Alanya

Hi all,

I recently found out I've been rewarded a scholarship to spend my summer (June-August) in Turkey learning Turkish. I foolishly chose Alanya over Istanbul, because I only had like 5 minutes to decide, and google image search brought back a sparkling beach for Alanya.

While I'm really excited about the beach, I am really disappointed that everything I'm reading is saying that Alanya is kind of a cheesy tourist trap. Incredible natural beauty aside, am I going to be finding myself in the Cancun of Turkey or something? With more northern Europeans listening to cheesy music?

So, this is a cry for help! Is there anyone here who has been to Alanya that can tell me whether there's a backpacking vibe anywhere at all or if it's all big resorts? Is there an area where I can spend an evening in a smoky tavern listening to traditional Turkish folk music or am I going to be listening to Eurotrance in giant clubs?

Istanbul was full of awesome taverns and really cool, chilled out clubs playing Baba Zula rather than Tarkan. Is there a zone like this in Alanya?

Sounds like you picked the wrong option.

"Is there an area where I can spend an evening in a smoky tavern listening to traditional Turkish folk music or am I going to be listening to Eurotrance in giant clubs? "

yes to both.