Kalkan - Suitable for a Honeymoon?

[Derbyshire]

Hi have you had a look at korsan villas kalkan  !

[kalkan4eva]

Not sure what your budget is, but Mahal is what I would call the perfect honeymoon hotel. We have friends who travel with EE every year and although it's not the cheapest they believe the service and their properties are second to none. They mostly stay in villas these days and no longer in Kalkan, preferring the Bozburum Peninsula. The suites at Mahal are truly amazing - we had a tour of the property a good few years ago. I always say when I win the lottery I'm going to live there it is Kisla though so a bit further out of town. EEhave some fabulous villas in Komurluk but they may not be cost effective as they mostly sleep 8. Let us know how you get on.

[mkdr29]

Hi all

just an update to this, we are booked in to visit kalkan with exclusive escapes in June, we can't wait. Having read a lot of the content on here we are sure it will be the place for us to unwind and get a bit of sun!

Just 3 questions about visiting turkey which I haven't been able to find a reliable answer to yet:

1) Customs and alchohol - we want to bring in our limit of Champagne, which depending on where you look it either 1 bottle (750ml) each, or 2 bottles each. We wont be bringing in any other booze, will we be ok with 2 bottles each in the suitcases? Experiences from others welcome!

2) Coffee Machine - I got a nespresso machine for a wedding gift and we can't get enough of it! I assume it would be ok to transport said machine and a small number of nespresso capsules into Turkey for use on our stay? I don't see why not but haven't actually done this before!

3) Twitter- is it still banned? I am a business VPN user and if we do access the internet (which will be sporadic and minimal) then I plan to do it through my company on an encrypted connection.  Is VPN use ok dispite these bans?


Thanks!

[kalkan4eva]

Hi mkdr29,
did I read that correctly? You are going to put the bottles of champagne in your suitcases? I'm thinking...

a. that's a lot of valuable weight and there's a chance they could break..?
b. you will have paid Duty on them with the retailer so its just about importing laws as opposed to Duty allowances..? Not 100% sure..?

Buying them Duty Free in the Airport you can buy two bottles each.
Are you not worried about your nespresso machine getting damaged in transit? EE's villas are well equipped and whilst they may not have nespressos I'm sure they have coffee makers. Again the weight would be a deciding factor for me...way too much shoe weight

Twitter is banned in Turkey, but I'm no expert on getting round the IP address - although I'm sure someone will be along to help on that shortly.

I hope you have a fantastic honeymoon

[philb1963]

I'm in Kalkan at present and using Twitter and Facebook with no problem through the apartment wifi - no VPN.  You tube is still a problem though.

[mkdr29]

Hi

Won't be able to buy duty free as we're flying from the private jet terminal at stanstead, so will have to Stowe bottles, well wrapped in the suitcases.

Weight isn't an issue as we have 35kg each with ee I think.

The coffee machine is probably a bit much but I just like the idea of having a proper expresso in the mornings, creature comforts and all that.

As for the net access, to be honest, with everything going on in turkey at the moment I think we'll keep our net access private and secure.

[kalkan4eva]

we have friends who used this service and they said it was wonderful - well worth the extra money for a special occasion. I don't think they even have Duty Free on the aircraft do they..? I'm pretty sure it was the only thing they said they missed about a "pleb" flight  Watch the weight though, think it is substantially more than your average flights but I'm not sure even their premium service is more than 30kg. There is a place in the village called Cafe Del Mar which makes great espresso so hopefully you'll get your fix there once or twice during your stay. But I do pack a nice filter coffee, only because I have to have decaff and I can never get any in Kalkan - so there's a couple of halfway houses if you decide not to pack your machine

[Kuzu]

We were stopped fir bringing in a  small CD player (quite a few years ago) customs in Dalaman tried to charge us import duty as they thought it was worth more than £100....not sure if it was because it was equipment as well So might be an issue, I'm not sure (& we've never been stopped since!).
I have a nespresso machine but it's quite heavy, I think I would leave it at home...I use Nescafé collection Espresso (instant) when we are away,  it does the job....

[mkdr29]

Thanks for the replays. I think the coffee machine is staying at home, still interested to hear peoples thought on the bottles of wine/champagne, the official customers site seems to say 2x700/750ml is ok, though I've never seen a 700ml bottle of wine!

[Bob & Jayne]

We have only 10kg each hand luggage in July, and half of mine is going to be filled with a slow cooker to take out, weighing 3.8kg! Well to be honest, it is going in OH's hand luggage, he doesn't know yet, but obviously will when he reads this! so mine is free for clothes etc! 

J

[kalkan4eva]

Pudding wines are often 700ml....

[Lucy Lou]

Hi  mkdr29,

I've safely taken a bottle of champers abroad well wrapped in plastic in case the worst happened & padded with towels to minimise risk of breakage, after googling it on t'Net & reading a lot of advice/experiences.  I'd been more worried that low pressure in hold would allow it to explode. 

I was told of people all carrying a bottle each (courtesy of the groom) for a wedding in Kalkan as he wanted a special vintage.  There were at least a dozen & if there'd been any problem at customs or otherwise I'm sure that would have been part of the story.

With regard to coffee I always drink it strong & black and have found the new 'real' instants streets ahead of normal.  Don't know so much if you like to make milky/frothy variations but good coffee flavour as base.

Good luck for the wedding