Turkey (Türkiye)

With pristine beaches, upmarket hotels and plenty of historical sites to explore, Bodrum is a Turkish Delight for all ages, says mum of two Hannah Britt

Looking for your next family holiday destination? Look no further than Bodrum, a stunning Turkish peninsula on the Aegean coast. Known by insiders as the Maldives of Europe thanks to its crystal clear waters, it’s loved for its Mediterranean climate and rich history. Bodrum perfectly blends relaxing beach holidays with vibrant nightlife and ancient ruins, all framed by classic white-washed houses and the iconic Bodrum Castle.

What to do…

Bodrum Castle

A trip to Bodrum Castle is a must to wander through the historic fortress. Built by the Knights of St John, it now houses one of the world’s most important collections of ancient shipwrecks and relics. There are a flock of friendly peacocks in residence too, which I have to say were the highlight for both my girls.

Bodrum Antique Theatre

Elsewhere, Bodrum Antik Tiyatrosu is a remarkably preserved 4th-century BC Greco-Roman amphitheatre carved into the slopes of Mount Göktepe. Overlooking the city and the Aegean Sea, it stands as one of Anatolia’s oldest surviving theatres.

Bodrum windmills

A walk up to the 18th-century windmills between Bodrum and Gümbet provides sweeping views of Bodrum and beyond. On clear days you can see the Greek island of Kos. The windmills themselves are in need of some TLC, but it’s a lovely spot to sit – and there’s a cafe right next to them, with a swing on which to take some snaps for Instagram. The coffee is good too, along with the pomegranate juice.

Where to eat…

Liman Koftescisi

We headed down to the glamorous Bodrum marina to dine by the water at Liman Koftescisi, a renowned Turkish restaurant. The meatballs with aubergine were divine. We sat outside to enjoy the early evening sunshine and it’s a lovely spot to watch the world go by. The kids enjoyed the delicious food as much as the grown ups, and staff catered to their every whim – including several glasses of milk.

Körfez Restaurant

Also on the marina lies Körfez, Bodrum’s oldest dining establishment. First opened in 1927, this renowned seafood and Mediterranean spot specialises in fresh Aegean and Cretan cuisine, famous for dishes like octopus rice, fried calamari, and freshly caught local fish. The atmosphere is airy and bustling, and the catch of the day was cooked to absolute perfection.

Where to drink…

Karnas Vineyards

For those who love wine, Bodrum is abundant. Karnas Vineyards is a family-owned, boutique winery and agricultural estate located in the Karaova region of the Bodrum peninsula. Spanning over 20 hectares, it is famous for being the first vineyard to plant the Zinfandel grape variety in Turkey, producing award-winning wines using sustainable and traditional techniques. Featured in the Michelin Guide, the vineyard features a terrace restaurant serving local, farm-to-fork meals made from ingredients grown on-site or by local farmers.

Garova vineyard

Just down the road, Mehmet Vuran is the owner and winemaker at Garova in the Karaova Valley of Bodrum. A visit to his estate is as much of a delight for children as it is for the grown ups thanks to a menagerie of animals, with cows, chickens and baby chickens running around. As the golden sun dipped behind the horizon, as our visit to Bodrum drew to a close, we toasted to our return.

Where to stay…

Club Med, Bodrum

Club Med, Bodrum, is a real hidden gem. A luxury all-inclusive hotel, perched on a hill at the end of a beautiful beach, it’s a want-for-nothing palace of a place. While it’s not specifically for children, little ones are welcomed with open arms. We stayed in a dual-floor family complex, which was roomy, spotless and with a lovely view out over the archery courts.

A large balcony with ample seating and shade provided a lovely place to sit a while too. Elsewhere, food options are brilliant – with an ever-changing buffet, mixed up to keep things fresh. Once a week the Club Med white party sees everyone dressed to the nines and brought together for an evening of live music and food around the pool.

A daily boat trip welcomes children on board and provides a complimentary sightseeing and snorkelling tour – a brilliant touch. And the sandy beach has enough beds and brollies for everyone to enjoy peace and quiet. The water, clear enough to see the fish nibbling your toes, is divine. When I tell you that we didn’t want to leave, it is no lie. From the eldest of us to the youngest we were thoroughly impressed.

