We've just come come back from Icmeler and shopped around for the best prices, and yes you can get a 5 course meal for £6.99 but it' s poor quality, plain as that.
Our first night in the town we went into a restaurant called CD (And it was seedy) we took the £6.99 meal for the children 16 & 14 year olds and it was the worst meal we had all holiday, so just because it's cheap doesn't mean it is any good. We then ate at Venice and the difference in quality was out of this world, yes we paid more but when i'm on holiday i want good food at a good price, not c**p food at a cheap price.
Took £2000 and came back with just over £10.00, and most of the people that we spoke to who had been before ALL said that prices ahd gone up and they might not be coming back because of it, that was around 30 people.

Stew

we came back from hissaronu last week and were paying approx 130 ytl for a family of 6 for our evening meal one night it was 90 ytl but this was in a small family restaurant in ovaik it was the best meal of the fortnight fresh bbq sea bass. the most we paid for an effes was 5 and cocktails were about 7 i didnt think the prices were that bad.

Well your place seems to be the exception to the rule, loads of people on here are complaining about the price rises which will price Turkey out of the market and more people will stop going there.

i can only think that hissaronu/ oviack is a cheaper resort than ichmelor.we were paying on average 21ytl for set steak menu and 18ytl for set chicken menu. there were lots of all you can eat places and also indian buffets.we had some lovely meals it wasnt the food that bumped up the bill it was the soft drinks that cost the money. all our meals ibcluded bred and dips to start. then a starter main course and desert we were even offered coffee or a drink in some places at the end of our meal.

Icmeler is a lovely place, the people are great as well, but it's sad to see so many people saying that they might not be back due to the high prices. We all want to go to new places and try new things but if restaurants start pricing people out of not going to their restaurants to eat then it will only lead to one thing,closure!!!

It's exactly the same situation that happened in Greece, before the euro came in you could go out have a great meal and drink for next to nothing, after the euro came in everything went up by 75-100%.

I know that Turkey isn't getting the euro yet, but if they do prices will go up even more

Its amazing the amount of people on here that seem to think that just because they have found somewhere that the drinks are cheap or a meal is cheap that just don`t understand what this thread was all about.
You should be able to goto any resort anywhere in turkey and expect to pay the same price for a meal or drink weather that be altinkum (large resorts) or bitez (small resort).
I also think that a part of the problem is down to us the consumer if we go into a bar and see that a beer is 5ytl or a cocktail is 15ytl when we know for sure that you can find the same drinks elsewhere cheaper but pay those prices anyway thats our fault, personally if i find somewhere cheaper where the atmosphere is good then i know where i will spend my money.
it`s only when we vote with our feet (wallets) that these places will start to realise that the credit crunch is here and it`s going to be a while before most of us will have money to burn again.
The biggest problem with this is that by the time the bar\resturaunt owners realise this it will be too late and we`ll all be going back to the resorts we used to goto before we discovered turkey.
And not because turkey was cheap even though this was a bonus but because of the culture history and the people of turkey are fantastic.

Andy

Due to go to Marmaris on Friday and was looking really forward to it, however over the past week all I have heard are horror stories about how epensive it is. Was there in May and didn't really find it that bad. Have the prices really shot up that much since May and if so what can I expect to pay for things such as Efes, meals boat trips etc. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Starting to wish I wasn't going now!

andy57742 - agree with your comment about part of problem lying with consumer. We actually did just that - voted with our feet (& wallet) during the 2nd week of our stay when we'd managed to find a couple of cheaper bars.

For the past couple of years we've been "regulars" at various bars along the main strip in Olu. After working out what we were actually spending however we decided to scout around for cheaper alternatives. One night we'd popped in for quick Efes at one of our old haunts & got chatting to a few other familes. We told them we'd found a cheaper (just as friendly/lively) place slightly off the beaten track and would be moving on there when we'd finished our drink - they all decided to follow suit and joined us! Next year we are planning to by-pass our old regulars and head straight for the budget bars fromt he off.

It really is a shame that prices aren't more universal. Must admit we felt awful for deserting the friends we'd made at previous bars - but in today's climate pennies count I'm afraid!

Julesx

Come on then ju-ann give us all the name of these places and maybe we can put them on the map

Andy

I kind of know what people are saying by I for one will not be swopping the view from the Buzz Roof top Cocktail Bar to save 2YTL per drink. I have made savings elsewhere by going DIY this year and getting those cheap Aegean Flight air tickets, booking our hotel through OTbeach and transfers through Hamish McTurk, I've not bought any new holiday clothes so I think I deserve that Melon Crush Cocktail (or 3) and fabulous view.

Cant wait only... 23 days to go

I think we are all going to have to economise both at home and on holiday. It will come as a shock to some but spend some time on the forums at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com and you will see the extremes people are going to to cut back on spending and wasting money. They also make cutbacks like this in order to pay more of debts etc.

