didnt like it , but not as much as other places, didnt like the beach area of antayla whilst there it wasnt very clean and scenery wasnt as nice as icmeler or olu deniz, of course this is my opinion and like i said everyone likes different things. also i found it full of some nationalities which were very pushy and awkward, not naming any incase this starts a row, so we found the atmophere not as pleasant again as other areas ive visited. didnt find shopping very good either, the designer precinct was megga expensive and didnt find any decent reasonably priced shops or markets. and just thought that icmeler sounded what they were looking for , thats why i recommended icmeler over other places ive seen in turkey and after 27 years of visiting turkey going about 4-6 times a year ive seen quite a few

ellie_meg...fair enough..and thanks for your honest answer..like many people everyone has there favorites..must admit that I never have been to Icmeler but I have been to Marmaris nearby...I can say the same for the beach at Marmaris...I have been there for a short visit 3 times ( granted in more winter months ) but once in May...I found the beach there very short from the promenade...not much space and also did not find it very clean...however..like you write I have heard that there are some wonderful places outside these areas....

I might have asked you this before..but cannot remember...so sorry for asking again....have you ever been to Cirali ???

As a permanet resident of Antalya - non-turkish...I find the shopping great..but I tend to do my shopping at the big shopping malls like Migros...because coming from Canada I like the big malls instead of the markets...however for local produce etc the markets are great..I am not interested in buying fake designer stuff...also I think it depends on where you go shopping in Antalya..the touristic markets..those geared just for tourist as just that..for example I do not like the markets in Kemer..but the one near my home is OK..

You maybe right as the Antalya areas/city have more various nationalities...but again many of those you mention mostly go to all-inclusive resort etc...I do not have any problems with different nationalities and see in Cirali a wide variety ranging from English, German, French, Dutch, American, Canadian, Belgium, Spanish , Italian, etc etc.a very mixed amount of European travellers....have noticed however more and more British in these areas as well...and a few re-locating to Antalya to live...11 years ago there were very few foreign nationalities especially English speaking.... I myself love meeting people from different countries..

I would guess that you have then also been to places like Kas, Kalkan, Side, Alanya, etc in your travels...what are your thoughts on those places...Have you been to Adrasan ?? near to Cirali...there are so many places with lovely scenery all over Turkey....and likely you have seen possibly more or Turkey than me...I also love historicals places and tend to visit places like that...rather than resorts...why because hey I live in one...if you can please take a look through my photos..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/canmom/sets/

thanks again..

Well where you go is a problem for you because Turkey is wonderful and there are so many places to stay and things to do and see in each area.
I have to say that if it is quality you want then the Antalya region is the best for that. Side has a nice harbour and is livlier than say Belek which has some nice hotels.The best but this is only my opinion is Lara Beach, where all the best 5 star hotels are situated but it does not fill your criteria on the promanade. All the hotels have their own waterslides and the Royal Wings has a great water park of its own with lazy river. wave pool and waterslides and comes complete with its own fun fair! Night life is hotel based in the resort but all have good night clubs/discos. Most have drinks included 24 hours and the watersports are included except the motorized .
The city of Antalya is within reach for a more hectic night life and the shopping but these hotels offer so much it is hard to leave.

You will hear those who say go self catering but for your first visit I would go all-inclusive to a good quality hotel! be careful though because there are some bad ones. The Barut hemera in Sde is wonderful and newly renovated and there are bars across the road and it does attract the brits. many who return year after year. In Lara the barut lara. Delphin Palace, Limak Lara and Royal Wngs are all superb hotels.

It used to be cheap to go self catering but prices are rising in turkey. I would not recommend Marmaris at all unless you are single and like Blackpool!! Icemeler is nice and if you need to be surrounded by brits this would be a great place for you.The walk to Marmaris is lovely and marmaris is fine for a visit.

caretta

my mother lives just outside marmaris so i visit her a lot, but i agree with you re marmaris thats why i dont recommend it, the beach isnt great. the only areas i have visited near antayla, on separate occasions, are side, antayla and tekirova and visiting kemer for the day, to be honest wasnt impressed with any of this area, especially tekirova, so no i havent visited cirali. i have visited mainly areas like olu deniz, fethiye, icmeler, akyaka,cesme, bodrum,kusadasi,altinkum etc

i have visited some lovely places around marmaris area ie selimia, bozborun, akyaka etc , sorry about the spelling

most of the europeans you are talking about are fine, but i was referring to another country that we found very annoying pushing in all the time etc taking over the place !!! i love also to mix with other nationalities but not rude ones lol

ill have a look at the photos as we are thinking about moving to turkey the end of the year, ive put my house up for sale this week, so who knows thanks

karen

hi..its me again...thanks ellie_meg ..for your reply...and I know to which type you are referring to and you can be right... but that is one of the problem with the so called ''resort'' areas around here....with all these cheap packages to many of these areas..these are the type of guest one might find...anyways....you dont find that in Cirali...because it is a protected area for both the flora and wildlife..

PS..did you not find the scenery interesting around Kemer or Tekirova...and I do not mean the resort the landscape ??? I love the mountains and lovely pine trees...While you were in Side or Antalya did you get out to the historical areas like Perge or Aspendos ?? or others...

I myself have not visited to many places on that side of the woods..but maybe some day...I have some great friends that love bozburun...and I know that they special little out of the way places are much better and really in my opinion represent the real Turkey..

you are right the islands around Fethiye are really nice to...actually like the other person said there are so many wonderful places...

good luck with your move and hope all goes well...if you get out my way let me know

caretta

yes i liked kemer, but didnt like tekirova,couldnt find a beach except our hotel beach and 1 long street of shops, no character. we went to antalya to get our wedding sorted with the british consulate so stayed in a hotel next door which wasnt that good, so didnt get chance to go to the surrounding areas, but we had a good look around antalya itself, the park area was fine, but wasnt impressed with the beach.

it would be nice to see more of turkey and like you i love the not so touristy places so maybe if we move over there we can have a good look around and maybe try cirali as it looks nice from the photos. its difficult with to travel too much with a child that gets travel sickness, hence not going for places like kas that are a long way from the airport, my mother has visited that area and liked it but her favourite place being cappadoccia sorry if thats mis spelt.

just waiting to see if we sell the house and watching the interest rate, which seems sadly seems to be coming down grr so that might put pay to us coming over, i have a turkish bank and can watch it carefully lol, and we need it to stay high lol

Turkey, no matter were you go is gorgeous, every place has its own special feeling.
We love Turunc, Dalyan, Akyaka, Kalkan and Icmeler.
All depends on the individual, but for your first holiday i dont think you can go wrong with Icmeler, plenty to do, lots of fun bars, just walk to the beach and book your boat trip, easy enough to get other resorts.Bus service great every 5 mins so you can go into Marmaris for more hectic night life if you want it.
We find the best thing to do is take a trip to at least one other area while there see if you like it and book there next time.
You will love the place and return again and again, like the rest of us