As Choirgirl says give DALE a try for your trip...i agree £28 p.p. is far too much i bet he will do it for about £14 and will do a cheaper rate for the younger ones,you can find him at OZLAP travel opposite Dalyan Spice & Tic Toc watch shop....nr. the NEW post office...take some ear plugs 'cos he does tend to rabbit a lot.lol but he's a good guy... RAYMONDO x

Great Raymondo, I'd forgotten what the tour operator was called. Do you have Dale's email address as he sent me a link to his new website and I've deleted it, aaaargh!??? I know what you mean about Dale though, he took us to Saklikent and we could hear his voice echoing through the gorge..

Problem is with Dalyan, that prices are so reasonable that they are hard to believe. I expect £28 is good for Portugal or Spain, but Turkey, no way.

We (family of 4) went on the 12 Island tour with Kaunos 2 years ago. We paid around £20 each, this was for the Sailing boat. There were only 5 others on board. Loads of room for sunbathing & fantastic lunch, we stopped off at some beautiful little coves to swim and it was well worth the money.

We have done most trips in and around Dalyan and enjoyed them all. Why dont you go to Saklikent it is beautiful and if your teens like to be active you can walk and climb quite deep into the gorge.

We arrive in Dalyan in Aug for our 5th time.

PS The jeep Safari is a must.

Cheers Jon and Choirgirl,

I found your post about Osman, Jon and have cut and pasted it into my Top Tips manual!

Great to see we will be able to live well and fairly cheaply, and that's a great idea about bringing duty free in. Certainly didn't think of that one!

Does the local supermarket sell beach toys/basic snorkels and masks or better to bring from home?

I'll be waiting to hear how your trip goes this year - have a brilliant time all. Thanks for the advice again.

Jo

P.S. Don't suppose anyone's flying from Bristol who knows the link for cheap airport parking at the mushroom farm by any chance?

Hi Jo. You can get cheap swim stuff, lilo's etc in Dalyan, plenty of shops sell them. It all depends on the luggage allowance you have, as they are quite heavy to bring over. Saying that we have bought a few from Asda to bring this year £1.20 for a lilo). We bought some snorkelling gear in the Migros supermarket but they were only just about ok but there again the trips are so cheap (it's good to bring the snorkelling stuff to the 12 island tour).

3 weeks tomorrow and counting! I checked duty free prices at Gatwick - only £15 for 2 litres of vodka/rum/gin etc. A friend came back from a resort near Bodrum and paid (please sit down) £15 for a double jack daniels. As I said the tax on alcohol has gone a little crazy. Check out the duty free limits with the Turkish tourist board and make the most of it!

Might see you in LT's bar! Probably be in there Sat 26 July.

Not arriving until the 4th Aug - laden down with bottles no doubt.

Posted our photo now so look out for us!

Had conflicting info about market day in Dalyan - anyone know for certain which day is falls? Is it worth doing a trip to a market elsehere for a bigger selection/better prices? I'm particularly after some ceramics.

Market day is Saturday. Not sure about ceramics though, Dalyan market is small compared with others in the area so a trip out might be in order.

Why is it everybody bangs on about the local markets? I loath markets - I get annoyed by the banter, don't know how to barter (no english person really knows how) and suspect everything they sell is a load of rubbish anyway. Am I alone here? I only use the market for buying veggies which are fixed price.

Hi Tidus,

Thanks for that.

Can I presume you're male? I only say so because you sound sooooo like my husband - he gets wearily dragged around every market place in the vicinity on holiday. I'm British and I LOVE haggling! I do find the best tack is to walk away when they won't match the price you ask, I've never got more that a few paces before being called back and reluctantly given into with mock offence. I havn't experienced Turkish market delights yet, I'm sure I'll find a Gucci rip off to have an entertaining barter over though!

Hi Tidus,

Thanks for that.

Can I presume you're male? I only say so because you sound sooooo like my husband - he gets wearily dragged around every market place in the vicinity on holiday. I'm British and I LOVE haggling! I do find the best tack is to walk away when they won't match the price you ask, I've never got more that a few paces before being called back and reluctantly given into with mock offence. I havn't experienced Turkish market delights yet, I'm sure I'll find a Gucci rip off to have an entertaining barter over though!

Ha, ha Jo, of course he is a man (maybe of that series, "Grumpy old" ???????). The market in Dalyan is ok really, lots of "real fakes" and the usual tourist tack. I agree, I love haggling and you are right that they will rarely refuse you a reasonable offer. Go at least to 35% of what they first quote, stick to it and then walk away. We went to the market in Otarca but thought Dalyan was better, though it was just too hot to travel much further when all the stall holders cover the same ones. It was saturday last year, but check locally in case this has changed. Didn't buy fruit or veg but they looked great. Clothes are alright if you like sports wear and polo shirts (we don't!) and fake designer mens shoes are surprisingly good quality too.

We bought lovely silver jewelry, far better than anything we've bought in London and at great prices too. Just remember to bring lots of English £10 and £20 notes as you can get much better deals when haggling, rather than paying in the local currency. In fact we'll take around 80% of our spending money in pounds and just use the cash points for lire. The bars offer good exchange rates, obviously commission free.