i would definitely suggest akyaka, its gorgeous, fab beach, scenery to die for and the prices in the restaurants are really reasonable compared to turgutreis. its mainly a turkish resort and therefore not over priced. you can get a package there , thomas cook and anatolian skies do them, but i would do a diy, there are lots of nice hotels, sc etc there, its only 50 mins from dalaman airport, have a look at these links, if you want any more information let me know, also have a look at the photos ive put in the gallery of akyaka

we stayed in turgutreis last may/june and were really surprised how expensive this area and surrounding towns, like bitez etc were, the beaches also were very stoney which we didnt like, so for these reasons i wouldnt return to this area

http://www.turkuaz-guide.net/gokova.html

http://www.idymahotel.com/en/index.htm

http://akyaka.com/index.php

Foos and drink is still cheaper in Turkey than in Spain and Greece, particularly now that the Euro is so low and you certainly can still find small quiet places with traditional restaurants.

Turgutreis is still nice and I have never found the Bodrum Peninsular so expensive, although I have never been to Akyaka so I can't compare.

There are other resorts around the Bodrum Peninsular they you may like to look at too: Bitez, Torba, Ortakent and Gumusluk are all small and quieter than Turgutreis.

Kedi your completely wrong, Im presently on holiday in Benidorm and local beer here is 1 euro local spirits are 50 cents, Food is also cheaper here also and these prices are just about everywhere. Prettypollycat in answer to your question have a look at Datca where you will find the more traditional turkey, Your only downside with Datca will be your Airport transfer as its a long time to travel.

PrettyPollyCat...

Im Kadi's daughter... Mums given me permission to use her logon name!

Of course you will still love Turkey. How could you not?!

You will find Turgetreis alot different from '98. It was a little sleepy town then. Its grown massively now, you won't recognise it. It's the second largest town after Bodrum. So might be abit of a shock if you decide to go there.

I've been going to Turkey since I was kneehigh to a grasshopper... and im 28 on Monday! I love everything about Turkey... you could call me a Turkophile.

I personally, would choose the Bodrum pennisula. Theres so much to see and do, its so diverse with so many wonderful picturesque places to visit. I might be biased as my parents have an idyllic apartment in Bitez where i holiday 6 times a year (one of the perks of living at home!).

I've travelled around many parts of Turkey and the countryside and scenery is breath taking all over.

Two years ago, I flew over and met my Turkish friend who took me on a tour from Izmir down to Marmaris. We travelled by Dolmus and coach and visited many resorts.

His Auntie has a stunning 3 story villa in Akyaka and we stayed there for a few days. Aykaya has beautiful scenery (like all of Turkey) but is boring (in my opinion). If your going self-catering it will be very expensive. We went to the local butchers in Akyaka and my friend paid over 30lira for some small chicken legs! The most exciting thing to do, is feed the ducks on the stream. There also a large camping site, near the beach in a forest where the poorer Turks holiday. While we were there, sitting at a bar on the beach, some children came in and I said to my friend 'that little girl is english' (because she looked it) and we had a bet... next minute she asked my friend for a chair in Turkish so I had to pay up... then she goes to her mother and says 'here you go mum' in english! Turns out, her Mum is married to Akyakas Mayor!

When we returned back to Bodrum. I was thrilled. Bodrum pennisula is classy and cosmopolitan... you can eat out at the Yacht Club with Millionaires, or down a cobbled backstreet with the locals. You can laze on the beach or be a culture vulture.

Bodrum Pennisula is slightly more expensive... but you pay for what you get for. Since you last went in '98 its going to be enormosly more expensive, but Turkeys worth it. The Tax on the alcohol is higher, so you'll notice the difference on your booze.

If you do decide on Turgetreis, try and pop out for the day on the Dolmus. Visit; Bitez, Gumusluk, Turbuko - you certainly wont be dissapointed!

Essay over!

Kadi's Daughter.

im sorry but i totally disagree with everything you said about akyaka, it has fab scenery, the beach is far better than any beach we have seen in the bodrum area for sandy beaches and scenery. the camp site isnt large and its at the other end of the village and out of the way , the restaurants are way cheaper to eat out than in bitez or turgutreis ,having holidayed there last summer. we go sc all the time in akyaka so sadly you are talking nonsense about it being expensive, as its mainly turkish holiday makers, im not going to get into an a heated discussion with you as you are not even a member of HT , from reading prettypollycats post i surmised she wanted somewhere fairly quiet and not too expensive with traditional food, akyaka offers this, bitez and turgutreis dont as they are geared up for tourists with high priced restaurants. everyone likes different things in a holiday and looking at fabulous scenery isnt boring , some of us like laid back resorts

Well I have never been to Benidorm rbw46 but I know it was far more expensive in the Canary Islands, parts of Spain and Greece last year. So I may be wrong about Benidorm but I am not completey wrong

Hope you are having a good holiday
I don't think arguing about who likes which place best and is really going to help Prettypollycat is it? Obviously everyone likes different places and has different views on resorts. You can find traditional resorts in all parts of Turkey and if you eat at the more local kind of restaurant you will find food cheap everywhere you go.

