Gumbet/Bodrum. Turkey, April 2023

Various random footage of our look around this south west side of Turkey, around the Bodrum peninsular. We stayed in Gumbet as our base, all inclusive, The Parkim Ayaz Hotel.
Bus from Gumusluk back to Bodrum central bus depot, every 30mins not 1hr 30mins as said on this video, also this location north west, not north east of Gumbet. If you look on the map, Bodrum/Gumbet is on the south east of the peninsular of Mugla Province, the bus route is central, with busses to various destinations.
We found locations around north west, west, and south west was pretty easy to cover from our Parkim Ayaz hotel base, temperature was around 17*-28* later in the week, and chilly in the evenings in shorts and summer cotton shirts. A large percentage of shops and restaurants were still shut waiting for the beginning of May for the summer season.
It was good for me being a photographer to get pictures with less tourism, which is the reason I been put off with Santorini and Mykonos. Sea food was good in these coastal locations. We got a boat hire from Bodrum Harbour, arranged for the next day, mid day to 2pm cost us £150 euros between 4 people, which was less than £40 each for a 2hr cruise to Black Rock Island and Cleopatras Cave (any questions, feel free to ask). It was good for four people to get a trip to an island without other tourists on board also, it felt more personal.
The trip one way took 40mins to get to an isolated natural island which reminded me of the film KONG lol when he comes storming over that mountain ridge. Always haggle, don't be shy, and drop your price at least three times for a final price, I do love the haggling from a sales background, but be aware my partners and daughters hand made bracelets from Turgutreis market barely lasted a week before falling apart and broke.
Easier to give someone £5 and get some local knowledge about the location and history instead. Lots of COPY designer labels and brands to consider, from clothing, footwear to leather goods, and I feel belts, wallets, purses would be a good purchase to bring home. I visited Bodrum for a day trip from Kos around 11yrs ago, and still got the two leather belts purchased from then, so pretty good value for money. So you could buy some items and sell back home on Ebay/Marketplace and make a little cash yourself.
Would we go again? Well, we covered Antalya in Nov 2022, and didn't find much to see or do except Kalici Harbour and a few day trips. Now covered Bodrum and we may consider Fethiye/Olu Denise region one last time, based on my partner wanting to see the blue lagoon, and me Fethiye and older villages for photography.
Greece to me, was much better than Turkey, personally. I have visited Kos, Kefalonia, Skiathos, Skopelos, which felt more laid back, relaxed and less hassle of haggling etc. I got another place special to my heart coming up soon. Watch this space....
We had a superb deal with EasyJet, and paid less than £400 each for All Inclusive between a family of four, which is just as cheap, or cheaper than a holiday in the UK. If it wasn't for that reason, we wouldn't have chosen this location. (trying to give an unbiased answer to your travel thoughts).
Out and about we found the coastal prices for sea food and kebab/giro type fast food was more expensive than a few streets inland, so always keep a lookout for where the locals eat, which could be a good thing, knowing the place may have a good reputation. Sea bass/sea bream cost around £15-£18 a meal on the coast for under 500g in weight, so weigh it all up if you are on a budget, remembering you're all inclusive anyway, making up for good food back at the hotel.
We hoped to have helped you with our video of this location if you travel there for the first time, or many times. All my still shots are on my FB page, Simon Kear Photography if you care to look, or Instagram, to be uploaded soon.
/ seadevil01