After four nights of hard and fast sightseeing in Istanbul, I was absolutely thrilled and more than ready to go and unwind on the coast for the rest of our Turkish holiday. I think it’s always a good idea to do city/sightseeing first and then chilled vibes afterwards if I’m doing a two-part trip, so that I go home feeling super relaxed and recharged at the end of it all.
The flight from Istanbul to Bodrum was only around 90 minutes, so a nice quick hop, and we had great service as always from Turkish airlines. Unfortunately I can’t say that the taxi drive to our BnB was as smooth, and we had a similar hair-raising experience to what we encountered in Istanbul. Speed limit? For what? We picked a location a little outside of the old town centre, but still within walking distance, so that we could have the best of both worlds – quiet at night as well as easy access to plenty of restaurants and beach clubs.
The accommodation we chose was a unit in a small guesthouse, which had the most beautiful garden and pool area. It felt like a little paradise and we spent two whole days of our time there literally just lazing by the pool from morning till evening. One of my personal top priorities when booking accommodation for a beach holiday is that there has to be a pool option as well. As much as we enjoy swimming in the sea, it’s just so great to have the choice to chill quietly at the accommodation and cool off sand-free whenever we like, or to have a relaxing late-afternoon swim after a long walk in the sun.
The main aim of our time in Bodrum was basically just to soak up the sun and relax as much as possible, so I don’t have loads of touristy advice to hand out. What I can say is that going on a boat day trip is an absolute must! We went on a cruise to Orak island, which was just insanely beautiful with perfect clear water to swim in, and stunning views along the coast. There are few things in life for me that can top lazing on a boat with a glass of wine in hand, breeze blowing and tunes playing in the background. What an absolute dream day!
There are plenty of boat day trips available on Tripadvisor, and most of them seemed to follow a similar route, with plenty of stop offs at different swimming spots along the way. My tip would be to do it early on in the holiday, so that you have time to do another one if you really love it!
In terms of Bodrum itself, the town is centred around Bodrum Castle, which creates a beautiful backdrop feature in a sunset photo! We didn’t do the tour inside so I can’t speak for that, but it certainly is an impressive old building (built in the 1400s!) with a long and interesting history if that’s your thing. Immediately adjacent to this is the old town, which boasts an array of shops and restaurants. Most of the shops sold similar items to what we saw in Istanbul, and there are plenty of places to pick up souvenirs and lovely little handmade craft items, clothes, ceramics, and so on.
Some of the restaurants along the approach to the shopping area are more beach club style, where you can sit on a sun lounger for as long as you like, as long as you order food or drinks from the restaurant. We found this a reasonably priced option as there are many places in Europe where you’ll pay up to €20 just for the use of sun loungers alone! Note that the beaches directly around Bodrum are all stoney beaches, so you do need your flip flops or reef shoes at the ready if you have sensitive feet, however, the water is beautifully clear and warm so once you’re in you’ll have a great time swimming.
On one occasion we did take a taxi out to Gümbet beach, where there are lots more beach restaurants to choose from and a wider, more spacious beach than right in Bodrum itself. There are also watersport facilities and you can hire jetskis or go on a speedboat ‘banana’ if you’re up for an adrenaline rush. However, we did find that sitting in traffic to and from that area did take up quite a lot of time so I would say give it a miss if you are on a tight schedule.
My husband was particularly looking forward to trying the seafood in Bodrum (I don’t eat it so he rarely gets the opportunity to indulge) and he wasn’t disappointed! I must have eaten at least five plates of Iskender kebab and enough borek to sink a ship, and I wasn’t the least bit sorry! If you aren’t really into Turkish food you may struggle a little bit with what is available in the shops and restaurants. There are some familiar western European style foods available but it can vary greatly depending on which shops you go into. I tried to make a pasta dish one night in the guesthouse kitchenette, using whatever I could find in the mini-supermarket, and let me tell you not even the stray cats would eat that disastrous concoction! That put an abrupt end to my grand ideas of cooking meals for us and dining on the balcony, and we were back to the beachfront restaurants the next day, which wasn’t really a hardship considering we could eat our meals on the sand with the sea a couple of meters from our table – heavenly!
When our lovely week in Bodrum was over, we headed down to the ferry port and got on to the next leg of our Aegean adventure – just across the water on the Greek island of Kos.