*For more on planning a trip to Türkiye, see Go Türkiye

*Getting there – Without Flights: Seven nights all-inclusive stay at Club Med Bodrum, Palmiye, Turkey from £2,490 (based on a family of four). Price based on departure date 06.06.26. Book now at www.clubmed.co.uk/r/bodrum/y or call 03453 676767. London Flights: Seven nights all-inclusive stay at Club Med Bodrum, Palmiye, Turkey from £4,014 (based on a family of four). Price based on departure date 06.06.26. Book now at www.clubmed.co.uk/r/bodrum/y or call 03453 676767

A rule change could see Brits heading to Turkey being ‘caught out’

British holidaymakers could find themselves affected by a rule change in Turkey. The destination remains enormously popular with tourists, boasting a wealth of resorts, and was visited by millions of UK travellers in 2025 alone.

With industry experts predicting a bumper summer for international travel, it’s anticipated that countless families and holidaymakers are preparing for trips to Turkey over the coming weeks and months. While travelling overseas, many people opt for international eSIMs, but anyone intending to use one in Turkey should take note of a new regulation.

You’ll need to activate the eSIM before you board your flight, as this cannot be done once you touch down in Turkey. Travel expert at Holafly Juan David Soler said: “eSIMs have become the go-to option for Brits wanting affordable mobile data abroad without the hassle of physical SIMs or costly roaming.

“But now, travellers will no longer be able to activate a new eSIM once they arrive in Turkey. To avoid getting caught out, UK travellers should ensure their eSIM is fully downloaded and activated before leaving the UK.

“This means setting up your digital SIM while still on UK networks, and confirming it’s working properly before departure. Otherwise, you could be left without internet access the moment you land, which can be a serious issue if you rely on your phone for maps, transport, or bookings.”

As reported by The Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD) on Thursday July 10, 2025, the action blocks access in Turkey to the websites and applications of the impacted eSIM providers.

Holafly further clarifies that the eSIM ban is chiefly aimed at Turkish citizens purchasing eSIMs for overseas travel in Turkey. However you will still need to buy and install your eSIM prior to arriving in Turkey, and keep your QR code so you can activate the eSIM once in Turkey. The specialists also suggest downloading a secure VPN.

As a mum to a six year old and a two year old, I love an all inclusive hotel. There’s plenty of food options, and I don’t groan every time one of my children tips their drink into the sand. But they’re often pretty big, and pretty expensive. So when I checked into Club Med in Bodrum, I was quickly won over.

While it’s quite large, with 242 rooms on the pretty hillside site, it still manages to feel boutique and exclusive. A high return rate, plenty of the guests we met were on their second or third visits. One, an elderly Belgian man on holiday with his wife, was on his seventh. “It’s just perfect,” he told me. Why would we go anywhere else? And I have to say I agree. Here’s why…

The rooms

There are three different room types at Club Med, Bodrum: superior, family deluxe and suites. As a family of four, we were given a deluxe, which was split over two floors. There were two single beds downstairs and a king upstairs, in a large living space that doubled as a living room.

There were two bathrooms and a spacious balcony with chairs for lounging that looked out over the archery courts below. As far as decor goes, it was simple – white walls, minimal accessories. Functional for a family who would be spending most of their time on the beach. Beds were comfy, and a cot was provided. The whole thing was immaculately clean and the thread count was high. It was an ideal base to set up camp for the week.

The food

While in Bodrum, we ate a lot of our meals out, but the ones we enjoyed at the hotel were very good indeed. The hotel’s main buffet restaurant, La Terrasse, is at the top of the site, with stunning breezy terraces overlooking the sea, all draped in purple flowers. The view, it has to be said, is breathtaking. The scenery served up is almost as good as the eggs.

Breakfast is varied, with omelettes made to order, a bakery, cereals and salads. A juice bar serves up brightly coloured drinks, and there’s a fruit station with enough bananas to keep my kids happy all day. Coffee is best sourced at the bar, which does a great flat white with fresh beans. Throughout the day, delicious picky snacks like olives and flatbread are served at the beach bar, and to the delight of the little ones, fresh watermelon was delivered to them on the sand.

