I would take lira, sterling and euros - thats what we did when we went to Side (was mostly Lira). We took around the equivilant of £500, and came back with 5 lira. This was for two weeks in Side, and included drinks, lunch, shopping and a boat trip.

we just took sterling when we went as the exchange rates change daily and there is lots of places in the resorts to change money.a lot of the shops wanted you to pay in sterling anyway as they can hold onto it till there is a good exchange rate.
i always get my ciggs on the plane on way out as they often have deals 400 for £32. the ciggs in turkey can be cheap but not always sure you will get genuine tobbaco like here.
have never been to gumbet so cant help you there but i whould imagine there will be a lot of river boat trips available.
if you get a chance to go to pamukulle from there this is a nice excursion.

Hi Em,

There are lots of trips ou can do from Gumbet, the most popular ones are a boat trip, jeep safari and water park. You can go further afield to places like Ephesus, Pamukkale and the Dalyan mud baths too. The best place to book boat trips is along the beach front. Don't book any trips with your rep as they will be far more expensive. Ther are no river boat trips as ther is no rive in Gumbet.

The best Turkish bath is at Nirvana in bar street, near the Parkim Ayaz hotel. I haven't been myself but so many people have said how good it is.

We alwasy take a little lira, about £50 and then either change sterling or get our money from the ATMs. I wouldn't bother with euros. I have never heard of anyone saving up sterling till the ned of summer as the rates vary through the year and aren't necessarily higher at the end of season. I am sure they do save it and change when the rate goes higher through the season though.

I don't smoke myslef so I can't advise on the cigarette question I'm afraid.

Royal Asarlik is lovely hotel, from reading reviews I think he food is quite good, mainly Turkish style.

If there is anything else you want to know about Gumbet please ask as I lived there for a few years so i may be able to help you.

Kedi

No point in taking euros unless you have some left over from a previous holiday. They take both lira and sterling in Gumbet quite happily. We always use lira when paying in restaurants and bars and supermarkets, at the market, etc but in the shops they'll give you the price in sterling if you ask.

As for the trips. the boat trips are a good day out. You don't say how old your family - the jeep safari is a good trip - be prepared to get wet and dirty. Don't book your excursions with a rep - there's loads of places in town to book with - Queen Travel and Indiana Jones Travel are two good ones to look out for. Theboat trip is usually £10 per person.

As for prices - we always work on 2.5 lira to the pound as a rough guide (it fluctuates during the season). A large beer (Efes) averages at about 4-5 lira, a local spirit and mixer about 7 lira, a cocktail about 10 lira but there are always offers on as well.

Cigarettes - some on sale in town are fakes. You can buy them in the duty free shop at Bodrum airport when you arrive while waiting for your luggage and they're genuine and decent prices.

Turkish bath - the Nirvana Hamam opposite the Parkim Ayaz Hotel always gets fantastic reviews. We also use the one near the Queens Resort (and the Bombay Cottage Indian restauant) which is kind of underground and we enjoy it there.

The Royal Asarlik is a nice hotel in a good location - on the beach, just far enough out of the centre not to be noisy but close enough to stroll into town.

It'll be hot out there when you go so drink plenty of water and don't forget the suntan lotion.

We have a house in Gumbet and visit regularly so if you've any more questions, just ask.

The Royal Asarlik is one of only a handful of hotels that we would go back to. The beach is lovely and peaceful, there is a mid-lively walk along the beach and a very lively walk through Gumbet from the main entrance of the hotel (but if you didn't pass through it to get to the hotel then you wouldn't know it was there once you are inside or beach side.) The food is great as long as you don't want burger and chips - which we definitely don't. It took us a while to get used to some foods that seemed to lack colour (because they're not processed) and found that we loved the stuffed aubergines etc. The outdoor bbq's were very tasty. The food is checked constantly with probes to check for correct temperatures. We found the staff very friendly and welcoming.

Many years ago finances forced us to look at Turkey for a holiday and we would be very reluctant to go anywhere else now.

We have always found the Turks to be a very friendly race who adore children and appreciate family.

Bartering is fun as long as you remember that they too have to earn a living and some of our "genuine fakes," are very old and still going strong (but there are differing qualities even within the "3 for a tenner," bracket - so shop around and get everything out and examine it.)

It does get very hot but it makes sitting in the air conditioned lounges twice as nice

I'm sure you will all have a great time. Enjoy.

Hello everyone

Thanks for all your responses, that great!

Gumbet Jakki - my son is 13 and we are in our 30's. we used to always do Jeep Safari's but had a really bad experience in Bulgaria and then with that young girl dying in Turkey last year it's knocked my confidence with them a bit, which is a shame as we used to do them in Cyprus and they were excellent!

Can anyone recommend any Turkish 'must-try' dishes - having never been to Turkey before we are keen to try their cuisine! Although i hate fish...

Thanks again everyone, we're getting really excited now

Thanks Em x

Em, I'm getting excited for you. It's only five weeks on Friday until we return to our beloved Gumbet and we can't wait. Must try Turkish dishes - there's so many. Try some of the what I would call stews - if I remember rightly, the Cokertme one is really good. Ask at any of the restaurants and they'll explain all the Turkish dishes to you and help you choose. For starters, try the Turkish meze - they're good in Chinatown, I could eat them all day. Also try some of the kebabs, Seray Zetas do a good choice and there's a great one in a pot that you may enjoy.

Hope you have a really great holiday.

If you want to try some really good Turkish food then Seray Zetas is definitely the place to go, it is our favourite restaurant in Gumbet. My favourite Turkish foods are lahmacun - thinTurkish pizza with spicy lamb, Pide - another kind of Turkish pizza with chees, meat, egg and other stuff on, kebabs - Shish, Iskender or Adana, chicken durum - a kind of wrap, lentil soup, meze, kofte - meatballs.... I could go on listing loads of things as I love Turkish cooking!

If you aren't sure what something is on the menu just get someone to explain or better still get them to take you into the kitchen and show you!

We are off to Gumbet on Thursday so we will be there the same time as you

Have a great time.
Take sterling and a little lira to start you off and there are plenty of ATM's.
Get a boat trip to camel beach to see the - camels! They have a farm behind the beach and they are lovely. They do rides on the beach. Bodrum castle is worth a look too but don't go in the middle of the day as it will be too hot.
You could go by ferry for a day out in Datca, a quaint harbour town further south. Ferry goes at 9 am from Bodrum takes 2 hours and returns at 5.00. If you go on Saturday there is a good market.
There are plenty of nice places to visit on the peninsula. Your son might like Gumusluk where he can snorkle and see underwater mosaics, also walk through the water to Rabbit Island.
Food - well someone mentioned the casseroles and they are called sac (sach) and then whatever the meat is, they often have nice veg in them too. Imam Bayaldi is fabulous, a kind of stuffed aubergine. A lot of the food has aubergine in it especially the meze. Pide is worth a try - a kind of pizza. Stuffed corgette flowers are really nice. Kofte is very popular - meat balls. I'm a bit uncertain about fish but really like the sword fish steaks. Now for puddings, they are very sweet but my 2 favourites are the cold rice pudding made with ground rice and baklava which is a bit like shredded wheat with loads of honey. Then you must try lokum - Turkish delight. As well as the well known rose flavour try nutty ones. You should try Turkish coffee although I really don't like it and then find a Turkish person to tell your fortune from it. They all think they can do it! They drink tea (cay) in little tulip shaped glasses and it is brewed in a special way. You may well find an urn of it in your hotel. It might be very strong and the idea is that you put a little strong tea in the glass and then fill it up with hot water.