Being a resort town along the Turkish Riviera in the Mugla Province, Marmaris showcases more than just the sun-sand-sea theme of summer. Its clear waters, long pebbly beaches, and pine forests give vibrance to modernity around it. It has got a marina home to gorgeous yachts, catamarans, cruise ships, and tour boats of medium and large sizes. For your accommodation needs, average and luxurious hotels, villas and apartments for daily or weekly rentals are throughout the area. In fact, for such a relatively small town, Marmaris has quite a lot of European residents, some of them are either villa owners or business owners or both.
When in Marmaris, you’ll feel like there’s not enough hours in the day due to numerous activities that you can do…at a very affordable price.
Explore Marmaris as I share with you our summer 2018 travel memories.
Where We Stayed
You’ll have plenty of options for accommodation when staying in Marmaris for holidays – from five-star and average hotels to apartment hotels and Airbnbs. Wherever we go on holidays we always make sure to stay at an apartment hotel because this option helps us save money and keeps us in a more exclusive atmosphere that you likely wouldn’t be able to retain while in a conventional hotel room.
(photo credit: Club Sunset Apart Hotel Marmaris)
We stayed at Club Sunset Apart Hotel for the duration of our 8-day holiday in Marmaris. Our room had a bedroom equipped with 2 single beds, toilet and bath, a living room with 2 sofa beds (convertible to a double bed), a balcony facing the swimming pool, and a kitchen equipped with an electric stove, utensils, dishes, glasses, cups, a fridge, and cooking wares. For $25 USD a night, it’s already a very good deal.
They also had housekeeping that came everyday to clean the room and change our sheets and towels. Laundry service was optional at $5 per wash load. There’s a restaurant and bar by the pool too, but we always cooked our own meals and kept the fridge filled with beverages, fruits, veggies, and breakfast needs for our consumption.
One thing that we really liked about Club Sunset was its very good location in the area called Armutalan. It’s only a short walking distance to the public beach and popular attractions such as Dream Aquapark and Atlantis. To get to the marina, grand bazaar and city center, it’s only one dolmush (public minibus) ride for $0.60 per adult. We would walk down to Carrefour market that’s 50 metres to the south from Club Sunset to take Armutalan #2B or #3 dolmush to take us right into the city center. In addition, the hotel had 24-hr reception, a swimming pool that’s open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., a billiards table, and stable WiFi connection. Another thing we enjoyed during our stay was the BBQ party (optional) followed by dance performances. It cost us $30 extra, with complimentary drinks. (Tipping the performers was optional, but recommended as well.) The few minus points were the old fridge and the shower head in the bathroom that needed replacing. All in all, it’s a good value for our money.
Day One: What the City Center Offers
If it’s your first time in Turkey, you should experience the authentic Turkish Bath that’s been popular for centuries. There are a lot of Turkish bath houses within the city center. For $10 you can enjoy getting pampered for two hours starting with a sauna, followed by a steam bath, a full body scrub and then wrapped up with a massage and some hot tea of your choice.
On our first day, we explored the city center on foot. August was a very hot month this year, reaching up to 47 degrees Celsius between 2 and 3 in the afternoon. There’s a long public beach and boardwalk that helped us beat the heat. The Marina was also a very pretty spot that stretched all the way to Bar Street. The splendid beauty of luxury yachts and catamarans docked in grace and solitude completed a unique and awe-inspiring scenery especially at night when colorful lights come on, matching the vibe coming from shops, restaurants, pubs, and open-air discos.
(Bar Street)
If you want to do some shopping, you can find a lot of fine jewellery shops right on Bar Street. There are also Billabong, Jimmy Key and Polo Garage shops. You may also explore the Grand Bazaar for souvenirs, spices, dried fruits and nuts, Turkish Delight, Hookahs and accessories, as well as fake designer goods. Also, when you’re shopping at the Grand Bazaar, don’t forget to haggle…because you always can.
Day Two: Why Go On a Full-Day Boat Tour
This inexpensive full-day boat tour was inclusive of lunch, drinks, a guide on board, and pick-up service from our hotel. Most of the tour boats were customised, some were like pirate ships and had characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie, while others were adorned with big speakers that send waves rippling through the sea as you traverse the water in these floating discos. Some companies also include extra fun for all ages, a foam bath for adults and face painting activity for children during the tour.
We first passed by a cave, followed by a brief stop by the tiny village of Amos. We spent one and a half hours at Aquarium Bay for our lunch and a swim break. There was a commissioned photographer on board for photos and videos of the tour. (*Purchase of photos and videos taken by the photographer were at an extra charge. Purchase was optional. )
We then headed to the pretty small village of Turunc to enjoy the beach, sightseeing, and shopping for souvenirs.
