Hi i was just wondering if any one has been to Altikinkum recently ,and if the prices have had a big increase since last year.Where going a week come Friday,and its our 5th time to turkey.We stayed in Altinkum 2 years ago,but mostly holidayed in Marmaris .

I must say they did seem to be stingy with the spirits, maybe this has been going on for a while now. They have started using glasses which are a lot slimmer so therefore don't hold as much.

I go the the Side area, in an AI hotel. However we do eat out when we fancy it. The hotel food is more vegetable based, rice and pasta offerings are considerably reduced.

With thew weakness of the euro, the turks are keen to get their hands on sterling and are rounding prices up. We stay near little side street bars and not the harbour front and have only noticed a small rise in the last year. The food quality is still there, and the shops are not noticably dearer - having said that i have never bought a fake item in 15 years.... The resort is open all year round and in winter the most difficuly thing is getting your change........
However thefts have gone up in some of the hotels..... this may be the guests rather than the staff tho.

carly0803 wrote:

The prices have really gone up this year, I found scotch whisky, smirnoff vodka etc very expensive over £4 for a tiny measure. Beer prices werent bad and we could still get a set meal with free drink for 19 lira, this was in nostalji just before taj mahal in marmaris, opposite hotel guldal. I know the restaurants on beachfront and marina would be more expensive but you don't have to eat in them. We would never go all inclusive as we wouldn't like to sit in a hotel for 2 weeks, but we are considering going for 1 week next year instead of 2. Having spoken to people who have been to majorca and benidorm, spain is far more expensive than turkey and the resorts are very quiet.

I dont know why people think that because you go all inclusive you have to sit in the hotel for two weeks. They dont lock you in. Talk about a lot of stereotyping about what AI's are like.

Given the choice of going one week SC or two weeks AI I'd choose the second option everytime it would be a no brainer for me (one week is never enough for me. Both hotels I've been to had excellent food and what you save on soft drinks is worth more than what you save on alcohol, especially to people like us who dont drink much anyway and have two kids.

Did think about giving a B&B hotel (Karbel) in Olu D a go and eating out all the time but I really think its going to be beyond my pocket with two adults and two teens, especially if we want to eat to a high standard like we did at the Bel Beach and Lykia.
Dont fancy the backsteets to get a good deal.

Doe

Well they say you can't please all of the people all of the time!

We've been going to Turkey (Ovacik) for five years and yes, prices have gone up a bit but haven't they done the same here? I usually drink bottled water during the day (very cheap in the supermarkets) and have a few beers at night. In that heat, there's a limit to how much we can eat and drink (alcohol). Amongst other places, we found we enjoyed excellent set menu 3-course meals in Hisaronu (Santana's) for only 14 lira.

As folk have mentioned earlier, the cost of the boat criuses and jeep safari (the best day out) etc are amazing value for money and include transfers and lunches.

I do feel that the Turkish locals have enjoyed and got used to earning good money and what it can buy and human nature soon determines that more is better for most folk (are we any different over here?). The welcome, service and pleasant ways of the Turkish people are still a joy to behold and I hope that that doesn't change. There's no comparison to the indifferent service we so often receive here in shops and restaurants.

Every year there is scaremongering about massive price increases in Turkey and every year we find that it's just not the case. There is a big concern about the growing number of hotels offering all-inclusive and this is having some impact on local restaurants. We always try to go to a few of the smaller, family run eateries to give them some support and find the food to be fresh, excellent and good value.

Perhaps you should go on holiday in Icmeler, then you'll see how much prices have gone up...it's not a case of scaremongering it is a fact.
The amount of people on here confirming the fact is undeniable

Stew

and to be fair that resort is outside my experience Stew so I wasn't commenting on that area and was referring to scaremongering every year about prices in Olu, Hisaronu, Ovacik etc. Fethiye and Calis Beach still offer particularly good value.

