I agree wholeheartedly with JayTrip and andy. I've just returned from Icmeler and yes, some prices have gone up, but you can eat just as reasonably as ever and there are bargains to be had. We found one bar selling large Efes for 4TL, and some restaurants were offering excellent set menus for the same price as last year. We had some wonderful meals and paid far far less than we could ever hope to do so for the equivalent in this country, for example.
But yes, what makes Turkey special is its people and even if prices were on a par with the Eurozone, it'd be Turkey for me every time because of the genuine warmth and hospitality you get there. Best exchange rate we saw was 2.27TL to the £, commission free.

Hi Dawnandrob, Welcome to HT. Which resort are you going to ?? I would estimate that you need £800 but take your plastic with you and if you fall short, draw sterling from the hole in the wall and then change it wherever the best rate is. If you haven't ordered your Turkish Lira yet, then only get enough to tie you over the first day or so, as the exchange rate is better out there.

Eating out, firstly, take cereals with you, bread and milk is readily available in the shops and supermarkets(Tansas, Carrefore, Migros and Bim). Restaurants that do Set Menus are really good value, you can usually chop and change courses to suit. All restaurants cater for children with plenty of choice. You can eat where the Turkish do in places like ALO24 or the Lokantas, these are really cheap. Efes is the beer most people drink and this varies in price from bar to bar 3.5 ytl(£1.55p) to 5 ytl(£2.20p), cheaper in the supermarkets seeing as you are self catering !!

Shopping in the markets, always haggle, if you are not happy with the price then walk away, the seller will come after you offering a better price, we pay in sterling. Fake watches are really good value, I bought a fake rolex five years ago for £10 and it is still working and keeps perfect time. Jewellers, you again haggle over the price and if you've got some old jewellery you don't want, you can always part-exchange it as well.

Les

Bribrian,We only ate at the Columbia on an evening as we were half board and the food in the hotel was excellent.
My husband said the T bone he had in the Columbia was the best he has tasted.
We had lunch almost every day in Saray Zetas ,a lovely Turkish restaurant where we had lahmachuns which were 3TL(2.50TL last year)
And were charged 3.50TL for draught Efes and 4 for bottled.
I drank Ayran,a turkish yoghurt type drink which was only 2TL.
The prices for food have only gone up a couple of lira for meat dishes and chicken dishes are the same as last year.
We didnt do any trips and went into Bodrum several times as there is more shops there.
The road works were still under construction when we were there but I am sure they must be finished now so no places to avoid.
We preferred the area along the beach front at night to bar street.
Do what we do barter with everyone. The Turkish love it.

draw sterling from the hole in the wall and then change it wherever the best rate is.

Hi, we've always taken money out of the ATM's in the currency of the land we're in, as that's how we've been advised to do it in the past. So when we're in Olu this year should we not be withdrawing lira?

Yes Shirley withdraw lira.
I only use sterling if I go to the markets.

Thanks JayTrip, how was the Lahmacun in Saray Zetas as that's my first mission....

Is Bodrum market on tuesday ok for fake designer clothes & watches? as we arrive in the early hours of sat morning & probably wouldn't be a wise move to try & head out to Turgutreis for the market there which i'm told is the best...

Bartering will be the order of the day for sure.....

hi les, we are staying in icmeler, in the babadan apartments. if anyone has been here we would appreciate thier feedback please.
thanks for replying you have been a great help.

We didnt go to any markets but my friend went to Turgutreis market and wasnt impressed.
She said you can buy the same things in the shops.
I must admit I do love the Wednesday market in Icmeler and these days only seem to buy fruit there.
Lahmacuns were very nice,some days we were served quickly and other days they took ages to arrive.

Bribrian,

The lahmacun in Seray Zetas is most definitely excellent, we eat there a lot

The tuesday market in Bodurm is good for fakes, make sure you haggle the price down and you can gte some good bargains. It's best to go early s it gets very hot and crowded later in the day. Turgutreis is good, it is nicer as it is outdoors but you can get pretty much the same in Bodrum market too.

Hi shirley h & Jay Trip, please correct me if i'm wrong but with ATM/Hole in the wall(showing my age !! ), aren't you charged if you withdraw lira and you get the UK exchange rate rather than the one in Turkey ?? All the best.

Les

Most banks do charge for withdrawing but I think you wuld get charged whichever currency you use. As far as I know you get the local exchange rate but I could be worng.

All the banks are now charging for withdrawals, including halifax flexi account, unless you get a prepaid credit card from the post office, although I cant see what it the use of it is, as you have to pay up front instead of after. All the ATMs abroad, will pay out in local currency, you cant just put in 20 pounds you have to punch in 20 lira. and you bank will exchange at the rate on the day of withdrawal. They will also add on a charge for the inconvenience of your using your card abroad. Sorry Halifax flexi card dosent charge for use in Turkey, or europe.

Thanks JayTrip & Kedi, glad to hear that Bodrum market has the same stuff as Turgutreis. I thought i was going to miss out on the bargains as we arrive in the early hours of sat morning & thought the hassle of trying to get there in the heat after just arriving would have been too much.

I'm really after a couple of nice rolex watches for myself & hoping to pay about £20-£25 for each....

Hi Les, I have a Nationwide card which doesn't charge for any withdrawals in turkey and from what I've read you don't get the option to withdraw sterling anyway

Ive just come back from marmaris and there were a few cashpoints that paid out in sterling they were the HSBC ones... i bank with natwest, and am still waiting for a statement to find out if and how much i was charged, i did tend to stick with the sterling for paying for the day trips etc, it did seem better value for money!

as for prices this year, i dont really think theres too much difference from when we last went 18 months ago, still able to get the full english breakfast from most cafes/bars for £2..

Myself and my girlfriend are going next week ...Yippeeeee

However I'm stucking for working out how much I need to take with me.

Were going half board for 2 weeks in Side...How much should we take for spending money each?

you don't get the option to withdraw sterling anyway

Shirley . Not sure if it is still there as it's 3 years since we were last in Olu but one of the booth type cash dispensers 2/3rds up the main street used to let you withdraw lire, sterling and euros . we did use it a couple of times to pay for diving that we had quoted in euros or sterling , cant remember which to avoid the nasty exchange rate that they used if not paying in the quoted currency .

lyn

Used the HSBC machine on the main street in Olu last month and they paid out in sterling.
£4 charge.

We used the ATM s with our Nationwide flex card last month and got 2.25TL to 2.27TL with no charge.
I cant find statement at the moment to give exact amount but it was definitely more than shops were offering. I dont know if there was an option to withdraw sterling as we always withdraw lira.
We always use HBSC if using a booth.
Found statement!We got 2.294TL on 8th May when the shops and change offices were offering 2.20TL.
On 12th May it went down to 2.270TL,but it was still more than rate advertised.