Welcome to the forum Lee!

You will get loads of different replies as to where is best as everyone likes different places. My favourite part of Turkey is the Bodrum Peninsular, it is very beautiful and thre are lots of different resorts from lively ones to very chilled out quiet places. You wont really find any white beaches, there are some nice sandy beaches, they aren't in the main resorts but they are easy to get to by minibus or on a boat trip. The sea is certainly clear and blue though! There are also lovely restaurants by the sea.

Take a look at some of the resort reports for places like Gumbet, Bitez, Turgutreis and Yalikavak. They are all fairly close to Bodrum town and within an hours transfer from Bodrum aiport.

I'm sure some of the others here will give their favourites too. I haven't been to Olu Deniz for a long time so I'm sure it has changed a lot, it was very quiet when I was there but that was in 1990!

Let us know what you decide on

Kedi

yes lee please make sure you do your research but i'm sure wherever you decide you will enjoy

olu deniz is lovely a medium sized resort,plenty going on without being too much,nice views, but the main beach is slightly shingly, the lagoon has some sandy parts and is lovely, but didnt see any white sand. a lot of resorts in turkey do have stoney and shingly beaches, so if this is important to you, then you will need to read up throughly

we love akyaka, it has a lovely sandy beach,again not white, fairly chilled, fab scenery but might be too quiet for you,difficult to know, it does have restaurants along the sea front and along the riverside, nice atmosphere, reasonable priced restaurants as its mainly a turkish resort.

I'm looking at Turkey as well for the first time.

What is Side like?

It kind of depends what you like!
There are a number of other peoples' views in the resort reports here
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/reviews/turkey/antalya-region/side/

Personally, I liked Side, ruins everywhere and I thought the back streets lovely to walk around (mainly pedestrianised). I stayed in the centre, and preferred this for access to the town in an evening for eating out, drinking and shopping, and also for beach. I found it fairly well orientated towards German visitors, although found most people also speak some English. However, it's several years since I visited.

Phoebe, where is most of the bars/restaurants. We are looking at apartments that are fairly well to the west, maybe 1km from the harbour. Presumably the harbour area is where it's at?