On our recent trip to Rhodes, I decided to head across the water to Turkey – only an hour on the ferry, it’s within easy reach of the Greek island, so it was a no-brainer for me to visit a new country for under £40.
I say it was a no-brainer, but if you’ve read my other blog posts on the trip, you’ll know that I grappled with the idea of visiting a resort town instead of somewhere a bit more cultural when there are so many incredible places to see in Turkey.
Disclaimer: this was part of a trip to Rhodes, which was hosted by Jet2 Holidays, however the itinerary and all content are completely my own.
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But I went anyway, and yes, it’s a tourist town. It has ridiculous novelty ships shaped like Captain Jack Sparrow and tacky shops aimed at British people who want cheap fake designer tat.
But as I discovered, there’s a bit more to Marmaris than that.
Here’s what I got up to on my day in Marmaris!
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Marmaris Castle
One of the absolute highlights of Marmaris is Marmaris Castle.
Not only is it an awesome castle overlooking the bay, views of which you can get from the walls all the way around the castle, but there’s also a museum spread across various rooms tucked away in the castle itself.
It’s not massive, but at 100 lira (about £4) it’s a steal and absolutely worth going in.
The museum of archaeology is really good, with artifacts dating back to 3000BC and almost all of what was on display was BC during the Hellenistic period – in fact, the castle is meant to be originally from around 1000BC, and reconstructed in the 1400’s. Being from Orkney, I’ve seen a lot of neolithic artifacts, but it’s rare that I’ve seen things this old elsewhere, so I was really impressed at how good the condition was of some of the jewellery, pots and statues. The preservation of this kind of thing is just amazing!
There’s even a wee statue with bagpipes somewhere!
A lot of it is quite similar to the museums in Rhodes, so as a day trip from Rhodes, it might not be as impressive, but I’d say the castle is still worth it just for walking the walls and taking in the views of the town and the scenery surrounding it. It was also a good viewpoint for getting your bearings.
The only thing is, I totally forgot to take a photo of my travel mascot bear Gulliver! When the sun came out, I headed back up after lunch and asked if I could go back in to take a photo. I felt a bit stupid asking, but it didn’t seem like an unreasonable request. The girl behind the desk smiled and went, “oh yes, I remember you” and made a bit of conversation, then scanned my ticket, turned to me earnestly and went “but your ticket has expired. Sorry.” HAHA. Completely deadpan. There were no actual barriers so nothing to stop me going back in, it was just a bit strange!
You can also do a day trip to Rhodes from Marmaris – however I recommend spending longer there! Check out my four day itinerary of Rhodes here for a Greek island escape!
Marmaris Old Town
You may have seen that I really liked the old town of Marmaris. In fact, it was my highlight of the whole day!
This beautiful area really took me by surprise, and as soon as I walked up the first street, it was a totally different atmosphere to anywhere else I’d seen in the town.
Marmaris Castle is inside the old town, so it does tend to get quite busy – but that’s partly why I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen anything about it! It’s not like it’s hidden away, and by the time I’d sat down for lunch, the narrow streets were buzzing with tourists. But it was so easy to get away from the crowds, too!
There are a few art shops dotted around, as well as cafés and a restaurant offering a panoramic view. I did go up there, climbing up the steps to the top, and planned to maybe get some food there, but they only really served pizza, so I decided to try elsewhere.
They did say I could take some photos if I wanted though, despite signs saying only customers could take photos! It would be a fantastic place for a few drinks, to be fair, but I was hungry at this point.
There are also lots of cats everywhere! This seems to be a theme of Turkey and indeed Rhodes (not sure about the rest of Greece?) and when I arrived, I immediately sat next to three cats in a coffee shop. That sounds like a sitcom waiting to happen!
When I had lunch, this young cat kept looking at my food, and the waitress would come over with a water sprayer! They obviously can be pests, but generally they live in peace.
Check out a whole load more pics in this post: 20 Photos Of Marmaris Old Town, A Surprising Turkish Delight
Grand Bazaar
While it may not be quite as grand as the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Marmaris has a bazaar of its own.
I have to admit I was wholly unimpressed the first time I walked through; a quick shortcut through to the waterfront where I didn’t really stop to look at anything. What I did see? A £5 shop of fake designer clothes. A “J D Sports” (which you can see in the photo above). A “H and M”. Exactly what I expected, and totally uninspiring.
But I did decide to go back, if only to find some Turkish Delight to take back with me. A lot of the shops that sell it have rows and rows of different flavours to choose from, and empty boxes that you can fill up with whichever ones you like. It’s also a great place to try some samples!
I went into two places, then a while later went back to the first to try my luck with bartering. It’s a long time since I’ve tried! The guy recognised me, and when I asked if he’d do two boxes for X amount, I was expecting some pushback. Instead, he went, “you said you’ll be back, so yes I will do it for that as you kept your word.”
Somewhere in between, I also found a really cool antiques shop full of quirky bits and pieces, and an art shop with colourful ceramics and plates. There was the most amazing tile art of some horses, which I was very tempted to get for my parents, but it was quite expensive and also a bit too big! I did come away with a couple of nice bits (including a different Christmas present for my parents!) and got chatting to the lovely owner for ages.
