Icmeler, Turkey
This was a family holiday and we stayed in Icmeler, but at the end of the resort, some 2kms from the town, promenade and beach. This was a fabulous choice. Getting to most places in Turkey is fairly easy. Their local bus services - dolmus, are cheap and efficient. Ours left within 50m of the hotel and took us into Icmeler in 10 minutes and Marmaris in 20 minutes, all for less than the price of a cup of coffee, for the 4 of us!
Icmeler in particular is not built up, it has a beautiful, clean promenade with a great choice of restaurants and a few of the larger hotel properties line the seafront. The beach is narrow and shingle, but plenty of sunbeds and the sea is great for swimming and paddling.
Back from the beach there are a number of very welcoming 'cafes by day' and 'restaurants by night'. I didn't spot a nightclub during my stay, but I know the restaurants keep their bars open until the early hours. Food is varied and very reasonable. A good selection of seafood, Turkish, Indian, Chinese and the occasional British (thankfully) restaurant.
For those looking for a shopping bargain Turkey is a great place to get a designer buy, and plenty of Turkish delight.
From Icmeler you can get a water taxi to Turunc (pronounced Tourunch) which is a lovely 40 minute boat trip (about £3.50) round the bay. This is a very traditional Turkish seaside town, with plenty of restaurants and a pleasant day out. It's also very good for shallow snorkelling, which the children loved. The fish were so close to shore. The boat trip back early evening is relaxing and made me wish we had done a dinner cruise, but it's probably not ideal for the children.
Marmaris is a much larger town, offering everything for all travellers. It’s certainly more built up and offers a big party scene but away from that it has a long beach with watersports on offer and a beautiful marina - the views from the restaurants here are fabulous - a great place to while the time away people watching. It is also where many of the Turkish gulets are docked. I took a look around one (with a future holiday in mind) and was very impressed. Particularly for families with older children who want to holiday with friends, or a group of friends to charter the whole gulet, this is certainly an option worth considering. Many visit a number of destinations both Turkish and Greek.
For families the waterpark in Marmaris is approx £10 per adult for the day and worth a day out. Something for all ages. It's easy to get a dolmus to the town and they run past midnight too, much cheaper than taxis.
From Marmaris you can also get a ferry over to Rhodes - perfect to incorporate a visit to a Greek island within your holiday, to check out another destination for a future holiday. Be aware you will need to purchase a visa again for reentry into Turkey - a crisp £10 note per person, as with on your arrival into the country.
For the gents reading this, I'm told I should recommend a traditional Turkish shave. Beware though, what starts off as 5 Lira (less than £2), once you are in the chair you risk coming away with as much as a haircut, a facemask, your eyebrows threaded, a nose wax and a quick massage.- it all may sound very vain, but for a fraction of the UK cost you can 'enjoy' with all this pampering for under £20 - and what's best, you can claim you had no idea they were going to do all that - after all you only went in for a shave!
Finally, I couldn't end without a mention of the fabulous scenery. In this area in particular it is very mountainous, and very green - we saw no rain though. For June it was very hot, we enjoyed temperatures of between 35 and 44 degrees so we were very grateful of the pool at our hotel (Julian Forest Suites). There are far reaching views out to sea to be enjoyed and I will certainly be back to Turkey in the future. I look forward to exploring Olu Deniz and Hisaronu next, and in time a gulet cruise.