I'm sure they are, i just annoys me that the place is great yet it looks like it's going down the same route as Spain, Portugal & Greece.

lets look closer to home to see whats happening - food price up - petrol well up - inflation up - gas electric and water up!!!

are turkey exempt from this - i think not

why assume they are ripping us of - surly they have the same problems we have!!

and as for going the same way as spain greece etc have you been lately - i went for a week in greece and spent the same as i would in a fortnight in Turkey

i don't think i put that they were RIPPING US OFF so i suggest you think before you type, i don't think you can compare the economies of here and Turkey as being the same, if i go to a bar in Icmeler i don't expect to pay more for a vodka & lemonade than i do at home, THAT is the reason that lots of people on here have been saying what their holiday was like, look at the posts.
I have said that i liked Turkey, as have loads of others but it looks like loads will be put off by the increases...

Stew

quote:

If they continue to overcharge they'll shoot themselves in the foot. No-one likes being ripped off and made a mug of, and there's something particularly unpleasant about it when it's done by a slimey, grinning man who's pretending to be your best friend.

If people refused to pay those prices the bars/restaurants would be forced to lower their pices. It's really that simple.

As for them short-measuring you on the drinks - and the fact local spirits are fairly cheap out there - I think that's disgraceful and pure greed on their part. They're taking the rise and quite frankly they should be exposed. It's theft.

Strawberry

unquote

this was the sort of post i was reffering to not yours inparticular - my comments are not aimed at an individual just the theme of the thread which i think is biased against turkey - for instance your comment that you do not expect to pay more for a drink in Icmelar than a bar at home - why not!! the turks have exhoribitant tax on their booze just as we do

The thread is not biased against Turkey at all, this is a forum where people go to let each other know about things (Prices, Weather, Flights, Resorts)
We are all entitled to our points of view, i can't believe that you would think it is reasonable to pay more for drinks in Turkey than at home, that is one of the things that will make people think twice about going there.
Wherever we go in the world we all like to think that certain things will be cheaper than whilst we are at home, in Turkey (Certain Parts) it is nearly as expensive as being back in England.
That is not me being biased it's what i found whilst i was over in Icmeler less than 10 days ago...

Stew

but you seem to think that the price increases are to do with anything other that the global recession we all suffer from - i have friends who go to bulgaria all the time and whilst its still cheaper than turkey they say that the prices have increased there as well

alot of things effect the cost for holidaying in turkey the main things are tax on booze and the exchange rate not necessarily bar owners hiking prices

We came back last week from Belcekiz Beach in Olu. There is no way we could have eaten so well if we had been self catering. How do the boat trips manage to charge so little with a good lunch included? If they can do it why are the restaurants so expensive?
I would only go to Turkey AI. The drinks are a rip off.

So how do you explain the amount of people who are complaining about rises, this was my first trip to Turkey. I came on here several times to find out how much money i would need, when i said i was taking £2000.00 for 2 weeks for a family of four i was told by every single person that i would have more than enough, i came back with a tenner. Soft drinks we're more dearer than i expected, not by a little but by a lot, when i came back on here and explained what had happened i was amazed at how many other people who had been to Turkey before were saying exactly the same thing, i know that Icmeler has a new Mayor who has implemented a new poilcy to stop the restaurant owners from hassling customers who pass their doors, this may have an effect on prices as well but how much more are we all going to have to pay for things before it get's even more expensive, and if it's a problem with the economy then why are the prices different from resort to resort, surely it would be around the same price everywhere...