To an extent Im with RWB on this one. Im just back from Fuengirola on the Costa Del Sol. Some things are great value eg most of the Chinese restaurants were doing a meal of the day, 3/4 courses for 5.5 euro about £5. Some bars were doing beer for 1 euro, under £. coffee euro for a cup. Most of the tourist restairants were about 10 euro for a 3 course meal, which is very similar in price to Icmeler last October. I know there are cheaper or more expensive places in both Icmeler and Fuengirola, these are simply typical prices. When I was in Fuengirola 2 years ago the Chnese restuarants were the same at about 5.5 euro though beer was then 3 euro a pint

I did however find snaks, eg ommlette chips, or burger and chips a bit pricey at about 5 euro. The price of things in supermarket was also a bit pricey for some items, eg loaf 2 euro and fruit was surprisingly expensive

With flights to Spain still relatively cheap and flights to Turkey still relatively high, I think it will be swings and roundabouts as to the final cost, taking into account, flights accomadation transfers and spending money. Personally i prefer Turkey for my main holiday

The one good thing about Fuengirola was that you could browse in the shops or at restaurant menus without being accosted by the staff

Stewart

Kedi Yavrusu wrote:

Foos and drink is still cheaper in Turkey than in Spain and Greece, particularly now that the Euro is so low and you certainly can still find small quiet places with traditional restaurants.

Turgutreis is still nice and I have never found the Bodrum Peninsular so expensive, although I have never been to Akyaka so I can't compare.

There are other resorts around the Bodrum Peninsular they you may like to look at too: Bitez, Torba, Ortakent and Gumusluk are all small and quieter than Turgutreis.

The point being made here Kedi was that in Benidorm the prices I stated are true and correct at this time. Now as a Turkey lover myself I had to point out what you said was wrong, Now if you want further proof of this I have a digital camera here and can easily forward you pictures of the prices I said that were applicable in Benidorm presently?

Petty point scoring of the "I'm right and you're wrong" type is hardly helpful and informative for the OP, is it? Why is it that some posters on here seem to constantly need to prove they're right and others are wrong all the time?

i will stick my Pennyworth in as well.. Last year we went to turkey we also had 2 holidays in Greece both the Greek holidays cost us less in daily expenditure than turkey [local food and drink brands]. we also went to Nerja in Spain where the food was on par with Greece but drinks were a lot more expensive.. at the end of the day wherever you go and whatever you spend someone will be paying less in another resort, its more down to bar/taverns/restaurant choice as with country you are in

wiz

I'm not saying you are wrong rbw, as you are there at the moment you obviously know what prices are like right now, and no I don't need photos thanks . Can I just point out though that prices in Turkey at present are probably a lot lower than in the summer too, I know when I lived there everything was so much cheaper in winter time. I was just saying what I have found to be true in past summers and from what other people have told me.

Kedi you like Turkey have to forget the past, As prices have gone up far to much, Yes your right I bet you can get a drink for a pound in Turkey but not in a Tourist resort all during the season.

I'm not going to argue with you about it, if you say it is cheaper in Benidorm fair enough.

Benidorm v Turkey? Efes at 1TL? I know where I would rather be.

Hi, im Kadi's daughter... as you can see by my screename.. i am now a fully fledged member of HT's!!

I've been reading this website for years, but never felt the need to join, until now.

Ellie_Meg - Why on earth would you want to get into a 'heated discussion' with me??? I was giving my opinion. And if you read my post, I said 'Akyaka has beautiful scenery' I didnt mention the beaches!!! Akyaka has a nice beach. I did find it boring, as theres no historical sites to visit, and its too dangerous to hire a car because of the massive mountain its at the bottom of!!! Also, I did say Bodrum Penninsula is more expensive.

I dont understand how my opinion is 'nonsense'??? Isnt everyone entitled to their own opinion... isnt that the point of this website to give people advice/views on their own accounts of where they've visted??

But lets hope that we're adult enough to agree to disagree... We're ALL entitled to our own opinions.

I hope PrettyPollyCat finds what she's looking for. Sorry for hijacking your thread, I just wanted to help.

I know where I would rather be too Jay

Jay trip the 1ytl pint was available in Icmeler on the very last week of the season and this was widespread in Icmeler, All they were trying to do was to get rid of the stock they had, As remember they close down from November and dont re-open to May the next year, Im also well aware that the Buffolo do beer for 1.5 to 2 Lira all season, But they werent open for the whole month of October well from the 5th onwards.

Someone mentioned Datca and I too would recommend it. However it is a resort for Turkish families and so not for you if you are looking for somewhere catering for Brits. Prices have gone up a lot in recent years and Datca has always been known to be a little more expensive. However look around and good value can still be found such as pide in a restaurant on the beach with a drink less than 8 lira. You can find plenty of those little traditional restaurants there. If you are an independent traveller you can find basic but clean pensions for reasonable prices. The smart hotels are around 50 euros a night for 2 in high season and it is possible to haggle over this. I have found a shuttle bus that will do transfers for I think around £23 each or taxis for about £80 per taxi. Transfer time around 140 mins. They say once you have visited you will always return and that certainly happened to me as I have been visiting for over 15 years, it really is a beautiful and special place.

Kadis Daughter i didnt say your opinion was nonsense i said it being expensive was nonsense, you said if you go sc it will be very expensive, thats not true, then a few lines further down you admitted that bodrum is more expensive, total contradiction !!! i dont want to discuss this any more with you, im trying to help out prettypollyann , which is what HT is all about