I am going on holiday with £1000 for a family of 4 and will enjoy every minute of it. You dont need to spend lots of money to have fun, (I'm sure I've said that before on here, sorry!)

Andy - fave cheaper places to drink were Rose Garden and Magic Cocktail Bar. Our 3 girls loved the atmosphere at Rose Garden. Really friendly staff & a bit of entertainment from 10pm onwards (dancing on bar & in street) Magic Bar opposite was a quieter place but still good. All the restaurants down that strip (the one parallel to main street where Cherry Chow, Shadows etc are) seemed to be cheaper than others ie. 6ytl full english breakfast, pasta 10ytl - can't remember names of them apart from Cousins though I'm afraid. We had good value meals at Turkish Pizza, Kumsal Pide and that small kebab place opposite Anforra & Chill Out (name escapes me now tho)!

Dadooronon - know what you mean also. I'm not saying I would never pay 5ytl for an Efes etc if the bar itself was "better", but I would probably just have the one drink at Buzz or equivalent (& make it last a while, ha ha) and then move on. And if you can find somewhere you like just as much as an old favourite, as in our case, then why pay more?

We have already booked to go back next year and have decided to have a good scout around to see what's what re prices as soon as we arrive! This year we just slipped into old habits from the past few years and ate/drank where we'd made "friends" & felt comfortable before. Decided to venture to pasture new when funds were running a bit low the 2nd week - saved money but still had a brilliant time.

Julesx

You still cant get all day trips as cheap anywhere else!!! in fact we got our trips cheaper this year,ie,boat trip with breakfast,lunch and all drinks £8 each,jeep safari inc lunch £11 each,3 hours on quad bikes for £12 each,what are people moaning about!!,also full English breakfast,back bacon,sausage,2 eggs,mushrooms,beans,tomato,2 toast,jam and butter for £1.70.

crispy full english breakfast wasnt £1.70 in turgutreis, it averaged 12-15 lira about £5 - £6 each which i think is dear for breakfast !!!! maybe it depends on which area of turkey but we found turgutreis and when we visited bitez for the day very expensive to eat out and was glad we had all inclusive or we would have spent loads of money, infact even our all inc charged about 10-12 lira for an english breakfast which im glad i dont eat as i wouldnt pay 12 lira for a breakfast in a 5* all inc !!! the hotel even charged £15 for a boat trip and no drinks included again this boat was supposed to belong to the hotel and drinks were very highly priced, so out of principle we didnt go on this boat trip as i heard too many people complaining about the drink prices, surely it should have been subbed and drinks and food free .

hence i wont be going back to this area in a hurry,im going to akyaka in 2 weeks so lets hope prices there are ok , they usually are !!!

We have just returned from Hisaronu and ate in Olu 3 times. Yes on the beach front and the main strip are dearer, but if you look around, bargains are there to be found. We stopped and looked at one menu which we thought was too pricey, we walked away and they offered us 10% off, still found somewhere cheaper though. If you travel up to Hisaronu - 2.5 ytl per person, meals are cheaper - for example set menu chinese (Dragonara) £7 for three courses.

We stayed in Marmaris in June,we payed 4 lira for full english breakfast,some places were even charging less 3 lira!!!,last year we were paying between 5 and 6.

Oh dear, I have been to Turkey 2 years running, this will be my 3rd, and certainly my last if this is anything to go by. I was reading on another thread about it being £6-10 for a manicure, thats crazy, when I went 2 years ago it was something like a fiver, I can get it done really well in my local for £8. My problem is I live in a predominantly turkish area, in London, so I do not expect to go to turkey and pay more for the things I eat on a regular basis, you can easily go into any restaurant around here and get a 2 course meal for £6 and fantastic authentic stuff, even the english breakfast or turkish breakfasts in the turkish cafes here are only £3.50. I'll have to look for some little back street shops to eat in

We've just come back from Icmeler for the first time, most things we're dearer than we thought.
The place was lovely but just dissapointed in the costs, was told Turkey was a bargain, not any more it isn't

Stew

Oh I just think you have to get things into perspective. EVERYWHERE is expensive now. I defy any of you to go to Spain, get some surly waiter to serve you and then get ripped off by some extortionate prices. You would soon be heading back to Turkey again. At least when you go anywhere in the resorts you are treated by friendly welcoming people, surely that must count for something. You can go around finding the cheapest places to eat and drink if you want to spend your holiday that way. I personally dont. I dont like being ripped off and if I had been I wouldnt go back but surely you must look at it as being in a lovely place, beautiful weather and nice people. If you want to get ripped off come to London, there is no place better. In fact this whole country of ours is one big rip off place. I hope some of you do try other places next year, then you will see that you're not being hard done by in Turkey after all!!! whew that's got that off my chest!!!!