Never again

Advantages: Cheap to eat out, lovely beaches, nice warm climate
Disadvantages: Not much to do

...Turkey is quite a popular holiday destination for the British due to its beautifully clear waters and warm climate. I stayed just outside Izmir for two weeks and I have to say that I have no intention of returning there again. Don't get me wrong - many people go there and find it a most beautiful place for a holiday and indeed you may love it. Well let me tell you why it was not for me. I actually went out there after being invited by a friend of mine, who is Turkish. Most of the holiday was spent by the beach which is perfect for me because I like to relax in the sun when i'm on holiday - for me there is nothing better. The sea is gorgeous...so clear that when we went out to deep waters you could still see straight to the bottom. I can't stand waters where they are full of rocks and seaweed so the sea around this part of Turkey I...

Deenie 26.11.2000 · Read review
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Review of Izmir (Turkey)

Fantastic two weeks in a Fantastic Hotel

Advantages: Location, Food, Amenities
Disadvantages: Service to be slightly improved

......

masmes3 06.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Carpe Diem Claros Resort & Spa, Izmir

Some like it hot

Advantages: Hot, great beaches, great places to eat, inexspensive.
Disadvantages: Pushy in the bazaars.

...with white sand. You cant go wrong. Things to do: There are at least three waterparks, of which one is possibly biggest in Europe. Ephesus, is 30 miles away, this is an amazing ruined city which is a must. Near here is also the virgin Marys house. There are mud baths, Turkish massages. Pigeon Island is very near to Kusadasi and a nice place to visit . There is a national park just past Davutler worth a visit too. Grocery Shopping: The best advice I can give is to visit the Kipa supermarket, which incidentally is Tescos. It is a huge hypermarket, there is also a cinema and burger king here. There are many other places to grocery shop, we found the prices to be comparable to UK supermarkets, so quite reasonable. How to get there: You would arrive by air, either to Izmir or Bodrum airports. Expect to pay a small charge for entry into Turkey...

lienad40 08.09.2009 (09.09.2009) · Read review
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Review of Kusadasi (Turkey)

An immensely pretty place

Advantages: A very good calcium deposit, very nice hotels
Disadvantages: hotels can be full, and very expensive

...On my trip to Turkey we rented a car and we drove all the way from Izmir to Bodrum. On the way we went to Pamukkale and what we were greated with was something that was very amazing. Pamukkale is a massive calcium deposit that slopes down the side of a mountain. Hot water springs from the rocks and cascades down the side of the deposit. People are allowed to walk on the rocks but they aren't allowed to wear shoes or else it might damage the rocks. This is great fun and I enjoyed it thouroghly because there was so much that one could do. The hotels are very nice and some are tapped into the geothermal wells and they pump the water into pools that people can swim in. However the hotels are quite pricy if you want a decent one with good facilities. Prices range from around $150US to around $350US for any good hotels. But even...

Inferno 08.12.2000 · Read review
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Review of Pamukkale (Turkey)

Kusadasi - Feeling HOT HOT HOT!!

Advantages: Absolutely gorgeous weather! Lovely beach & friendly people!
Disadvantages: Being hassled by all shop owners/market workers to come and buy something from them!

...***MY HOLIDAY THIS YEAR*** This year me & 3 friends settled on Kusadasi in Turkey (on the Aegean coast - about an hour from Izmir airport) for our holiday. We booked our tickets in July (this year -2005) & then saw on the news the week after that a bomb had gone off there - felt a bit anxious at this point but decided to still go on the holiday as I really feel that anything can happen at any time anywhere so any place is safe/dangerous as any other (well you know what I mean?!) ***THE JOURNEY THERE** So we set off on the 2nd August (me & 3 other girls).. we got a flight from Manchester Airport which took off at 1am!! wanted to have a little nap on the plane but it was quite noisy. The plane was full of chav-like people (sorry if i caused any offence) that insisted on shouting across to each other - grr!!! We arrived in...

hunni786 17.09.2005 (06.11.2005) · Read review
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Review of Kusadasi (Turkey)

Panorama of the Aegean ant Mediterranean coast

Advantages: a lot !
Disadvantages: none

...'re coming from Istanbul and want to avoid the Bursa's road. 30 km south from Canakale, you can visit the antic city of Troy (Truva), famous since Homere wrote about it. The archeological site is quiet small and less interesting than the sites located in the south but your children will enjoy climbing in the big wood horse, which is at the entrance of the site. This is a good place to make a break before going to Izmir. Not far from the antic site, the small fishermen's town of Assos is really authentic and not yet disfigured by new constructions you will find in the south. You can find a boat to visit the surrounding small islands. In a southern direction, don't forget to visit Pergame, a very intersting antic site qith tow parts : one is on the top of a small hill, the other in the valley with many monuments like temples, amphitheatres...

