Well, I cant comment on Bitez, but in Marmaris they are incredibly easy to use - just flag one down as your walking, they stop(literally!) anywhere.You can either pay when you board the bus or as you get off - but I would advise you to pay when you get on as they do tend to get very full - so you may find working your way to the front of the dolmus a bit of a struggle!

Overall, I would recommend the Dolmus to anyone - its easy to use, very cheap and if Marmaris is anything to go by, they go just about everywhere you could want to go.

Hope this helps

I loved the dolmus and killed myself laughing on my very first outing on one in Icmeler.

The bus was jam packed, so you squeezed in, passed your money all the way down to the driver and your change was passed from everyone all the way back up. When you wanted off you shouted STOP and it stopped, emergency style! Was great fun, rofl.

An experience not to be missed. I think they might not be so chaotic now mind you, maybe someone has put some health and safety measures in place cos they seem to drive a bit slower now too.

Have fun!

Catherine x

As already said -- very easy to use and loads of fun. They even crawl and beckon you to get on as you are walking along - no real need for bus stops at all
Passing the money and change backwards and forwards has to be experienced too.

I sat next to the driver on one trip and as he stopped at lights a trader ran over to him with a bunch of grapes - he eat them with one hand and we were on a very mountainous stretch so I took them off them and fed them to him which he took in great humour and amused the whole bus!

Have fun.

the word dolmus means full in turkish and that is exactly how they get , just jump on ,you can sit anywhere apart from the one the driver is is , just pass your money down to the driver and he will pass your change back the same way ,you will see the price usually above the drivers head ,a real expierience

Great experience and very easy to use. Ben on GMTV this morning was saying he remembers sitting next to the driver and changing gears on his holiday to Turkey

Longhirst,
Dolmus in Bitez very easy, even though they occaisonally seem to change directions through the village.
If you want to travel about you will need to get a dolmus into Bodrum and then get one wherever you want to go.
Not a problem as they all run into a bus station and all have destination signs in the windscreen.
travelling to turgetries, yalikavak and all the other places is really easy and no long distances either

dle949

hiya
how far oes the Dolmus go. Am goiong to Marmaris. Which resorts can i get to?

Maria

from marmaris you will cetainly get to icmeler and turunc, not sure which others.

there are usually some bigger buses (not full size coaches) which go a bit further than the dolmus'.
no doubt someone with more knowledge of marmaris will come back with a fuller answer.
del949

I never used the Dolmus when I was there a few weeks ago, but after reading these entries, I will definitely give it a go in Sept.
Mary.

my husband 'experienced' the dolmus last year in turkey. he told me that the codes used by the driver were as follows:-
stopping... one beep of your horn
going...one beep of your horn
would you like a lift...one beep of your horn
if the driver recognises someone...one beep of your horn
get out of my way...one beep of your horn
if the day has a 'y' in it...one beep of your horn

i'm sure you'll soon pick up the code. he did also say that it was an experience not to be missed and that they were great fun and extremely cheap. (which was good because he used it when we had spent alot at one of the fantastic markets and needed to find a bank to replenish our cash reserves.)
happy holidays
Sandra

Hahahaa, must remember that one. Strangely enough, when we were in Marmaris in July, My Husband and myself often wondered what the 1 beep meant - now we know!

Mary.

The Dolmus are a great way to get around i think, so cheap too.

We had a bit of a funny experience whilst staying in Gumbet. We were wandering down on our way back from a night out (slighty tipsy i must admit ) when we realised we were a bit lost. A Dolmus approached amd gave us the customary beep to see if we wanted a lift.

We opened the door and said the name of our apartments and asked if it passed that way, after assuring us that it did we jumped in happy in the knowledge that we'd be getting back ok.

However the bus journey went on a bit too long and we started to look at each other wondering where we were going. Before long it was obvious that we were pulling up in Bodrum bus station!! haha. The driver was correct that we would get back to our apartments, he didnt however mention that we would have to go all the way to Bodrum, get another bus and get back in the very early hours of the morning!

funny looking back at it!

Dont you just love these foreign drivers
Mary.