Icmeler, Marmaris
About 8km away from Marmaris, Icmeler Beach is much more than a holiday resort. Offering quality time by the beach, mud baths and hikes in the surrounding forests and hills, it is one of Turkey’s most popular coastal destinations. Once a fishing village, the area has developed into a town of sorts, focused entirely on the tourism industry. Accordingly, hosts an array of bars, restaurants and pubs that in turn host the most happening parties and performances one can hope to find in this part of the world. Water sports are another category of popular activity, with scuba diving and water skiing finding innumerable takers.
A tourist in Icmeler should ideally plan his day by the hour. Early morning hikes, a hearty English breakfast, a few hours at the beach or in the water, a sampling of Turkish cuisine at lunch, shopping, drinks, steak dinners and entertainment stretching on into the wee hours of the morning make for a very busy day indeed. Icmeler was once a prized hub for shoppers, who traveled from far and wide to bag the fake designer goods sold by the dozens in the busy bazaars of this otherwise sleepy town. Prices have more than trebled over the past few years though.
