Unless prices have gone up dramatically since last year I imagine that you will find most items for sale in the supermarkets to be on a par with a supermarket like Sainsburys over here. But coffee/tea and breakfast cereals are very expensive, so I suggest you slip your favourite coffee/teabags/cereal in with your luggage, unless eating in a hotel or eating out the whole time. Most seafront restaurants are quite pricey, which is to be expected, but if you take the time to seek out the smaller restaurants in the side streets a short distance away from the seafront, the prices are much more reasonable. Alcohol is also pricey, so better to buy your own from the supermarket.
ATMs are easy to find in both Icmeler and Marmaris, so no problems there.

Thank you for your reply, I will take your advice and take coffee and tea bags as we are self catering but will eat out at night.

Looking forward to my first visit to Turkey!

chrispyduck wrote:

Myself and my girlfriend are going next week ...Yippeeeee

However I'm stucking for working out how much I need to take with me.

Were going half board for 2 weeks in Side...How much should we take for spending money each?

We normally take around £400 worth of YTL (plus any euros we find from previous holidays...or my parents donate theirs) to Side for a family of four, hb, two weeks. But we pay the trips and the hotel bill by card. Last year we came back with 5YTL so cut it a bit fine, we are taking a bit more this year though as we want to do more trips (but non tour operator ones). Just depends really on what you are planning on doing...we also got given loads of free drinks (we never paid for my eldest daughters drinks) so could've spent a lot more.

We have always taken £800 plus £50s worth of Turkish Lira to see us over the first day or so, as the exchange rate is higher out there, this being on B&B basis.

Les

Hi Yvonne,

ATMs are everywhere, even HSBC and they give you english, turlish or euros with a far better exchange rate than at home.

The soft drinks are the most expensive I think so they may sting you a bit but you will make up for it with cheap food
Wish I was going in Aug! You will have a fab time. I definately recommend the taxi boat to marmaris for 7.50TL each (£3.50). We went to the lake district in feb and their boat trips were £8 each and the weather was brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Love Nikki x x x

there is a little place in icmeler on the outer road near sylvias place/de ja vu called karadeniz the food is good and reasonable ,soft drinks/ayran are 1.5/2 lire basic lunch doner on pitta bread 5 lire and trust me it wil fill you up until evening,the patrons name is zeki and he has only 3 staff hence the prices(so he tells us)the menu is extensive and he cooks steaks,chicken etc but at at least 10% less than other places i.e.steak and mushroom sauce here was 22 lire as opposed to 33/35 in other establishments in icmeler.one of our favourite tourist haunts that we have used for the past ten years have put the food and drinks up since may.A large soft drink is now7.50 which for a family with 2 or more children isnt cheap.Luckily we get a reasonable discount when we eat here as we are regulars/local but i am glad that my two are adults now as we simply wouldnt be able to afford our family holiday at theese prices

Well, we were in Icmeler at the end of May, and I have to say that we didn't find the prices had gone up that much. Yes, there had been increases in some things, but there were still plenty of places offering excellent value for money. You can still have a reasonaby priced holiday in Turkey without having to scrimp and save, and I would hate to think people were being put off going to Turkey because of all the scare stories about massive price rises!

prices have gone up slightly everywhere as i have said before half my family are in icmeler and have lived there for 6 years now,my sister and nephews have residency/kilmic cards.the prices on icmeler market have risen for the tourists they are higher than they were in march/april as are food and drink prices i last visited end of april start of may and prices were up when i arrived last week but one.I dont mean to put anybody off turkey people will travel to turkey whatever the cost because as an all round holiday destination it is unbeatable,my interest in price fluctuation is based on the fact that i go over 5/6 times a year i am very lucky to be able to do so,however with the flight prices and add ons luggage etc it is looking like i will have to loose a couple of weeks next year particually with the food and drink price increases on top(nobody likes going away and having to watch every single penny do they?)

