best / worst package resorts in Turkey?

[reinventing]

We would like to go to Corsica, Sardinia or a lovely small greek island or a villa in Tuscany etc... but the budget won't stretch that far in peak.

Am looking at cheapie packages to Turkey, but I have a horrible feeling many of the resorts will be a bit hideous?

I've heard Kas, kalkan, Dalyan and Patara are nice, but which of the Bodrum, Gumbet, Icmeler, Kusadasi, Bitez, marmaris, altinkum, side, alanya are ok, and which should we avoid?

Would like somewhere pretty with a decent soft sand beach, no fishnchips/english pubs, not a huge resort, no towerblocks on the beach etc, good for kids?
Possible or a non-starter?

Gumbet is terrible

Most of the resorts with sandy beaches are quite poor in terms of being far from places to visit, history, etc.
Fethiye is lovely for a bit of local culture and lots in the surrounding area. Olu Deniz has the beautiful blue lagoon (stony beach), mountains and is very pretty but the little 'village' itself was quite tourisy/tacky. You can get the dolmus to fethiye and other places very easily though and there is a lovely abandoned village (kayakoy) and forest.
Stay away from Marmaris, Icmeler was pretty and has a lovely hotel called Marti Resort but the surrounding area is poor for sights/days out. The thing about Turkey is it's quite poor outside the tourist resorts and not very sophisticated.
On balance i'd go to Olu Deniz.

thanks for the tips!
will strick Gumbet and marmaris off the list for starters!

I know you asked about Turkey but have you considered Croatia?
I went there 2 years ago and is truly beautiful and not bad value for money.

I did think of croatia, but really really want a soft sand beach - anywhere like that?

We went to ovacik, near hisaronu last year. About 5inutes inland from
Only deniz and 15 minutes from fethiye.

Altinkum is supposed to be very nice.

We went near dalaman last year the resort was in the middle of nowhere but nice beach and great for kids.

There is a really nice simple resort called Akyaka. It is about 30 minutes from Marmaris, which is truly revolting, but Akyaka has a nice beach, some great restaurants and a couple of decent hotels. Bodrum is very nice.

I would agree with Marmaris not being good but Gumbet is actually very nice. I lived there for a few years and although there is a lively street I never once visited there at night. So I wouldn't write it off completely.

If you are after somethings a bit quieter though Bitez is a lovely resort, the beach is nice and there are plenty of good restuarants there. It is great for children there too as the beach front is completely pedestrianised and the sea is very safe.

Other places you could loook at are Turgutreis, Yalikavak, Ortakent or Torba on the Bodrum Peninsula. near to Dalaman airport are Icmeler, Turunc, Dalyan, Olu Deniz, Fethiye and Dalyan. Also worth looking at are Kas, Kalkan and Patara.

There are so many places to choose from in Turkey that you will certainly be able to find somewhere to suit. In general there are no high rise hotels anywhere and if you go for a smaller resort you can avoid the fish and chips and Britsih pubs too.

About 30 mins from Icmeler is a gorgeous little place called Turunc - really beautiful, not at all touristy, scenic, decent beach, snorkelling and it had some great restuarants too.

We went to Akyaka last year too - it's really lovely.

We went to Side last year, it was lovely

I didn't like Turgutreis as a resort, but it was still a nice holiday. I used to love Icmeler but haven't been for a few years. Last year we went to Kusadasi, in the Long Beach area and had a really nice time. There were nice sandy beaches for the DCs to play on, we tended to buy a day pass into a local all inclusive hotel and use the amenities there. Kusadasi is very close to Ephesus. We're going to go back to Kusadasi this year, I'm really looking forward to it.

We're staying in a private rented house that's quite reasonably priced, rather than a hotel, I think the holiday in July for two weeks with the house and flights is costing us just around £2,000. We're very fortunate it's about 2 minutes from the beach and it's in a residential area, so last year we had all then neighbours bringing us food, inviting us round for drinks. They didn't speak English we didn't speak Turkish but their kindness and hospitality toward a family of strangers made it the best holiday we've ever had.

hi i'm thinking about going to icmeler. can you tell me more about it please? do you feel safe walking around the town with a young family or do you get hassled? what day trips are there from icmeler too please?

Icmeler is a nice resort, fairly lively but not too big and not crazy like Marmaris. I have not actually stayed there for a holiday but I know lots of people who have and they say they always feel very safe there.

Most of the resorts are very family friendly and although you will find the Turkish people very chatty when they try to get to eat at their restaurants or buy from their chops it is mostly done in a very friendly way and a polite 'no thank you' will be enough. It's not like Egypt or the North African countries where they really do hassle you.

We went to Lara Beach in Antalya last year which was lovely, and Side the year before. Out of these two I'd choose Side for it's location and it's beach walkway into the old town.

I never wanted to go to Turkey for some reason and we've been for the last three years running!

I never fancied Turkey but we went to Kusadasi last year and loved it so much have booked again for August. Very pleasantly surprised.