Hello,

         My wife has sometime off later in this month and we both decided we need a short break from Istanbul for a few days alone.  We have looked at many different places including Antayla, Bodrum, Fetiye and various other places but have yet to make a decision.

We do not have a great deal of money to spend on this short holiday and would welcome some good ideas from the class, the further we go the less time we will have and also the cost of travel will limit where we will go.  I suggested to my wife we visit Princes Island and stay there but as she pointed out it would be easy to get there but the hotels would be expensive.  Would appreciate any help

Thanks  

I think Fethiye is a lovely place for a holiday and probably not too expensive at the end of the season - but surely the best people to give you holiday advice are your wife and her family!!  After all they have presumably lived here all their lives! 

Fethiye is a nice place, away from the wild nightlife of Bodrum and Marmaris. Oludeniz is supposedly the nicest part of the region, but you don´t have to have a hotel there - it´s easy to get there from anywhere. There is an extra cost of transportation from the airport in Dalaman to the hotel in Fethiye, but most hotels offer the service for a charge.

I would take your wife´s advise and go to the Princess Islands. You will encounter more expenses in the long run  if you travel to the Mediterrainian  coast. On the other hand if you love swimming than go to Fetiye.

Icmeler is a very beautiful place only a mile away from Marmaris so if you wanted to try the hustle and bustle for a night or so you could. There are some extremely good offers     http://www.otbeach.com/process#results_top   Hotels on this site are very reasonable . I hope this helps Laura

I happen to be in Icmeler a few months ago. Forgive me: I cannot agree with you. Beautiful is rather an overstatement. The truth: this  place resembles  more and more a  British "Colony". You see the Union Jack flying, notice  fish and chips places, British steak houses,  British breakfasts with ham and eggs, catering to British tourists. You do not experience anything Turkish.  If you want to have Turkish food, it is not easy. We only could find one Turkish Restaurant which played British Christmas Music.

Thanks Roswitha for telling this. I won´t go to Içmeler...!!

 Oooh - looks like it´s just like Turgutreis Trudy!!!

 Nooooooooo! I don´t want that!

I´ve never been to the places already mentioned but if you want a beach holiday but not the Brits then Erdek may be for you.  It´s a tourist area most frequented by locals.  I only spent a day there so I don´t know what hotels are like. There are some photos on TC but I can´t remember the name of the member that posted them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdek  Location . . . Marmara Region

photos  http://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A1f4cfiRcMtI7WABnq1LBQx.?ei=UTF-8&p=erdek&fr2=tab-web&fr=slv8-msgr

If it´s not only a beach holiday you want then Iznik may interest you.  It has a huge lake, and it´s  famed for its ceramics, has some lovely old streets and buildings and a museum.

http://www.turizm.net/cities/iznik/  location and information

photos  http://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A1f4cfk4dMtIEOgAuXtLBQx.?ei=UTF-8&p=iznik&fr2=tab-web&fr=slv8-msgr

These places aren´t too far from Istanbul, relatively speaking.

 I already have an appointment with one of them....

I have posted this link under another thread (Web links about Turkia) . But it might be helpful here to get other destinations´ ideas

http://www.travelturkey2006.com/turkey_map.htm

How about a mud bath in Caunos?

 A mud bath? Yeahhhhhhhh, but Caunos is too far from Turgutreis...