Icmeler will convert you. (Icmeler)

Member Name: kevsurv

Product:	Icmeler
Date:	06/06/09 (199 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Friendly, cheap, weather

Disadvantages: Travel time

I had never even considered going to Turkey before, my previous impression of the country was that it was a bit backwards and dirty. But I was talked into by a friend and his family in the pub one night. He told us that there was group of 16 going in October 2008 and we were welcome to join them, being a bit tipsy, I said yes, but I had to say, I wasn't particularly looking forward to it.

We arrived in the middle of the night at Dalaman airport, and our pre-booked small bus was waiting for us, it whisked us and our friends over the mountain road, first to Marmaris to drop off a couple of others, and then on to Icmeler, about another 8 miles further on. In total, it took about an hour and a half from the airport. We arrived at the Kontes Beach Hotel around 5 am and were welcomed by the night staff. After a few hours sleep, we ventured out to find somewhere for lunch and to watch the Scotland World Cup qualifier match. This was our first experience of the Turks hospitality. We found a little sports bar and found a good seat. My first surprise was that our order was taken by a very friendly, English speaking man, on a wireless PDA, no old fashioned note pad and pens here! The food and drink was excellent, and more Scots turned up to watch the game, the staff made everyone welcome and would dash around with seats and move tables to make sure everyone could get a good view of the match.

Icmeler is a small town but it is packed with choice and variety. There are many many restaurants and pubs vying for your business, and although there are very often staff waiting by the door trying to entice you in, they were very pleasant and polite, even when you told them you had plans for elsewhere, they just said "no problem, maybe see you tomorrow then". We ate somewhere different every night, and word quickly spread that there was a large group in town who were eating out every night, and we were offered discounts by several places in an attempt to lure us to their restaurant.

The food quality, on the whole was excellent, and I would thoroughly recommend trying the local speciality kebabs and Fish in Salt, which is Sea Bass, stuffed with prawns and calamari, encased in salt and baked for hours in an oven. It is then set on fire and chiselled out and served at your table, a great photo opportunity. When my son saw the calamari and prawns inside the fish, he said "is that the last thing it ate before it was caught?"

The price of food and drink is excellent, expect to pay about 70p( possibly slightly more now) for a 500ml bottle of local beer Efes served cold in a bar. If you hunt around the back streets you'll find the price varies quite a bit from the beach front bars to the less well known hidden bars. A typical steak and chips type dinner will be about £7. You would probably pay about double that in this country.

Our hotel was right on the beach, which has a sectioned off area in the sea to prevent boats and jet-skis from coming too close. There was no pool at our hotel, but as it's literally a stones through from the sea, there was no need. We had to pay about £3 for a days hire of a sunbed, and there were plenty of them. The sand isn't the best though and was a little rough underfoot. The is plenty to do on the beach, with para-gliding, pedalo hire, banana boat and jet skis for hire. I paid £20 for 15 minutes on a very fast jet ski for me and my son, that was excellent fun.

We took a boat trip from Marmaris one day which took us for miles around the large bay and we went swimming and snorkling in the warm blue sea. There were many local sights to see, with food and drink included in the £18 per parson fare, again, excellent value for money.

For those worried about the cleanliness and backwards reputation of Turkey, which was me before I went, let me just say this. Every toilet in every bar and restaurant we visited was spotless. Our Hotel room was spotless, we never saw a SINGLE cockroach anywhere in Icmeler, which can't be said for Spain, or the Canaries. The locals are genuinely friendly and go out of their way to welcome kids and families, they genuinely will bend over backwards to help. Our hotel and many of the bars, cafes and restaurants around us had free WiFi, which I made good use of. It's one of the few holiday destinations left where you can still get excellent value for money.

Give Icmeler a try, you'll be delighted and I'm pretty sure you'll be dying to go back, like me. I'm a Turkey convert!

Summary: An excellent family destination, and great value for money.