La Terrasse opens once more for lunch and dinner, with a banquet of options for all tastes and palates, from grilled prawns to pizza. There were even snails one night – a nod to Club Med’s French brand heritage. A gentle theme runs each night, say Mexican, Chinese, and so on. And there’s plenty of Turkish treats to delight too. Once a week, a white party takes over the pool area and guests are all given light-up crowns to wear as they dine. My six year old absolutely loved this – as did I. Down the mountainside, the a la carte Halikarnas restaurant provides a more intimate, upmarket setting, with incredible seafood and meat options.

The activities

While Club Med isn’t specifically a family hotel, and in fact most of the guests we met during our stay were friends or couples, it really does welcome children with open arms. Staff remember names and drinks orders, and a fuss is made of young guests wherever they go. The pool area is large and luxurious, with plenty of sunloungers, many of which are set under the shade of surrounding trees, and there’s a little baby pool for paddlers too.

Elsewhere, there’s a small playground set down a shady path and activities like archery and beach fit to keep everyone occupied when on a break from the beach. A complimentary twice-daily boat trip, which leaves from the hotel pier at 10am and 3pm each day to tour the beautiful coastline, lets the little ones on with lifejackets.

The beach

At the foot of the hill lies the jewel in Club Med’s crown – its pristine, private, beach. Set in a long bay, ensuring calm, safe water, it can be accessed via stairs or a lift, with a regular supply of buggies taking guests up and down the hill to reach it. Once at the shore, turning left takes you to a section of Bali beds set over the waves on the rocky cliffs, with some more to be found on a wooden pier.

We, however, turned right – to the main stretch of beach. With more than enough sunbeds, each with a generous umbrella for shade, there’s no jostling required. The beach is cleaned daily and the water is crystal clear. It’s paradisical. Little fish came to say hello as we built sandcastles by the water’s edge. The perfect place to wile away the day.

The surrounding area

If you can bear to leave Club Med Bodrum, there is plenty to explore nearby. A trip to Bodrum castle is a must to wander through the historic fortress. Built by the Knights of St John, it now houses one of the world’s most important collections of ancient shipwrecks and relics. There are a flock of friendly peacocks in residence too, which I have to say were the highlight for both my girls.

Elsewhere, Bodrum Antik Tiyatrosu (Bodrum Antique Theatre) is a remarkably preserved 4th-century BC Greco-Roman amphitheatre carved into the slopes of Mount Göktepe. Overlooking the city and the Aegean Sea, it stands as one of Anatolia’s oldest surviving theatres. Later, a walk up to the 18th-century windmills between Bodrum and Gümbet then provided sweeping views, and we headed down to the glamorous Bodrum marina to dine by the water at Liman Koftescisi, a renowned Turkish restaurant. The meatballs with aubergine were divine.

For those who love wine, Bodrum is abundant. Karnas Vineyards is a family-owned, boutique winery and agricultural estate located in the Karaova region of the Bodrum peninsula. Spanning over 20 hectares, it is famous for being the first vineyard to plant the Zinfandel grape variety in Turkey, producing award-winning wines using sustainable and traditional techniques. Featured in the Michelin Guide, the vineyard features a terrace restaurant serving local, farm-to-fork meals made from ingredients grown on-site or by local farmers.

And just down the road, Mehmet Vuran is the owner and winemaker at Garova in the Karaova Valley of Bodrum. A visit to his estate is as much of a delight for children as it is for the grown ups thanks to a menagerie of animals, with cows, chickens and baby chickens running around. As the golden sun dipped behind the horizon, as our visit to Bodrum drew to a close, we toasted to our return.

*For more on planning a trip to Türkiye, see Go Türkiye

Getting there

Without Flights: Seven nights all-inclusive stay at Club Med Bodrum, Palmiye, Turkey from £2,490 (based on a family of four). Price based on departure date 06.06.26. Book now at www.clubmed.co.uk/r/bodrum/y or call 03453 676767

London Flights: Seven nights all-inclusive stay at Club Med Bodrum, Palmiye, Turkey from £4,014 (based on a family of four). Price based on departure date 06.06.26. Book now at www.clubmed.co.uk/r/bodrum/y or call 03453 676767

Turkish airline SunExpress says it has cancelled four routes from UK airports to popular holiday destinations in Turkey due to ‘ongoing geopolitical developments’

A major airline says it has been forced to cancel flights from the UK to three popular holiday destinations.

Turkish airline SunExpress cited “ongoing geopolitical developments” and the rising cost of jet fuel as it announced the temporary suspension of four routes from the UK to Turkey for the summer 2026 season.

