Tell me about Turkey...?

[sunseeker19]

Already looking for next year's holiday before this one! I've seen some great looking ones for Turkey, with reasonably priced hotels given the facilities they offer. It's not a destination I know much about though. Are there good places of interest / excursions / days out that a family could do from the hotel, or is it a destination where it really is more about the hotel and resort?

This. I went with a friend to a “5 Luxury” resort against my better judgement and I did not enjoy it. Constantly harassed, to the point where I couldn’t even get my breakfast in peace, the resort was nowhere near the standards of other resorts we’ve been to around the world. I know several people who’ve had food poisoning at these “5 resorts” as well, which is something I haven’t heard of in other countries so much.

There are some lovely places to stay that are not big resorts. Look at Cirali, maybe, down on the Med coast, out of Antalya and down south from there. It’s low-key, family friendly, great beach. You’d need a car as it’s off the main road and you drive down, down to the sea. There are buses too. Adrasan is nice too. Here’s an article about it.www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/jul/17/family-trip-cirali-turkey-beaches-mountains-food-return-trip

Love love Turkey. Beautiful landscape, sea, kind, warm & welcoming people, amazing local produce & food, rich in history, great weather!

We went to Barut Kemer at Easter and it was amazing. I usually hate all inclusive but the food and the setting was superb.

Turkey is one of the most beautiful countries I've been to, especially if you get away from the resorts. The area around Fethiye is gorgeous and also Cirali.

If you go away from the coastal resorts, Cappadocia is simply incredible in terms of its history and geology. Ephesus and other ancient cities are amazing if you're in to that sort of thing. Istanbul is just fabulous. There's so much to do and discover, but definitely you're missing a trick if you only stay in the hotel and resort!

We went to Kalyan this year for the first time. Loved it but my god the hills and the two/three flights of steps up to all the rooftop restaurants was a killer in 38° heat
Food was to a very high standard pretty much without exception, price reflects it though compared to other resorts in Turkey I've been to.
£10-£15 a cocktail £5/6 a pint of efes and around £70-£100 for two course and a cocktail and bottle of 🍷 (I'm sure cheaper options were available but we didn't really find them and ate in a different restaurant every night)
The beach clubs are amazing. We went to about 6 of them some cheaper than others, Zest is pricey but my god it is stunning!
So I would go to Kalyan again but would go SC. We were B&B so every drink snack cost us a lot more than a supermarket. We don't tend to go HB on holiday as I like to eat out at night.
It was out first 2 week holiday on our own after being together 26 years. It was great. Not somewhere id take young kids but probably a good choice if you have young adult children as there is a bit of nightlife but it's not bonkers.

We love it but find that the standard of hotels can vary a lot within the same price-range and number of stars. Usually, a 4/5* in Turkey is more basic than in the UK and a lot of other countries. I tend to pay more attention to the descriptions in reviews than the travel agents' star ratings. I've been to quite a few resorts and enjoyed them all. Antalya area seems to be geared more towards German tourists whereas Marmaris/Icmeler and Hisaronu/Oludeniz are aimed more at the English if that's something that bothers you.

If you're planning on all inclusive, read the reviews carefully to see exactly what's included- in similar price ranges we've found some have an amazing selection of food and loads of freshly made snacks available all day, whereas others are much more limited. If you're not AI, I wouldn't worry about what the food offered in your hotel is like as restaurants are all very reasonably priced and the food is great. Every resort has quite a few private beach clubs and unless your hotel is on the beachfront I'd try one of those- most offer free transport as well clean and comfortable sunbeds/umberellas for free and although they do expect you to eat/drink there all that we have tried have been very reasonably priced with surprisingly good food.

There are loads of operators offering day trips in every resort so I wouldn't book any trips before travel as you'll pay over the odds. However, I would look online to get an idea of what you want to do as I find that once you start discussing tours with the local companies they are pretty persuasive so better to ask for a price for what you want than to ask for their recommendation. If your children like water parks, we've found that those in the Turkish resorts are much less packed (even in peak season) than in Spain etc and much cheaper so although they are mainly fairly small they are quite a good day out.

I wanted to like it but it was generally disappointing, and the food was not of a great standard and we ate at some of their top restaurants.