Newbie, 1st time to Turkey

by **sunnylady** » 18 Feb 2009 14:06

Hi,
1st time to turkey in August, staying in Icmeler, with hubby, 2 18yr olds and a 15 year old. Was thinking of booking the following trips :

Jeep safari, quad safari. Can anyone tell me how long the trips last and what you might see or do on them?

Also thinking of booking the turkish baths for us all, having not had one before, dont know what to expect! Where is the best place to go for one?

Is it better to book trips before we go or when we get there?

many thanks.

sunnylady wrote:Hi,
1st time to turkey in August, staying in Icmeler, with hubby, 2 18yr olds and a 15 year old. Was thinking of booking the following trips :

Jeep safari, quad safari. Can anyone tell me how long the trips last and what you might see or do on them?

Also thinking of booking the turkish baths for us all, having not had one before, dont know what to expect! Where is the best place to go for one?

Is it better to book trips before we go or when we get there?

many thanks.

Hi and welcome to the ICR forum, we are all a friendly bunch here and I hope you grow to love Icmeler in the way we do.

I cant answer all your questions, but the jeep safari lasts from approx 9-10am until about 4pm ish. Its a great day out but wear old clothes as you do tend to get dirty, but a great fun day and makes you feel like a kid again.

The Turkish baths are a wonderful experience, but have them in the first or second day as they will take away some of your tan. I love going for the Turkish baths.

I usually book all my trips when I am in Icmeler, but not through your package holiday reps, eg Thomsons, Thomas Cook etc, they cost too much. I usually book mine with ICR or on the streets, you see them on nearly every street, but dont forget to haggle to try to get them a little cheaper, especially as there are so many of you, you might even get the youngest one for free.

Have a fantastic time in Icmeler.

by **dksbbs** » 18 Feb 2009 14:17

I can't help with the Quad bikes or the Turksih bath as I haven't done them, I would definately recommend the jeep safari. Below is part of my review from last year covering the jeep safari.

Sunday

Up bright earlier, weapons loaded and checked, extra ammunition organised in the shape of 2 five litre water containers, water bombs removed from the fridge where they had been chilling nicely over night, contents of ruck sack placed in a black bin bag to keep them dry, old cloths worn as we know we are going to get dirty and it was time to go.

There were only three jeeps in our safari ours with 7 people, another with 6 including two lovely ladies and their two daughters, these four people actually made our day as they were really into the spirit of the adventure, the third jeep had another 6 people and they were 50/50 into the spirit of things.

Once we had all met up it was off into the mountains, as the jeep climbs the steep road navigating the hairpins the views of Icmeler are stunning, the temperature also drops with the motion of the wind and the higher altitude, the jeeps continually change places so you can fire at each other as you overtake. We came to the first stop which was a place where they make honey, we all had a taste while we purchased drinks, prices were good, and we purchased some orange honey for the father-in-law as we do every year.

Back into the jeeps and it was off to the waterfall, driving through the countryside the views are stunning, we also saw some hawks flying above us, didn’t know whether they were eagles as too high. The waterfall was quite busy being a Sunday, quite a few locals were there on their weekend off. We had a swim in the mountain water, it was a cold but very refreshing, in total we were there about 45 minutes and it was back in the jeep, weapons reloaded ready for battle.

Most safari’s stop at the carpet factory which is a very interesting as you are shown how carpets are made by hand, on this trip we drove past them which was fine by us as we had been there on four previous occasions, but if you do stop it is recommended.

Lunch time was fast approaching and we arrived at our restaurant by the beach, the choice was either, chicken, meatballs, omelette or fish, this was included in the price of the trip, as normal drinks were extra As we left the restaurant a very nice young lady decided to cool us all down from a hose pipe as we drove by, and to think we had only just got dry.

Next stop was the beach where we had an hour, the sun beds and parasols were free, there was a bar to buy drinks but we didn’t bother but went for a swim instead.

Following the beach we drove through more countryside until we came to the river where the blue fish can be found, I’ve seen them three times before so would normally let others go to the front but as we were only a small group there was still plenty of room for us all to see them, it took a few minutes for them to be tempted out from under the bushes with bread by the drivers, but eventually everyone had a good look at this beautiful local phenomena.