LittleSuperGigi 11.03.2002 · Read review
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Review of Antalya (Turkey)

Small Basic but sort of efficiant

Advantages: Small, not congested, fairly effeciant in some ways.
Disadvantages: Slow security and passport control, expensive, few shops.

...recommended simply because there is more space and it is less hot (the air conditioning is not working as hard). Upon going through Passport control your hand luggage will be scanned again and they can be very thorough with good reason. Patience is important as is leaving plenty of time, as there is only one scanner open. Boarding is a joke, involving a que in the lounge with a flight attendant standing at the automatic doors before you board the bus, simple but it works. The benefit of using such a small airport being of course that there are no problems getting a slot as there are at congested Gatwick. Bodrum therefore is ideal for its purpose: Cutting the transfer times for Holidaymakers to the Bodrum area from 4+ hours (Izmir) to about an hour. Its small but modern and it works – just make sure you don’t get delayed as it...

eep362 03.09.2001 (14.10.2001) · Read review
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Review of Bodrum Milas (BYZ)

Welcome To Marmaris.

Advantages: Nightlife, Shopping, Sun, Sea, People
Disadvantages: The beach.

...This review is based on my own experience and my own thoughts about Marmaris Turkey. Marmaris is located 100km from Dalaman airport, it sits in a natural bay surrounded by breathtaking mountains. We wanted to visit Marmaris for a number of reasons, an opportunity to experience local life, meet the local people, enjoy the fabulous cusine and relax in the blasting sun. Turkey is an enormous, culturally rich and scenically diverse country and chooseing where abouts to go was hard but the last few years we have had heared so many good things about Marmaris and that's were we ended up going. Airport There are four airport's in Turkey ( I think). One in Izmir, one in Antalya, one in Istanbul and the local airport is Dalaman International Airport, this is the one which we flew into. The airport is quite small, around about...

Hollie25 05.03.2007 · Read review
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Review of Marmaris (Turkey)

Turkish Airlines - A Bazar in the Sky

Advantages: regular loss of luggage, huge delays
Disadvantages: extremely cheap, extensive network in the middle east and central asia

...the only outside the former Soviet Union to serve ALL of the C.I.S. republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia almost on a daily basis (although Lufthansa's network in this region comes very close to THY's). So if you are bound for one of the following destinations, you almost won't get around flying Turkish Airlines: Tbilisi (Georgia), Baku (Azerbaidjan), Ashgabad (Turkmenistan), Tashkent (Usbekistan), Bishkek (Kyrgystan), Almaty (Kasachstan). Most international flights depart from THY's hub in Istanbul. To a lesser extend, international flights are operated from the capitol Ankara, and few from Izmir. Turkish Airlines also have extensive connections throughout the Balkans, but other European carriers have almost closed the gap here. Due to Turkey's vast size and underdeveloped road and rail network, most long distance travel in...

From_The_Continent 11.03.2001 (26.03.2001) · Read review
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Review of Turkish Airlines

Wonder of MY World

Advantages: It?s gorgeous!!
Disadvantages: Can?t think of any!!

...Hi, just come back from a brilliant holiday in Icmeler, Turkey (see separate review), and one of the places we took a trip to was Pamukkale. This was combined over two days with a trip to Ephesus, see also the review on Ephesus if you want details of the tour operator and prices. Now for Pamukkale? Pamukkale is a place in the city of Denizli, which is about 200km from Marmaris, and about 150km from Izmir. Pamuk-Kale literally means Cotton-Castle, which refers to the great tumbling hills of white stuff that you?ll see here. The white stuff is actually calcium, which is what is contained in the water here, and as it?s been flowing over many many years, it?s formed this huge natural wonder of a mountain of calcium, with little pools of water formed too. From pictures you see it looks like it?s ice cold but it?s actually warm...

Shazchip 18.08.2004 · Read review
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Review of Pamukkale (Turkey)