Turkey (kusadasi)

I am MAN

Me and my girlfriend just booked kusadasi for the 18th of July.

Some experience's of this resort would be appreciated or anything you could tell me good or bad would also be appreciated.

thomasdunne21

Hey there!

I went to Kusadsi with my girlfriend last July and it was the best holiday ever! Going back this year. Where are you staying?

We stead in the Tropicana Garden Hotel - excellent hotel!

Turks love the Irish, shopkeepers will go mad trying to get you into their shops in the city for your foirst few days - they'll notice your white skin, realise your nwe in teh city and will try sell you everything. They're funny tho - not ignorant at all - they love bringing you into the shop for free apple tea and minerals.

Go for a turkish bath on you FIRST day - it will get rid of all your old skin make your tan last longer - really relaxing!

You gotta go see Ephesus, amazing! Cover up tho - its roasting!!

Buy all your clothes/gifts at the Friday maket - its dirt cheap - the shops are really cheap too but you'll get them for less than half thep price at the Friday market. Bring very little clothes - you'll get everything over there for half nothin!

Adaland Waterpark is excellent - biggest in Europe! Check it out on the web somewhere.

Food is very cheap too - most reataurants will send a taxi to your hotel for free, give you a freee drink, starter and dessert and a taxi home. Beer (Ephesus) is about 2.50 euro for a big bottle - some places have it for 1.50. Most shops take Lira and Euro.

Go scubadiving too - you get to feed the fish from your hand.

Be careful when you get to the airport - there will be guys who offer to carry your bag - they say they're working for the travel company but when they get to the bus they charge you - just carry your own bags.

Some good Irish bars, Jimmys & Murphys are the best. Plenty of late night cafes and bars open too - you'll be spoilt for choice.

Turkish night is a must also - free beer and food all night and a great show for about 30 euro I think.

Any other questions just ask - I love the place and Im sure you will too - most people I talked to over there seem to always go back too.

Hope you enjoy it!

Tommy

Reyman

Nice place , very nice people and scorching hot (and I mean hot ) in July.

Not a hugely upmarket place but ---- who cares the beer and food are great value and Ephesus is magic if you need a bit of culture!

I am MAN

Thank's for you're reply it was exactly what I was looking for and now i'm looking forward to it even more. We are staying in the DELTA apartment's...seem to be the basic of basic but who care's it's just for sleeping in.

I heard alot of the designer stuff isnt genuine and most of the stuff are rip off's? Can you comment on this?

Once again thank's for the replies.

Mark.

Reyman

I only bought the usual T shirts/ beachware and stuff ---all fine and great value.

Labels aren't my scene anyway ! The leather is supposed to be very good, but you need to know what you're at or I'd say you'll be done by the smart boys there !

I should have mentioned one problem with the place

---

you can't get into a taxi without a wad of cash, total rip off, they have a nice little cartel running there ! Just like our good friends in Dublin a year or two ago!

I am MAN

Thank's for the taxi tip

thomasdunne21

Delta apartments are fine - I just walked past them and they seem grand. They have the same owners as the hotel we stayed in so they should be really good, the owner is an Irish girl so they know how to treat the Irish.

I wouldnt call the clothes a rip off - they are not genuine but I can guarantee youthat it's be hard to tell the difference between the genuine and the fake stuff - they are made from the top quality material. The best deals are in shirts like Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfigger and Boss and the jeans too - they're great quality but buy them in the Friday market. T-shirts are the best value - I got 3 really nice Nike one's for 5 euro - quality of the material is better than the genuine stuff at home!

Leather is great value - and its all genuine stuff. If you go on the full day Ephesus tour they will stop off at a leather factory on the way back and they do a fashion show for you and all. If you're looking for a jacket you're sure to find something here.

Dont bother getting a taxi - get the Dolmus - its like a little mini bus that goes EVERYWHERE and will stop ANYWHERE - they go past the Delta apartments literally every 2/3 minutes and will drop you into town for about 70 cents - its great coz the local people use them too and will chat away to you. Taxi's will rip you off - they charged us 10 euro on our first day for a 3 minute ride to the hotel - we didnt know about the Dolmus at the time so we didnt know better.

KoNiT

Nice country, nice people, easy to get on with and enjoy the craic

I highly recommend the Ephesus, Pamukale (spelling?) and the Hersonasis (spelling!?) hotel two day tour, cost us about 130 but well worth it,

Ephesus is hot (35 + no shelter) make sure you have a wide brim sun hat & buy 2 litre bottle of water, it will be gone by the end of the tour!

