Turgutreis Holidays Ltd is a London-based company offering quality holidays to Turkey. Our CEO, Jackie Moore, has herself lived in the Bodrum region of Turkey for several years and has helped scores of holiday-makers to enjoy their time in that unspoilt part of Turkey. In 1999 she decided there was a great need for this service—so Turgutreis Holidays Ltd was born.

Here is what she has to say: “If you are looking for night-clubs and 18–30 nightlife, please do not read on. However if you are looking for sea, sun, beach and peace, you can choose no better venue than Turgutreis for your precious one or two weeks holiday. I did just that 7 years ago and fell in love with the place, so much so that I sold my home in London and came out here to live.”

 

Turkey is a country of wonderful contradictions. In the large cities like Istanbul and Ankara the dust and noise is the same as any other city in the world, but take any road that leads to the coastline and you are in for a breathtaking surprise. As you travel along these coastal roads each turn reveals a view unparalleled anywhere in the world. A sheer rock face on one side and a drop of hundreds of feet on the other is awesome, and to travel along these roads at sunset is something you will never forget.

Somebody once said that if the historians had carried on instead of stopping for a beer and a sandwich in Greece, Turkey would have been regarded as the true birthplace of civilisation, for the countryside is littered with the ruins of such historic sites as the Troy of Homer and the Illiad, Ephesus, the ancient Roman city built over 2000 years ago and now being painstakingly rebuilt stone by stone, or Meryemana, the small chapel where the Virgin Mary is said to have spent the last few years of her life. And it is in Bodrum that you will find the spectacular castles of the Crusader Kingdom.

 

Considered, since the 1930s, as the Côte d’Azur of Turkey, the Bodrum peninsula has for decades been the chosen destination of the rich, and has always been regarded as somewhat Bohemian in its character. So much so that, even now, it is regarded as the most liberal and liberated area in the whole of Turkey.

All along the coast of the peninsula are dotted unspoilt towns and villages whose population makes its living not just from the tourists that visit their homes, but from traditional trades like fishing and carpet-making. The temperatures stay high throughout the summer, and the region gets the most sun in Turkey.

 

Turgutreis is a small fishing town with approximately 64,000 inhabitants, situated on the Bodrum Peninsular along the Aegean coast of Turkey and approximately 20kms from Bodrum. Ten years ago it was a fishing village with a handful of restaurants and bars, and in the winter everyone went out in fishing boats to earn their living. Today there are a variety of fine restaurants, hotels and bars, and the locals still go out in their boats in winter and earn their living by fishing. Some things never change and anyone who has ever been to Turgutreis will say “thank goodness.”

Turgutreis’ main claim to fame is being the birth place of Admiral Turgut, who was a formidable naval hero in the 16th century. Built right on the coast, the town has some of the most beautiful beaches in an area of 10km and in the background the mountains, which in the height of summer bring cooling breezes ideal for wind-surfing and sailing. The village of Akyarlar some 8km from Turgutreis is the perfect place for a truly peaceful holiday and water sports. Just 6km from Turgutreis lies Gümüslük, a village of historic interest, where the remains of the ancient Roman city of Lindos are still visible to the underwater swimmer.

“...The locals are unspoilt by the riches of tourism and will still offer you their unrivalled hospitality—if you ask for a glass of water you are more than likely to be invited in for a four-course meal with the family! I can think of no better recommendation for Turgutreis as your holiday destination than to tell you that the many British people who have been coming here for the past 10 or more years, at least twice a year, would not dream of going anywhere else.”

- Jackie Moore, CEO Turgutreis Holidays Ltd.