Stew

i came back from marmaris on friday - my 5th time

there were 2 adults and one child

we ate out every night, drank copious amounts of efes and vodka, ate lunch at hotel a few times, went on boat trip, went on jeep safari, bought a suitcase full of clothes back, handbags, shoes, spent £150 on necklace and pendant - we certainly did not scrimp on what we had

we only spent £100 more than last year (total spent £1500) (and that included a £16 steak at natalies lol!!)

so i for one say i do not think the prices have gone up much at all - if anything the efes was 3½YTL in aussie bar last year and this year it was 4YTL - a measly 22p rise!

cost of living here in the uk has gone up horrendously this last year as all over the world so i really don't think people should panic thinking turkey has gone really expensive

and as for them being thieves and ripping us off!!! well thats just ignorance in my humble opinion

the petrol prices in turkey for one are 3.34YTL (£1.51) per litre for unleaded, their local governments tax them for everything and quite highly i believe - i saw the tax man come to the aussie bar 5 times when we were there - they also need to make a living so like us humble people here complaining in the uk earning thousands every year think of the poor guys over there who work 15/16 hours a day for 7 days a week running around after us on our holidays being all demanding and only earning £75 a week - don't really think we have much to complain about eh

oh and one other thing!! my friend has just spent the last two weeks in france - they were charging €5 for a pint there (£4.16) so again another positive for turkey me thinks!

I have to say that I didn't think it was all that expensive when we were in Icmeler in June, and we've already booked to return there in October. I wouldn't dream of going all inclusive - I much prefer to get out and about and sample different places, and the five of us who were there in June ate out all the time and didn't spend all that much. And there's nothing wrong with checking out some of the bars and restaurants which are a bit more off the beaten track - that's how you find the real hidden gems. Turkey for me is still far more affordable than many places - and the people are so much more friendly and welcoming than the likes of Spain, for example, which is what really makes your holiday anyway!

Surely it is more honest to admit it costs more or less the same as anywhere else in the Med, if you go SC and wish to eat out in decent restaurants, with good food in nice settings, then folk know they need to take 2k spending money and have done with it.

Everywhere is more expensive in 2008. Petrol/diesel is mega expensive & has a knock on effect on everything. I'm not sure why people expect decent quality alcohol should be cheaper there than here, if it's smirnoff, bacardi etc it will have to be imported anyway & if its their own stuff it strips the skin off the back of your throat.

Turkey was always marketed as the 'cheap' destination and unfortunately people who haven't visited are mislead into thinking that's still true, by people who have been 20 times and know the one of two places that are a bit cheaper than the rest. I guess a huge Brit's abroad resort like Marmaris might have places that are cheap, but I dont think many other places have anymore.

It's better to be honest with people. Turkey has other things to offer visitors than 'cheapness' anyway.

Some interesting comments (and I believe there is a difference between commenting on price increases and complaining about them)

One poster commented that you can buy Efes in Morrisons for £1.12 or whatever, "so 5ytl is a bit steep."

I bought Efes in Morrisons (for £1 a bottle) , sat in the garden drinking it on one of the vaguely sunny days we have in the UK, and didn't enjoy it one bit (not even with Tarkan on the CD player)! Give me a choice of paying £1 a bottle in my local supermarket or £2.20 on the beach at Olu Deniz on a beautiful sunny day I'll choose the bean bags every time.

Another poster commented that you should expect to pay the same prices in any resort in Turkey -why is that? Aren't there lots of different factors that effect prices in different areas? Do you expect to pay the same for a beer or butty in Blackpool or Southport as you do in London or Bournemouth?

There's no doubt prices have increased in Turkey as they have everywhere but we didn't find it over expensive in Olu this year, yes we did 'shop around' but more to look for places that seemed less 'touristy' which by their nature turned out to be cheaper than the sea front places-we wouldn't go hunting around for ages just to save 2-3 lira each on a steak or chicken dinner.

Mrs SC and I had lunch and dinner out every day/night, quite a few beers during the day, 2 or 3 more beers and/or wine in the evening,boat trip, jeep safari, etc and spent around £800 in the fortnight-I can't believe we would have spent another £1,200 just because we had a couple of children with us even if it was 20% cheaper than somewhere like Icmeler (which I would doubt).

I guess everyone has their own views as to what constitutes 'good value'

In my humble opinion whilst Turkey is not necessarily 'cheap' any more it still represents good value for money and myself and Mrs SC will continue to favour it over other European destinations unless and until our own experience suggest it's time to look elsewhere.