I agree with Idris Elba the Karadeniz place is fabulous. Had lunch there on many occasions, food was delicious and the prices were great as well. All foos freshly prepared for you

Stewart

well, i dont know where are money went,

i went with my friend, and we would have a late breakfast, and an evening meal, no lunch....

maybe a beer in an afternoon, and otherwise water through the day,

and we were getting through £30 a day, each (most days)

this was my 6th visit to icmeler, so i do remeber the cheap times

i remember in about 2006 a steak meal and an effes would come to around 20/25 lire now it comes in at some places at around 37/40 lire granted you can eat set menus at reasonable prices but that does limit your options,£30 pounds a day is about right but times that by four and it works out very expensive,icmeler bar owners were up in arms about the amount of people using the all inclusive option last year as it was having an effect on their trade ,however all inclusive packages are reasonable in this part of turkey and even if the food is inedible families will make up their losses on soft drinks for the kids alone.hotels and apartments in this area can be quite possesive with their customers most hotels dont like you taking food to your room that has been bought elsewhere ,and some establishments want a deatailed report of where you have been,what did you spend why didnt you go to their turkish night eat at their restaraunt etc .so sometimes this has led to mistunderstandings in the past and uneasy atmopspheres.Turkey is a wonderful country and i will return year after year whatever the cost,but people who are anticipating a cheap holiday here out of the euro zone will be dissapointed ,and families whio have used the self catering option in spain and never visited turkey may have problems with the attitude of SOME of the hotel managers.

Very true idris, have encountered that myself these last 2 years at apartments we stayed at. The "why you not eat at my restaurant", we were his best friends the year before because we ate there 10 out of 14 nights there, then last year kids older wanted to go out and about so did we so ate about 3 nights there and they had snacks at dinner, sometimes we went to cafe Anne next door to have some lovely strawberry cheescake and milkshake he walked past once while we were there and we got evil looks. But another couple spent 300tl on a day and night so of course he was all over them literally. 300tl was my budget for 3 days eatings out for 4.

I always say they welcome you, then say goodbye at end of hols whilst waiting for the next coachload of guests. Its a bit like that with the girls when they go out with the waiters, the old saying a sailor has a girl in every port. Luckily my 2 grew up going to Icmeler so certainly have their heads screwed on in that regards. sorry a bit

Last years spends was £1000 for 4 of us and we didnt do any trips and majority of money was on food. So this year decided to try AI we paid about £2400 for the holiday going 23 july to the L'etoile hotel, planning on going to bars at night and eat out every so often but should still recoup the initial outlay. by not having to pay 5tl for a coke each for daughter and hubby or they can get a snack and not have to pay 7tl for a plate of chips or whatever during the day.

Bev

I still maintain you can have a relatively cheap(ish) holiday in Icmeler - hubby and I certainly didn't find that we spent much more this year than last, and we had some fabulous meals (including steak). All depends where you go and what you do - I love it and wouldn't dream of going anywhere else.

I will be going to Olu Deniz with an open mind and comparing prices to Greece. I must admit the only reason I picked Turkey is because I was expecting it to be quite a bit cheaper than my favourite place (greece). Obviously, I like Turkey too or I wouldn't have booked, so as long as it's within my normal 2 week holiday budget, I won't be complaining. The general price of things will probably determine whether or not I will return though.

Hi all,

You should find local restaurants for discover real taste. We had going out with our friends in Icmeler Marmaris. I ordered sour and sweet chick. It was awful. My friend ordered black pepper steak. It was wonderful. I don't happy with travesty shows after we finished it. There are no shows like in Turkish culture.

Whatever your eat all will very tasty and delicious in Turkey.

Try also KOKOREC before come to UK

Folks it's a shame but turkey has gone sky high to what it used to be. Eats drinks and the rest are now more expensive than they are in greece or spain etc.
gb

Depends where you go and what you do, but give me Turkey over Spain or Greece any day. The warmth and friendliness of the Turkish people is second to none.

I would also be very warm and friendly making lots of lolly and tips. Not hard to do!

People make money in resorts in all countries but most of them aren't as friendly as in Turkey