(Turunc Beach) This beach is mostly pebbles, with some reddish sand. The water is clean, warm, and crystal-clear. We truly enjoyed our quick break here. This village is quiet, clean, and unique. There are only a few shops in this village, but we were surprised at how inexpensive they were…we were even welcome to haggle. We wrapped up the day at Paradise Island indulging ourselves into another swim in clean, warm, and crystal-clear water. When in Marmaris, you can’t leave without an inexpensive boat tour experience, indeed.
Day Three: Why Visit Datca When in Marmaris
Datca is very popular among honeymooners for its laid-back neighborhoods with stone roads, and bougainvillaea-covered walls and architecture with a touch of Roman and Byzantine times especially those in Old Datca. It’s also frequented especially during the summer months for the temple to the goddess Aphrodite.
It is a remote resort town on the Turkish Riviera. Getting there can be a long tedious drive, but from Marmaris it takes only approximately 70 minutes. We wanted to visit Datca when we were on holidays in Bodrum. It’s nearly a 9-hour drive from there, but we could’ve taken a ferry and it would have taken us only 3 hours to get there. Our concern was the fact that the ferries were on a very limited schedule.
(There are limited options for accommodation in Datca, so better make sure to reserve a place to stay in advance.)
The winding roads up and around the mountains were a real thrill to conquer, added to the breathtaking view of the water surrounding the peninsula. We visited Eski Datca (Old Datca) first and then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the beach. There’s no public transport going to Old Datca aside from cabs. It’s not too far away from the bus terminal, though. By cab it took us only 10 minutes to get there for less than $5. We then strolled the artistically lit streets on the harbor, moved along to the sophisticated chains of seafood restaurants, and onto the main street leading to almost every kind of shops.
Day Four: Get Your Dose of Adrenaline at Atlantis
Nestled in between two hotels on the beach, Atlantis is a great waterpark hideaway from the beach without ever leaving. Despite its smaller size, it is jam packed with exciting water slides that curve and bend across the park and after a ride, leave you craving another ride down. Though the slides have height restrictions for youngsters, there are plenty of pools, including a wave pool and waterslides for children and adults alike. If none of that is up your alley then you can always lay in the sun near the wave pool and get a very beautiful view of the beach while you do so. Atlantis is a great value for the money at just $10 each adult and kids under 6 are free.
Day Five: Why Hop On a Minibus to Icmeler
Icmeler! Icmeler! Is one of the top favorites of both local and foreign tourists. Hop on a dolmush from the city center or harbor, and for around $1.30 you’ll get to see this beauty. The ride takes approximately 20 minutes. It’s such a busy place that you can find a dolmush almost every 15 minutes going to and coming from this town, and the last trip going there from the city center of Marmaris is at 2 a.m.
The most memorable part of our visit here was our parasailing experience. Per adult was around $30 (prices are known to vary) and we were up in the air for ten minutes. I have fear of heights, but going parasailing was a fun way for me to conquer it. It was an exhilarating experience to be more than a kilometer above the water, being able to behold the aerial view of the whole of Icmeler and some parts of the neighboring islets. There was a photographer on our boat that documented our flight for an extra charge. You may purchase the entire documentation of your flight for a good deal, but if you have an action camera that you can strap to yourself and document your entire flight from up the air would be fantastic.
Içmeler is a cozy little town not far from Marmaris that despite its really small size, it has everything going for it. Tourists come from across the globe to relax in the comfortable and slower pace that Içmeler offers during the day time. There’s also more activities that you can do here such as Fly Fish, banana boat ride, and jet skiing.
(Conquering acrophobia in Icmeler)
Day Six: Turunc: Another Hidden Gem of Marmaris
The first time we saw Turunc was when we went on our boat tour on the second day of our holiday. The 90 minutes that we spent there was just not enough. Four days after the boat tour, we caught ourselves riding a minibus bound for Turunc. It’s a remote hidden gem to behold after nearly a 100-minute journey on narrow winding roads around the mountains. The beach was rather narrow, but it sure was clean and the water was impeccably clear. We could even see some small types of fish underwater as we swam. We also bought a few souvenirs here for our loved ones back home (as well as for ourselves). There were only a few shops here and most of the merchants were welcoming. Turunc, indeed, was beautiful in its own way. It’s quieter and cleaner here. The backdrop of mountains matching the calm pristine water was an awe-inspiring view to embrace.
We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and enjoying the sun, and then hopped on a taxi boat going back to Marmaris harbor around sundown. The taxi boat ride was an awesome experience too. We passed by the small resort town of Icmeler and a few small islands. You can go to Turunc by minibus from the city center or taxi boat from the harbor. Either way, you’ll enjoy the journey.
Carpe Diem Journals 