Tea brewing and tea drinking in Turkey are indispensable rituals.

Just reading our Marmaris restaurant guide will have your stomach grumbling and your tastebuds in overdrive! So after shopping for some cheap souvenirs in Marmaris-Datca, relax and taste a variety of dishes from the many restaurants on offer. Find out more about food and cuisine in Turkey as a whole in our Turkey restaurant guide.

Marmaris Restaurant Guide

Finding good restaurants in Marmaris that serves authentic Turkish cuisine is difficult because Marmaris is full of restaurants catering to cosmopolitan tastes. It is quite interesting to see waiters outside lokantas beckoning you as you walk past. Do not get hassled and choose your eatery carefully. Also, do ask for the price list, as some of the dishes are charged by the kilo. The law requires Marmaris restaurants to display their price list, but in some cases you may have to ask for it. Needless to say, do check your bill.

Turkey's villagers start their day with a healthy and sumptuous breakfast. They have freshly picked olives, cucumbers, tomatoes and herbs, jam made at home, pine honey, fresh butter, fried egg and sausages, all served with oven fresh loaves of village bread. This is rounded off with tea served in tea glasses or tea pots. The Turkish village breakfast is truly a feast, and not to be missed. The famous honey of Marmaris is a treat to taste and a great purchase.

Tea brewing and tea drinking in Turkey are indispensable rituals. It is believed that a disruption in the continuous supply of tea significantly reduces a person's productivity! The Turkish make their tea by brewing it over boiling water and serve it in clear glasses so as to retain its heat and show off its rich colour.

Its coastal location means that many Marmaris restaurants serve excellent seafood. Here, the meal commences with 'meze' or starters, which could be cold or hot, and then the fish is brought on. This is likely to be more expensive than fish off the street, but the superior taste more than makes up for the cost.

If you are rustling up your own meal, then there is a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables at your disposal. These are cultivated organically, good in quality and taste and not very expensive. There are two big super markets and several smaller grocery shops. Since the people are not very conversant with English and most of the items on the shelf are Turkish, it is a good idea to take advice from the ubiquitous friendly Turk! Most tourists find food & cuisine in Marmaris either very good or very disappointing!

Datca Restaurant Guide

Tea houses, bars, ice cream parlours, patisseries, restaurants and lokantas, you can find them all in Datca.

If you are strolling in the markets in Datca, you can make a meal out of the free samples of lokkum, dried fruit and nuts that are distributed by the stall owners. Then you can savour the strong smelling, bitter tasting salty old goat cheese. Coming under the category of starters or meze, this cheese is cultured in pots for almost a whole year! But do not miss Mennemen, the ultimate comfort food which is filling, nutritious and tasty. This dish, similar to the omelette or scrambled eggs with chillies and tomatoes, is best eaten with crusty white or pitta bread.

Round it all off with ‘dondurma' or Turkish ice cream. They have a texture of their own and are available in some interesting flavours like cinnamon.

The ideal place to find authentic Datca food & cuisine is among the small family run restaurants on the main street of Datca. These restaurants serve a ‘sofra' or banquet at very reasonable prices.

In the centre of Datca, starting at Ogretmenevi, is a small beautiful beach where children play in the sand during the day, while some others take a ride in a canoe. During the night, however, this same place turns into a huge restaurant, open to the skies, thanks to some enterprising small restaurateurs and cheerful helpful waiters who set up some makeshift tables and chairs. You can gorge on fresh fish, French fries, salads and beer or raki. It will be a truly unique experience!

Nightlife in Marmaris-Datca 

All Turcs like music, especially Turkish music. And most Turks -men and women alike- are really good dancers. In modern style disco bars the Turkish youngsters have adopted their dancing skills in fantastic ways to western music. Where ever you go -east or west, village or city, and which type of bar you visit doesn't matter, always you will be surprised by the show of dances of the Turcs.Turcs also possess the art to invite you, the foreigner, to the dancefloor. And without having to feel ashamed you can dance the night away with your new friends on the stage! It feels like the ambience has being created for you!!

Datca:  Café - Bars  and  Disco's

Datca is much less involved in tourism than Marmaris, but nightlife in Datca is still happening. So don't expect the same type of disco's and nightclubs we have in Marmaris. Datca is about becoming a new destination for tourists who first of all love quiet and tranquil seashores and crystal clear bays, dreamy villages and a lot of unspoilt nature. You can find all of that in and around Datca. But don't think that it is just a sleepy provincial town. Datca wouldn't be a part of Turkey if you won't be able to find dancings and bars with a variety of music styles, from traditional Turkish dance music and live music to R&B, Jazz, Lounge, Trip- and Hip Hop, R &R, Soul, Electronical Music, Breakbeat, Trance, Dance and so on.....

Marmaris Bar Street: bars, bars and more bars

Vibrant and energetic are the best words to describe Marmaris Bar Street after sunset. There are great pubs and bars most of them with animators and dancers and some even with live music and  many of them are open until 4 am in the morning. There are also some fast food outlets and Marmaris restaurants along the strip, so you really can't go wrong. Also typical for Marmaris is that most of the clubs don't ask entree fees and most places do not have a clothing code. Whatever you do after sunset, Bar Street is the place to do it.  So don't be square, be there!