The port of Marmaris (Marmaris Limanı) is one of Turkey’s biggest yachting centers. It is a natural bay, a little over 2 by 3 nautical miles in size, protected to the south by two islands, Keçi and Nimara (also known as Yıldız, which means “star” in English), making it very sheltered.
The Yachts Port of Marmaris – Marmaris Yat Limanı
[source: By Mstyslav Chernov – Self-photographed, Link]
This protection makes Marmaris one of the most attractive yacht ports in the SW Mediterranean. Marmaris is considered as being at the Aegean, but I consider it on the border. You may use it as a winter spot as well. The climate makes it ideal, and the prices are making Marmaris the first choice.
I have to tell you now, that I don’t advertise this beautiful place for a mere fee. I do it for my own pleasure. This was a favorite oasis of mine for a long time.
Marmaris was considered a place for vagrants, there are only maximum three (even if I tend to reduce the sociology to only two of them) generations of “natives” there. This means that in the late ’20s, after the proclamation of the Turkish Republic, everyone who set camp there almost became the owner. I said “almost” because after WWII, if a site was found archeologically valuable, the first settler lost the ownership to the state.
It’s a place where you have the opportunity to buy things: Real Estate, boats, etc. It’s still outside the EU’s greed, so if you want to sell, you’ll make a profit next generation. Even so, it’s a wonderful place to be all year. The touristic season starts in May and ends in October. In between, Marmaris is like an oasis in this tormented world. In winter, if Istanbul is wonderful, Marmaris is blissful. The locals don’t appreciate this because they’re oriented on the tourism profits, so they take their break after the season. If they didn’t make their fortunes then, they are prone to sell or to rent their businesses for the next season to come.
View over Marmaris
[source: blog.thomascookairlines.com]
Renting can’t be very profitable if you are not a Turkish citizen, but if you buy something, you can approach some peaks. It’s logical, if they rent, they’ll want their best gain, no matter the circumstances. If you agree, you have to be very lucky to achieve it and make a living (after taxes, expenses, and other bribes). If not, you need to haggle up to a mandatory one that helps the owner to live relatively decent and you to learn the trade and save your investment.
When you buy, you’re open to your experience and your creativity.
If you just visit, and you want to eat and drink outside your boat, you have a lot of venues to choose from. It’s better to avoid the places where you’re hassled to enter because you’re gonna be triply charged. Even so, you may find it cheap compared with similar experiences in your country of origin. I doubt you’ll try to have such a culinary escapade at home, more than once in a while.
I recently read an article in a yachting magazine which recommended you to finish off your eating and drinking “with a short, strong coffee, served with obligatory Turkish delight”. I assure you, there’s no “obligatory Turkish delight” (I suppose the author actually referred to “lokum”), and the coffee is not strong at all. If you’re drunk, it will not wake you up. Anyway, as a boatman or boat-girl, you’ll never drink that much, the advice is good for the other British civilians.
All in all, Marmaris is a beautiful city with two pretty large private marinas, the Marmaris Yacht Marina and the Netsel. This last one is closer to the city attractions, the other one is pretty far, but they try to compensate the distance with what they offer inside.
Map of Marmaris Gulf with the marinas
In Marmaris, all the wharves which are not fenced, like in the private marinas, are available to berth for a small daily fee. Together they make Marmaris Yat Limani (Marmaris Yachts Port). Water and electricity are always available. If you can use your own toilets and showers, you won’t need the security offered by a private marina. With a little cunning and English speaking, anyone can enter past the gate and break your boat’s intimacy. On the contrary, in the free marina, there’s more tumult and less opportunity to steal. Of course, if you think all the time at robbers, you’ll attract them.
Officially, there are at least two more private marinas, but they’re small and I haven’t checked them out. Actually not every fenced wharf can be called a marina.
When I was there I have had business with both important ones and it’s hard to recommend one more than the other. If you want the city you chose Netsel; if you prefer quietness, you may choose Marmaris Yacht Marine, in a place called Yalancıboğaz, which is actually closer to the place you enter the gulf.
What I don’t recommend, is a marina in Orhaniye, 30 kilometers from the port of Marmaris on land, named Martı Marina (Seagull Marina). The operators are very unprepared and ready only to catch your tips. They also didn’t allow the daily workers to use the showers on site for the reason that they can take their baths at home and the showers have to be always clean for the paying customers.
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