Been back a few days now from a great holiday in Icmeler, 19 May--2 June. So her are my thoughts on this years break.
Got my flights as soon as easyjet released their flights. 2 flights to Dalaman from Edinburgh plus 2 lots of hold luggage for around £350. Stayed at Oren Hill £100, plus shuttle transfer £25. So a holiday for 2 for 2 weeks including visas for around £500
Flight from Edinburgh was on a fairly new plane, plenty of legroom. before we boarded they were looking for volunteers to place their hand luggage in hold free of charge. if not enough people did this they would pick folks from queue to place their hand luggage in hold. No idea if they got enough volunteers
Flight was 30 mins late taking off, but made up most of time. Luggage was gathered quickly after a quick passport check.
Shuttle transfer was perfect. We were in a 8 seater minibus, new with air con and TV, 1 drop off in Marmaris, 1 drop in icmeler and then finally us. had the usual 15 minute stop but journey was quick and comfortable.
I had asked for a quiet room at Oren Hill and got a room 2 up which was quiet. All rooms at Oren Hill face the pool with the bedrooms at the back of complex. Apartments are in residential area therefore pretty quiet. Only real noise was around 6 am when the nearby cockerel would start. Plenty of trees nearby so plenty of bird song as well
Oren Hill has a great pool, with handrail and steps to get in. decent size as well and max depth of just under 5ft. Around 60 sunbeds around pool. There was never a bunfight in morning to get sunbed and you could get sunbed at anytime
Rooms have hairdryers and a reasonable size for 2 people, any more may be a bit of a squeeze. Rooms are clean and fresh looking. Air con £35 per week Safe £10per week. if you want to keep room on until 5 pm £20
No lift and to get to some of the upper rooms may be a struggle for some, lots of steps. You do get great views however
OUT AND ABOUT
For past few years I thought Icmeler was starting to look at little tired. This year it looked a lot cleaner and the new roads layout and paint job help things. The main road from Migros down to Costa super market has lights along the road that light up and flash at night. it looks like an aircraft runway.
Plenty of shops units not open, but there was still plenty of shops open selling the usual range of fake. No real hassle from shops, hairdressers or restaurants. The main places that I could see closed from last year, Charlies Place and Pig and Whistle, near beach.
Great to walk around village area and even took a walk up to back of resort at Julien Forest, some lovely residential houses in that direction
RESTAURANTS AND BARS
This year we decided to eat at mainly Turkish places and that was a great decision. probably around half the price of the more traditional UK style food places, eg lighthouse Richards Place etc. Had most meals in Nazar, Hanci Ocakbasi, which were both superb and amazing value. Also had meals at Nefis, Kardelen. Lovely food freshly prepared
Some restaurants were still busy, Richards Place, Champagne, whilst some were struggling Vince's, Backstage, Lovestar. Friends
One night we took a walk around the bars just off the square, Kaktus, Magic Garden,Eddies and there was no one in any of them at around 10pm. Geordie Bar, Liverpool bar Robin Hood, Eleven rarely had anymore than 6 people in them.
One reason for this may be due to AI. At times walking about and on dolmus all you could hear were Russian voices, you would think you were in downtown Moscow
PRICES
What many people want to know. The lira had increased from around 4.5 lira to £ in May last year to around 6 lira to £ this year and what impact this will have on prices. In shops it was pretty beneficial, but in restaurants and bars not so much.Prices in restaurants are pretty much the same price in £ as they were last year. for example a chicken set meal last year was around 32 lira or £7. This year the same meal is around 45 lira or £7. With drinks it pretty much the same maybe slightly cheaper than last year. Don't get me wrong the prices compared to Eurozone are still great as is quality of food
Below are some typical prices,
Beer 13 lira
local vodka/gin plus mixer 14 lira
small coke 8 lira
latte 9 lira
water 3 lira
raki 15 lira
Chicken set meal 45 lira
Steak set meal 72 lira
Soups 14 lira
chicken dish 35 lira
steak dish 55 lira
English brekkie 12 lira
chicken wrap 12 lira
meat wrap 15 lira
burger 15 lira
In shops
can of coke 2.5 lira
1.5 litre of coke 3.5 lira
litre milk 3 lira
bread 1.2 lira
cereal eg corn flakes 7 lira
small bottle of water 1 lira
5 litre water 3.5 lira
crisps 4 lira
eggs pack of 15 6 lira
Dolmus 3 lira
water taxi 20 lira
Manicure £8
pedicure £10
Some places were doing food and drink at silly low prices to attract people in. Venice was selling bottles of EFES between 9 am and 6 pm for 6 lira. Florida was selling English brekkie at 5 lira.
Did a couple of boat trips, booked with Eric at April Travel, a really great guy. Both were lazy day trips on the Mehmet Reis boat. fantastic day out, picked up at 9.15 dropped off at 16.30. Lovely food, plenty of sunbeds, very relaxing, no loud music. Boat trip also stopped in Turunc for an hour. All for £10 best value on holiday
Decided to be brave and took a trip outwith immediate area. Got dolmus to Marmaris bus station, then bus to Dacta. Really easy to do, buses every hour on the hour. Took around 1 h 20 mins. You get to see bit of countryside. Only cost 17 lira each way. Dacta itself is lovely nice prom and harbour area. Well worth a visit
Also worth a visit is Marmaris to the fountains at night. There is a light show and music around 9.15 each night, which is a great site. lasts for around 20 minutes.
Most days were spent around pool area in morning, then a walk into town for something to eat, look round shops,and more lattes and cakes mid afternoon. Café Yavuz next to Denis handbag shop, the cakes are amazing
First week or so the weather was very hot around mid 30's most days. next 5 days lovely in morning then would cloud over and we had a few rain showers as well as a thunderstorm.
All too soon time to go home. Was picked up bang on time in a small minibus, we were first pick up. After that 1 further pick up in marmaris and that was it. So I can highly recommend HOPPA for transfers, especially as we only paid around £25 return for the both of us
Dalaman was the usual shambles especially after you pass through passport control. there are additional security checks, the same as last year. There were 2 flights going through gate 30 so approx. 400 passengers trying to get through gate. The majority of passengers had their hand luggage searched thoroughly as well as being swabbed down. So of course this took ages. About 8 flights were due out between 9pm and midnight and every one of them were delayed.
Flight back to Edinburgh was around 1 hour delay though we made up about 30 minutes. At Edinburgh got first case off then conveyor belt broke down and took about 20 mins to repair.
In conclusion, Icmeler was looking much better this year. It was busier than the past few years, but still needs more visitors, hopefully things will pick up even more. Had a great holiday as always and will be back again next year.
if you have anything you want to ask, please feel free to do, and I will give you my honest opinion.
Thanks for taking time to read