City of Side: Antalya City Tour w/Boat Trip, Old Town & Waterfall

This was a fabulous trip. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the city of Antalya and the turkish culture in general. He was always happy to answer questions. He spoke several different languages and had a lovely sense of humour. Would definitely recommend 👌

We left our hotel for an excursion through the old town and Roman ruins. All went well with the first part of the excursion, enjoying the History of the area, then we were left to shop and enjoy the old town. We started at the bottom of the main street (Liman CD) at the coast, and gradually made our way up the main street. The number of traders who put pressure on was not fun but as we got nearer to the top end of the main street through the old town we saw a sweetshop that sold Turkish delight and big rolls of nougat and other authentic Turkish sweets. We had been warned about Side being the most expensive in the area but we had no idea how. My wife was trying to pick some Turkish nougat and was approached by the trader and his brother and the next minute they told her they had a box and would fill it for her as this was part of the shop rules! So after filling the small box with 2 rolls of nougat and Turkish delight, they wanted to charge her £76 for the box of treats! Of course, my wife refused to pay the astounding amount. One of the brothers started to get very angry and accused her of wasting their time so they said she had to pay for it! I had to step in and pointed out the obvious, that I don't know how much money they were used to but it was beyond our reach for some souvenir sweets. We were then repeatedly cursed at and chased out of the shop. We felt awful after that. Overall we found Side at a very high level of hard sale, and the traders all just have no respect for you as a person, it is like you have money in your wallet that belongs to them! Our excursion was through our Tui reps at our hotel and we strongly feel they should have given us some sort of warning about the trader's attitude towards tourists and warned us about the extortionate prices they demand as reps who recommend and sell excursions in these places they have a responsibility to assess the area and that includes the attitudes of the local people towards tourists. I hope this prevents someone from having a bad experience like we did.

Great trip, lots of free time to wander around the beautiful old city of Antalya. Friendly informative guide and driver. Much easier option than to try and negotiate local public transport and get an informed local perspective of life in the area.