I have to admit, the Grand Bazaar really surprised me in the end. Instead of hard sells from the people standing outside the “designer” shops, I found some really interesting bits and friendly sellers.
Marmaris waterfront & beach
The waterfront is where everyone will be on a nice day. During my visit, the promenade was very much under construction, which made the area with all the boats (marina? There is another actual marina though) a lot less enticing. The Pirates Of The Caribbean boats were very silly, and there were men shouting over to offer boat rides on the other boats.
Further along, though, I made it to the end of the chaos and found the beach.
The view from the beach is outstanding, mountains towering across the water. I was taken aback by how pretty it is – I hadn’t been expecting anything special at all! On a sunny day, this would be a great place to while away a day. Even without the sun, I found myself wishing I’d brought a book.
It’s a long, long beach so I didn’t walk all the way to the end, but I don’t feel like I would have missed much that I hadn’t seen already. The beach is pretty nice, although I bet it gets packed in the summer!
I think once the prom has been re-laid, this will be a great area to chill out on holiday, from the bars lining the outside of the old town, to the avenue running along the beach. The waterfront definitely felt more like a typical tourist town, but a surprisingly nice one at that.
The only thing I missed out on was a Turkish bath. I’d actually been enjoying myself so much that I totally forgot, and it was only an hour before I needed to head back to the ferry terminal that someone approached me and offered to take me to a Turkish bath. Next time, then!
Getting to Marmaris from Rhodes
There are a few tours you can book to Marmaris from Rhodes. Jet2 Holidays offered a tour, but I’d actually already booked it in advance to make sure I could get on it as I didn’t realise they offered it as well.
When I searched for it, it came up with so many options for the other way around – Rhodes is a really popular day trip for people staying in Marmaris for a week! It seemed like a less popular option to take a day trip to Marmaris, although there were lots of people on the ferry.
Anyway, I booked through GetYourGuide which is one of my favourite tour booking sites these days. The ferry was with SeaDreams and included hotel pick up and drop off, which was brilliant and made the day seamless.
Book your day trip to Marmaris from Rhodes here!
You will need your passport and 15€ in cash for the port tax. Passport control was pretty quick for the most part, with a very basic passport control booth in Rhodes, and then a bit more of a terminal in Marmaris.
It took a short while when we arrived, mostly because I chose the queue where the couple right at the front were being interrogated for AGES. A few of us shuffled our feet awkwardly while the entire other queue cleared. When the couple were finally let through, there was a literal cheer from everyone in our queue! Apart from that, it was really quick both ends.
There’s an optional bus tour to take which seems to be more of a shopping tour, so I opted to do Marmaris independently once we arrived.
From the terminal, I didn’t know how long it would take to walk into town, so when a Scottish couple invited me to share a taxi with them, I hopped in. Within minutes, we had stopped on a shopping street near one of the entrances to the Grand Bazaar. It’s hard to tell from the map because the promenade goes on for miles, but it’s really not far at all to the centre of town and it’s easy to walk.
I walked back in about 20 minutes from Fredonia Coffee (my first and last port of call for the day, for both wifi and toilets but also tea – no Turkish coffee for me!).
The ferry in the morning from Rhodes to Marmaris is at 9am, so you can either get to the port yourself, or there’s hotel pick up offered, which picked me up at 8.10am. The ferry back was at 5pm, so we had to be back at the port for 4.30pm. With the ferry taking around an hour, this gave us six hours in Marmaris in total, which I felt was enough time to sink my teeth in.
Overall, I really enjoyed my day in Turkey! The weather could have been better, but it also meant it wasn’t packed with tourists. I loved the old town (in case you hadn’t guessed!) and I thought the castle was brilliant, and even the Grand Bazaar in the end had some gems tucked away if you looked for them.
Definitely worth the day out, and a nice taster of Turkey as a destination.
Read more about our Greece (& Turkey) trip!
⭐ Four Days In Rhodes, A Greek Island Escape
⭐ 20 Photos Of Marmaris Old Town, A Surprising Turkish Delight
And some other Mediterranean destinations:
⭐ A Relaxing Five Days In Malta: Our Itinerary
⭐ Exploring The Best Beaches On The Algarve
⭐ Surviving Dubrovnik – And Falling In Love With It
Discover more from An Orcadian Abroad
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This is such a fantastic post about Marmaris! It’s one of the very first places I had a chance to visit in Turkey as part of a family holiday and I wish I knew back then, that it is possible to catch a ferry to Greece! Thanks for sharing and have a good day 🙂 Aiva xx
What a great way to spend a day and why not visit another country when you are sooo close. Can definitely see the similarities to Greece with those white washed buildings, but then also the Turkish influence with the market and spices. Looks like you made the most of your day there 🙂
It’s so nice when a place exceeds your expectations. Marmaris, touristy stuff aside, looks lovely.
Truth be told, I’d never heard of Marmaris until your post but it looks like I’ll be adding it to my list 🙂
I’ve not heard of Marmaris; even though I’ve visited Turkey before, I didn’t go to that part of the country, so I didn’t know of it! I’m glad you got to spend a short day in a new country (although for some reason, I’d assumed you’d already visited Turkey??). All the same, its gorgeous, fortified walls make for a great, short trip!