beautiful ocean locations in Turkey

[soundune]

making a two week trip to turkey in a week. starting out in istanbul for a few days and then plan on spending the majority of the time exploring the coast and relaxing on a beach. any suggestions for beach/island spots that aren't over run with tourists - have heard of antalya but was told that it was dirty and the beaches really weren't the best....

also, what's the status on hopping from the turkish coast to the greek isles?? relations have never been the best between the two...has capitalism overidden any hard feelings?

mille grazie, ciao

[Gabriel]

afaik it's always been capitalist!

Antalya = industrial tourism... High rise buildings for German tourists right on the beaches. But the food is really good (fish!) and beautiful architecture etc.

If you want beaches etc. I suggest you go as far as you can from the city...

[englandmj7]

Don't go to Kusadasi: only soccer hooligans and pikeys........

[supernudie]

Anybody out there from Turkey? Will be heading to Turkey in a couple of weeks. Mostly spending time sightseeing at alot of places (can't remember the names), but will have a free day to explore in Istanbul. Any recommendations for Istanbul, or around Turkey? Shopping, food etc. Prices? Esp for denim Cheers.

[poshpol]

Anyone visiting Turkey must visit the Adam and Eve hotel. It's world record breaking in many aspects of its design.

http://www.adamevehotels.com/

thar

Ima check this place out for a weekend next summer

[supernudie]

^^ I'll have a look, thanks

Bump anyone with shopping experience there?

[Agent Orange]

izmir has a lot of history and the area is supposed to be nice. never been there myself though.

[Sancti]

Being Turkish myself...I can help you out.

Three main beach destinations, in order of conservative to craziness ratio.

Cesme, near Izmir. Has several nice beaches. Much more reserved. Many well-to-do families vacation here. Limited array of clubs. Most clubs are located in Aya Yorgi cove (Sole Mare, Paparazzi, Shayna). Most bars are located in Illica. If you have a boat, what I generally like to do when I'm here is drive out to a secluded cove (of which there are many) with some friends and just drink wine/swim/eat fresh fish the whole day. There is also like the #2 or #3 wind-surfing resort area in the world right around here too - the name slips my mind at the moment though. Nice beginner's classes available Also Chios, Greece is literally right across the water and Mykonos isn't too bad if you have a large vessel. But the authorities in Chios are xenophobic scum so it's not really worth the hassle. American counterpart? Martha's Vineyard or Southhampton.

Bodrum - Your next tier up. Like Cesme is subdivided into various short-taxi ride away locations. You have your family locations or higher-end spots, like Turgut Reis. Then you have your younger and higher-end spots like Turkbuku. Then you have the downtown Bodrum area with about 20 clubs lined up on an oceanfront boardwalk. Halikarnas is a huge mega club here. There's also Club Catamaran which like its namesake implies...is a club on a catamaran that goes out on the water till the wee early hours. Bitez is an awesome slightly off-location young spot to hang out at. It's essentially dozens of beach front daytime clubs all lined up in one cove with respective hotels behind them. Think Miami/Palm Beach blend.

Antalya - Cute post-soviet bloc girls. Ridiculously hot (and by that I mean the temperature and girls). Not really classy or anything in my opinion. Cancun of the southeast mediterranean. Didn't really like this spot past turning 18 or so.

In Istanbul...you have your typical Bosphorus socialite see-be-seen locations...Reina (Roberto Carlos frequents this spot!), Sortie (same deal as reina), and the old Galatasaray pool club that got converted into a nightlife spot. It's in the middle of the Bosphorus on an artificial island. Interesting spot. You also have one tier lower non-500 dollar a bottle clubs like Sapphyre and Blackk, which are situated behind Reina/Sortie. So aren't waterfront. Can get a nicer view though...There's also Angelique which is new and in Ortakoy. Ortakoy also has alot of hookah bars and dive bars around there. You can also go to Taksim, which is the old city center of Istanbul. There you have a lot of hard to find basement clubs and trashy bars. If you're a fan of seeing Mediterranean people dance to "R&B" aka thug rap, check out Club Riddim. Pretty fun experience either way, cynicism not withstanding.

that should just about cover all 4 party spots in Turkey. For shopping there's a Lanvin (spelling?) store in Ankara, for awesome shoes...but Ankara is to Turkey, as Madrid is to Spain so don't go there. Nisantas and Beyoglu are the two major high-end shopping districts in Istanbul. Beyoglu has more Turkish based brands (read: cheap and high quality, mtm leather pieces and suits) and lower-end designer stores. Nisantas, coincidentally is where I live, and there's pretty much every high-end designer staple store there. You're not going to find anything too indie though pretty much anywhere in Turkey.

[poshpol]

But the authorities in Chios are xenophobic scum so it's not really worth the hassle. American counterpart? Martha's Vineyard or Southhampton.

behave. thats where im from. dont get me started on your country.

[Sancti]

Oh I don't mean to offend really. I don't think it has anything to do with Greece as a whole. Hell I love Greek chicks I've never had a problem pulling into port in Santorini or Mikonos or a couple other Greek islands. But for some reason the 5 times I've gone with future notice given to passport control to boot, I've been turned away 3 times. Like honestly, it's just plain irrational. Ah well.

[xcoldricex]

how expensive is turkey?

[todesengel]

how expensive is turkey?

Not expensive at all once you get out of Istanbul. When I was there last, a hostel was $3-6, hotel was $10-20, meal was $.50-$5. That was about 4 years ago, so things may have changed.

Soundune, when I was there I spent a little bit in Olympos in the south, which has no big tourist facilities because it's protected by conservation laws. It was pretty low key when I was there (more of a backpacker-y scene, not sure if you're into that), nice to relax and pretty chill, but that may have changed.

[Sancti]

how expensive is turkey?

Like any semi-3rd world nation. Once you get out of the main urban metro area, it's significantly cheaper. Istanbul IS pretty expensive I have to admit. Of course, there are locations at every destination where you can get your fix of ridiculous NYC/Moscow/Tokyo level pricing. They need to cater to the power elite and upper-scale tourists

[Analyst]

For a great book to read on your travels, check out Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk. He won the Nobel in Literature in 2006.

[xcoldricex]

damn. i was supposed to go there this winter. ah well.

[supernudie]

Sancti thanks much