TURKEY
A quick guide to a cheap 4 star last minute week in the sun:
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Helena and I set off to Turkey on a 7 day spontaneous trip to validate her travel insurance. Neither of us had ever even thought about visiting Turkey until it came up as the cheapest option we could find.... "WHY NOT?" is exactly what we both thought. Neither of us had an abundance of money to our names so we were hell bent on scavenging any kind of deal for whatever we could get. We searched high and low looking for a place outside of a party town where we could relax on the beach with a book and a cocktail. We cross compared a variety of holiday deals from Jet2, EasyJet, TUI, Voyage Prive, Air BnB, Expedia, and Travel Republic. All in all, we found that it DOES work out BETTER to book an all inclusive holiday, and we found TRAVEL REPUBLIC the easiest way to find the cheapest/best deals.
We ended up booking an all-inclusive package holiday with them, which included: return airfares from Manchester to Dalaman, airport transfers to and from Dalaman from our hotel, 7 nights at the Emre Beach Hotel in Marmaris, all the food and drink we could consume and discounted day activities. The package cost us £430 each - we did not take our wallets out for the entire holiday!
Broken down that was:
- £205 for flights
- £200 for the hotel package
- Remaining amount on transfers.
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The full blog can be found on our Home Page!
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Bitesize tips :
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1. An all inclusive holiday works out the cheapest if you are not booking in a large group!
2. Marmaris is the perfect balance of quiet holiday and wanting the option of going to bars/clubs!
3. Don't exchange foreign currency for Turkish Lira before you go as most places accept Pounds/Euros/American Dollars. And the best exchange rates are found outside the currency offices (shops, restaurants etc)!
4. Just pack hand luggage - this will be more than enough and you won't have to pay for checked baggage!
5. Don't buy the cheapest Turkish suncream - it is like paint!
6. Roll with the Turkish attitude and do not get frustrated with customer service on bus transfers, day tours etc
7. Get your Turkish holiday visa online before you go to avoid queues on arrival at the airport. Price of visa depends on where you are from. Ie Uk £20 and AUS $60.
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