Side! The area was nice enough, however the shop owners were not. They bombard you to come in to their shops, if you don't they are very likely to hurl abuse at you not let you pass in the street. We were forced on many occasions to cross the road to get out of their way. The same for restaurant owners. They all assume you are German before anything else. The beach is a nice sandy beach, however all the beds that are there are only for use by the 5* hotels that line it, these beds take up 80% of the beach so you aren't left with much choice. We gave up on the beach as there was a lack of pubic facilities, shops etc.
the people are just as bad in side old town, if not slightly worse, however if you do choose to get the dolomus into manavgat town, you will find the shop owners are slightly better, there is also a supermarket there where the food is significantly cheaper for those going self catering. Its costs 4.50 TL for two people one way to manavgat on the dolomus. The old town of Side is very picturesque with the theatre and roman gateway and the old temple down by the harbour. There was one nice cafe just next to the harbour right on the end by the ruins, its like little hide away, fantastic as they didn't bother us to come in or pester us in any way. Also the prices were cheaper than the other restaurants.

Over all however, we will not be visiting Turkey again due to the hassle received on our trip, it made the holiday quite un-enjoyable not being able to do any shopping.

The resort is clean and there are plenty of bars and shops outside the hotel, and loads of fake designer clothes shops. Going into side there are roman ruins and a small museum.

We stayed outside Side, our beeach was spotloss with lots of watersports, we had shops within our hotel which was great and only a few minutes by bus/taxi to Side town centre. Loads of shops, restuarants and historical sites to see.

We stayed just outside Side and this was our 6th visit to Turkey but 1st to this resort.If we had visited here first it would have put us off going again. We didn't go into Side itself we just walked out of the hotel and looked at the few shops that where there. We found them quite rude they ask you to go in and look in their shop but when you don'y buy anything they get quit offensive and we have never been used to that in Turkey because normally the Turks are very friendly people.

The resort of Colakli doesn't have much to offer particularly by way of restaurants but that's probably because all of the hotels in the vicinity are all inclusive so there's really no call for them. A couple of pubs but they were empty when we passed. Usual tourist shops. We would go back but not for the resort, just for the hotel.

I urge you to go to Side ( See-day ) just to see how bad a place can be. The town is full of neglected ruins, huge stone pillars lie everywhere, lots of history, but just seems abandoned .The main street is so awful ...its fun!!every second shop sells the same fake jeans and tee shirts, how anyone makes a living escapes me.This site asks for a rating for Resort Entertainment:, I give it the full 5 stars because its so bad, pay a visit and and open mind, and it will make the rest of your holiday travels seem so much better.

Side is a pleasant resort, easy to walk around and fairly compact. It's amazing that you can climb all over the ruins, have your photograph taken on top of them etc. The resort is predominately German with every thing priced in Euro's which I thought ver strange, we were in Turkey after all. We visited the market a Manavgat and I was very disapointed at the distinct lack of banter and haggling, found this resort very different from Olu/Hisaronu and on the whole I would say we much prefer Olu

baron hot dusty and really a bit boring .Not very picturesque turquiose coast much more scenic

The resort (including the beach) is very clean, and we all felt comfortable there.


Shops Outside The Hotel
For water, I would recommend walking the short distance to the shop next to Brothers bar. The water sold in the hotel (Erekili, or similar) is not to our taste at all. This shop is also very reasonable for things like crisps and biscuits.
The souvenir shop next to the supermarket described above is good for children to buy presents for friends – those little bracelets are 20 for 2 lira. However, the older (probably later thirties) man that works there at night is more than a little creepy, and we avoided it then (he followed my 15-year-old daughter up the road, touching her inappropriately – she didn’t mind the attention from Turkish men, but this one seemed to really upset her, and she was threatening to lash out at him).
The Turkish shaves are very good and cheap – men we recommend leaving the razors at home. The one next to Yusefs was the best.

Bars & Restaurants (Outside the Hotel)
We visited three bars during our stay. One was the Baron, in Side. It was very pleasant, although we only stayed for one drink. Another was Yusef’s. We went for one drink, as this place was the worse for hassling us, and we wrongly assumed that they might leave us alone. The Spite my daughter ordered was definitely not Sprite – if it was is had something very dubious in it. Even worse, all four of us were ill the next morning. We had not eaten the same things the day before, so are convinced it was a result of drinking there.
A word of warning, avoid the Golden Fizz. They became aggressive to us (again) when we refused to drink there. They do a similar show Linda Bar (see below) – but its not the same, and really quite off putting. This bar also have a couple of ‘dancers’ after 11, who wear very skimpy clothes, and wiggle on platforms – it looked very cheap and tacky. Bob (with the hair!) is now working at Queens, by the way.
The bar we went to the most (every night) was Linda Bar (opposite the Hemera, Melas and Sunrise). We went there last year, and they recognised us immediately this year. The drinks definitely weren’t expensive, and the boys were fabulous again (we will be back in July – the daughter is planning to run down as soon as the coach arrives at about 1.30am). Don’t miss their ‘Sexbomb’ show – it’s not just for the girls. You can find it on YouTube, from last year (not my video). Savos (I think that’s his name, anyway, he’s the one that shouts ey-ey-ey) is wonderful, and whoever he marries/is married to will never have a dull moment! The barman is also lovely, with his trumpet. Then there’s ‘Jack’ and ‘the tall one’ also deserve a mention. Finally, there’s Ali (the daughter said he needed a special mention). The boys are all absolutely amazing, we will see you either next year, or in 2011 (barman, Ali and another one who all go into the Army in October, November and the beginning of next year). Oh yes, and hi to Toffee the dog.

We only ventured out into the town twice as the hotel was so magnificent.
But on lovely barmy evening myself wife and two grown up children strolled along the shoreline to Side quite tacky along the way with lots of hotels and bars Side itself is quite a lively place with lots of restaurants and bars with a bustling market, its well worth visiting the harbour area to see the old roman ruins, beware you will be hassled by street vendors they seam to think us Brits have all the money wrong!!!
One word of caution we went on a boat trip and were promised dolphins and turtles complete con we left at 0900hrs and got back at 1800hrs and paid about fifteen pounds including a small lunch of chicken or fish, with two swimming stops this trip took to long and getting off the boat was like world war three pushing and shoving with some hefty Germans to get into a small pilot boat.