Hersonasis is a 4 star hotel with a 40 C spa pool, lovely (i'm starting to dream of it now...)

Pamukalae... its a must see, swimming in 7 up is the best way to describe it. Open air spa pool in roman ruins, really amazing.

I am MAN

Excellent replies, I'm really looking forward to it now.

thanks alot!

Reyman

Another thing I should have mentioned. If you're going on any trips ---Ephesus or wbherever, don't book them in the hotel.

Go into town and you'll get the same tour for half the price!

Lex Luthor

all of the designer stuff you will see are copies....they look good initially but eventually will not last. If you're buying the fake Levi's, don't accept what the label says as being the size of the jeans...try them on...

Bar St is wild. It's not a place I would have thought to bring the GF. 6 of us lads went and it was on tap every night. We stayed at the Ali Tepe outside the town. 90% Irish there.

Drink the Efes beer, its the best....we used to get tanked up at the local bar until midnight and then head in to bar st till 4. The Turkish women are beautiful but don't be fooled, they are not interested in you but only want you to buy them drinks for the night.

There was a fantastic restaurant owned by Kurds down a lane way in the town centre. Can't remember the name but maybe your tour operator will know.

trotter_inc

I agree about trying the clothes on for size - most of the clothes I bought were the best of quality though - well worth the money.

I went with my girlfriend and it was excellent - Bar Street is lively enough - we only went there 2 or 3 nights - but was still good craic - bar staff are excellent - great to chat to - we preferred to drink in the restaurants or in the hotel though. Most of the "groups of lads" that were on holidays were Irish which is good - not like the English yobs.

The majority of the people who were in our hotel were either couples around our own age (23) - met some really really nice people - there was one or two groups of lads - but they werent loud or anything like that.

So dont be put off about going with your girlfriend - its great!

Efes beer is nice alright - get it on tap if you can. There's loads of nice reataurants in the centre, Murphys is owned by a girl from Dundalk, they get lots if Irish in there - make sure you tell them you're from Ireland and you'll get a free drinks.

Some other nice restaurants are the Sarai, Golden Boys (great place if you like Celtic - they even have Dairygold and Superquinn sausages!), but the bestby far is the Yucca - they have a brilliant live band every night - we stayed there from 8 til 5 in the morning one night and it only cost us about 60 euro for a 3 course meal and cocktails for the while night.

Cake Fiend

I was in Kusadasi a few years back on a family holiday, great area for a relaxing sun holiday.

The main thing you need to bear in mind is that it's going to be silly-hot in July, especially in an open area like Ephesus. Make sure you read up on precautions to take as an Irish person in mediterranean weather (dehydration, heatstroke, etc).

The designer gear is generally fake, but when you're paying a fiver for a pair of jeans, do you really care?

Just make sure you don't buy any drugs over there...

Turner

Been there once and hated it.. All those people on bar street annoying the hell outta you...

tbh I would rather go to Jalalabad

Chief.

Panda

Went for a family holiday there aswell, it really is a hot one.

heres some points of interest.

1)Ephesus is an impressive dig, go see it.

2)Go for a turkish bath, it ****ing rocks.

3)the food is well cheap, but be careful, we were one of the very unlucky ones to get food poisoning, diarrhoea for a few days. ****ty when the weather's so hot. literally....

4)The taxis (dalmish's (sp?)) wernt that expensive when i was there.... things must have changed....

5)Ask the hooliday rep or hotel staff about the beaches that the locals use. we went to two different ones and there was so much room, and much cleaner.

6)when buying "genuine imitation" goods, (i bought a damn nice Tag Heuer watch, still works too!) try to buy from an actual store, avoid the stalls. for t-****s and stuff not a bother tho.

7)clothes, tell ur gf this, i was told by a girl that i live with that they have really cheap "miss sixty" stuff there. i think they're jeans n stuff.

enjoy!

I am MAN

thanks for all the advice,

where exactly do I go for a Turkish bath? and what waht exactly are they?

I am MAN

Oh and roughly how much would I be looking at bringing for two weeks?

trotter_inc

I think it cost me about 550 euro for two weeks in August for B&B in the Tropicana Garden Hotel - that was with www.sunworld.ie

I am MAN

No,no I have the holiday booked it cost me 600, im just wondering about spending money

trotter_inc

Sorry

I spent about 1200 in the two weeks but that was more than enough - brought a lot of stuff back with me tho. They are strict enough on the excess baggage weight - you'd get away with about 23kgs but anything over that and you'll be paying for the excess!

You can use your AIB card in most of the ATMs over there - wouldnt advise on bringing loads of cash.