The routes that have been cancelled are Manchester to Bodrum, Leeds Bradford to Antalya, and Glasgow to both Dalaman and Antalya. Flights on these routes have now been taken off sale.

However, Brits wanting to travel to Turkey this summer have a number of other options. SunExpress is still running routes to Antalya from Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted, Luton, Manchester and Newcastle, as well as to Dalaman from Birmingham, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Manchester, and Newcastle.

Sadly, the changes do mean SunExpress will not be operating a UK to Bodrum service this summer.

A spokesperson for the airline told Travel Gossip: “Due to the ongoing geopolitical developments, the aviation industry is currently operating in a highly volatile environment, characterised by significant cost increases, particularly for jet fuel. SunExpress is therefore taking steps to improve fuel efficiency and optimise flight operations.

“As part of this, we have temporarily suspended our services from Glasgow and Leeds Bradford, and our route from Manchester to Bodrum, along with a number of short-term frequency reductions on other services.

“We regret any inconvenience caused, and will continue to provide UK travellers with a wide range of flights and routes to Türkiye from airports across the UK.”

They added that the airline is not in a position to confirm when the suspended services may be reinstated. SunExpress will provide further updates as soon as more information is available, they said.

This comes after British Airways said flights will not resume to Dubai and three other destinations in the Middle East until at least October, two months later than previously planned.

The airline previously said it would cut flights to some key Middle East destinations after the start of the Iran war with flights to Dubai, Doha and Tel Aviv originally set to resume at the start of July.

British Airways has now said that the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has prompted further changes to the flight schedule.

Fights to Dubai, Tel Aviv, Bahrain and Amman are now not set to resume until after the end of the summer season. The current date for flights to re-start is October 25.

A remarkably preserved town that has been underwater for a whopping 2,400 years has reappeared in a tourist holiday hotspot – anchored in the past and frozen in time

In an extraordinary turn of events, a town has reappeared after being submerged under water for more than 2,000 years – and it remains largely untouched.

In the popular holiday hotspot of southeastern Turkey, archaeologists uncovered a 2,400-year-old town beneath the Dicle Dam Lake. Despite being submerged for thousands of years, the town appeared eerily frozen in time, with remarkably preserved mosques, religious schools, and tombs that once made up an ancient community.

Due to a lack of human disruption, the town, near the district of Eğil, and near Diyarbakır, has remained protected and untouched under the water’s still surface. “In the images taken by the teams or when the water recedes, we can see that these historical structures have preserved their integrity and remain standing in a solid condition,” Dr. İrfan Yıldız, a researcher at Dicle University, said.

READ MORE: The seaside town with beautiful beaches and 23C May temperatures ‘begging Brits to come’READ MORE: Popular airline reduces Europe flights and cancels others until June 14

The mosque and tombs beneath the water are said to be associated with the Prophet Elisha, as well as the Ottoman-era Caferiye, also known as Lala Kasım, Madrasa, and the Byzantine-era Deran Bath. Experts have noted just how extraordinary it is to have such well-preserved structures underwater.

The discovery of the settlement, published by Dicle University, is now offering archaeologists insight into the region’s prehistoric past and its transformation over the millennia. But how did this foregone town, that once had a thriving community, find itself lost in time and engulfed under water?

The Dicle Dam Lake was formed by a dam built in 1986 and completed in 1997, which was required as a vital water source for the region. But before this, the Eğil district, part of the Tigris River Valley, had been home to ancient communities.

Its residents date back to the Hittites and Ottoman empires, which once used prehistoric tombs. While the region is said to have served as a vital gateway for Assyrians, Persians, Hurrians, Mitanni, Romans, and Byzantine citizens.

Before the dam was completed and flooding engulfed parts of the region, some important sites were removed, while other parts were simply abandoned. The reservoir was filled, and the ancient town remained untouched, lost beneath the water.

While it’s been one of the most fascinating discoveries, the ruins are at risk of being lost if measures aren’t taken to protect them due to shifting water levels, sediment activity and possible erosion. Dr Yıldız, who described the find as “extraordinary”, is championing the extension of studies to protect the heritage site.

He said: “Underwater archaeological studies can be carried out on these remains.” It’s thought that further studies on the former town could help uncover more of the region’s history and the lives of the citizens who called it home, all those years ago.

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