Back to the jeep and it was a drive through the river and off to the next stop for drinks, local pide was being cooked in a charcoal oven which you could purchase and we had a chance to dry off from the water battles.

Following this stop it was off to do some off road and then the drive back to Icmeler, We arrived back at about 4.30pm, it would have been 30 minutes later if we had stopped at the carpet factory. It was a great day out and we will be doing it again next year as we do every year.

Back at the apartments it was a quick shower at the poolside shower to rinse off the dust then a dip in the pool.

Dave

by **sunnylady** » 18 Feb 2009 14:57

Many thanks for the welcome and for all your replies. I am really looking forward to my holiday to Icmeler (5 months away).

Dave: thanks for the review of your trip, sounds like grest fun, everyone would enjoy that. Will definately be booking jeep safari trip.

by **LynnJenny** » 18 Feb 2009 19:15

hi sunnylady and welcome you and your family are going to have a lovely holiday its such a great place and some great trips to go on you should try a boat trip its a fun day out

by **ken the pen** » 18 Feb 2009 19:28

hi sunnylady lady and welcome wait till you get to icemeler and book the lot at icr they will look after you. never had a bad trip but never had turkish bath

Hi sunnylady

We are there for three weeks in august,and have been going for 6 years.
Do yourselves a favour and hire a jeep and see some of the sites with your family all at the price of approx £25.00 per day.we are staying at th eblue star appartments from the 10th for 3 weeks come anf find us and we will put you right, You will have a fantastic time,we drive ourselves to the waterfalls where the jeep safari goes and to the honey making.
But a trip along the Dalyan river to the mud baths is a must.i always have a turkish bath on arrivel,gets rid of dead skin and gives you a better tan

by **toz** » 02 Mar 2009 15:18

Hello,
BOOK THEM DEFINATELY!
They are great days out and you will not be disapointed.
Jeep safari will pick u up at around 9am, and bring you home at around 4pm. Most of the jeep safaris that i have seen, the rep drives you round turkey, through woodland, towns, offroad and so on. most of them include A MASSIVE water fight, your jeep VS all other jeeps. regular breaks to top up on water to throw. It is a great laugh.
The onlky thing i would warn you about is that you will be in the sun ALL day long at temperatures of around 35 plus, Take PLENTY of water ( 1 litre bottles usually around 50p in local shops) wear hats, plenty of sun cream and keep your top on.
My cousin got sun stroke from wearin just a bikini, ruined the next few days of her holiday. But as long as u suncream up. No problems.

The quad safari....
I have also been on, Actually i went twice last year and enjoyed it totaly!
This is around 3ish ours, includn travel.
I absoulutely loved this but again, plenty of sun cream hats and t-shirts especially if you go from 11-2 (hottest part of the day)
Quad biking is a must, especially for the kids!

Turkish baths are nice and relaxing and i actually went strait after i had been on quad safari (you do get a bit muddy!) but would be best to go in the first few days of the holiday, get relaxed! and it clears aways all dead skin ready for your lovely sun tan! (it does help to get you browner)
Includes a sauna, cold shower, soapy massage, shower down, oil massage.
It is VERY relaxing, also quite a laugh!

Around icmeler and marmaris there are LOADS of places serlling trips.
So i would wait until you get there.
Barter with them, get as much discount as you can, they will say a price per person, try and get one person free.
They have trouble saying no, trust me!

Hopethis helps you.
Enjoy!!!!

sunnylady wrote:Hi,
1st time to turkey in August, staying in Icmeler, with hubby, 2 18yr olds and a 15 year old. Was thinking of booking the following trips :

Jeep safari, quad safari. Can anyone tell me how long the trips last and what you might see or do on them?

Also thinking of booking the turkish baths for us all, having not had one before, dont know what to expect! Where is the best place to go for one?

Is it better to book trips before we go or when we get there?

many thanks.

by **blondie** » 02 Mar 2009 15:39

I'd just be a wee bit wary about booking some of the jeep/quad safaris from some of the stalls selling trips on the streets. Some of the vehicles we saw were complete rustbuckets. We've not been on one yet, but I'd feel a lot happier booking that kind of thing through ICR. You can't be too careful when your safety or that of your family is at stake.