Hi Mandy, Turkey is as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. It is a matter of shopping around the restaurants for the best deals, for adults the Set Menu is very good value. The Turks love children and the vast majority do childrens menus. Go to places that the Turks frequent ie ALO 24 or Lokantas. Which resort are you going to ?? The actual cost of living in Turkey is a lot cheaper than here.

Les

A lot cheaper than you are used to

Not sure what differences in prices will be this year from last but typically

a pint of Efes last year was around 3 Lira
English Breakfast (if you want that sort of thing) 5 Lira
Turkish Breakfast 7 Lira
The most expensive meal we had (and yes we did push the boat out on that night) including drinks was 70 Lira
A usual evening meal for two was around 20 to 30 Lira with drinks

Trips out are equally inexpensive - a day on the boat to Turtle Island then on to the Mud Baths at Dalyan and return with all boats, transfers to and from the hotel, a meal on the boat out (drinks were extra), entry to the mud baths and the services of a guide for the day cost a total of 50 Lira.

At the time, the exchange rate was roughly 2.5 Lira to the £. I've just had a look it is currently roughly 2.3 Lira to the £.

The only really expensive thing we found was petrol (we always hire a car) at the equivalent of £1-40 a litre when it was under a pound in the uk. However, I have since been told that I should've asked for an LPG car - gas is much cheaper.

Hope that helps

Dave

Thanks for the replies, i am looing to book up within the next coupe of weeks, i have found one so far that i like which is in Altinkum the Esra Apts, wasnt sure whether to go self catering or if it would pay to go half board as both kids are teens and eat as much as adults !!
Mandy

Hi again Mandy, as a couple, we've always gone B & B, it is cheaper than SC, there are plenty of snack type eateries in Altinkum. Have a look at Panormos Hotel and Toros Hotel through Goldtrail(I put in hotel reviews), both are in relatively quiet areas. For restaurant recommendations scroll back to March 8th and check out topic Altinkum Discussion and questions, someone on this topic made mention of staying at the Orion Hotel which is half board but is located in a noisy area. This should help you a little more.

Les

The cost of living has risen dramatically but it is still cheaper than euro countries. Pertrol and car hire are more than UK. Imported spirits are expensive. Efes between 3-5 lira. We think a nice meal out in a water side restaurant is now similar to UK. Wine in restaurants is very expensive. However slip around to the back streets and you will find some very nice and reasonably priced cafes. If you are a non home owner you won't notice the price rises in electricity and water but of course these all serve to make your holiday cost more. Despite all this Turkey is a lovely destination and cheaper than many places.

We have just got back from marmaris on Saturday and were suprised how much things have gone up in Turkey.

Efes was 5 lire in most places, odd bar had it for 4.
glass of Wine 6 lire
short and mixer 5 lire
cocktail 5 lire

meals
chicken fillet and chips 15 lire
steaks 24 lire
english breakfast £3
kebab and salad and turkish bread 9 lire (in a smaller turkish cafe)

burgerking for the kids was good value 2 meals for 10 lire. Sorry our kid loves these.
We were only getting 2.10 to the pound.
Not everywhere was open whilst we were there but we do think that prices are similar to the uk but has the season starts they may be better offers.

When I go out to Marmaris i tend to find the season prices are much better than off season prices as there is more competition.

I am going self catering this year but apart from snacks, coffee and water I don't actually plan to buy any food for the villa. It is so cheap to eat out we'll do that every day. It's lovely to go and try different restaurants and revist a few old favourites.

We find that we pay between 20 - 40 liras for two of us for dinner, depending on the restaurant and whether we have drinks or not. Bargain!