Simply take a short hop to the Greek island of Meis, near to Kaş on the Altug Boat trip run by Selo.

A fantastic day out, a coastal highway you long to drive on, encountering breathtaking panoramic sea views along the way to finally arrive in Kaş – one of Turkey’s Gems, and then to be met by your captain – Selo, who is a splendid and honorable person.

He speaks impeccable english, is extremely professional and well organized in his business and operates two boats.

Here is our step-by-step guide;

Step One – Before you go

Work out when your visa will expire by adding 90 days to the entry date stamped in your passport. Choose a date before the expiry date, taking into consideration the weather conditions are favorable for your day trip.

Contact Selo on his mobile telephone on 05376745572 and book your day of travel. He runs his boats every weekday, Monday to Friday, throughout the year, rain or shine.

Get your Euros before you go, use the HSBC, Garanti, Fortis or TEB ATM’s that issue Euros. You will need 15 Euros for each Visa and some for spending while on Meis, if you want to take advantage of the shopping to be had. Example, the purchasing of bacon, pork products. etc, and also the duty free shopping.

Step Two – Making your Way to Kaş

There are two options for this, by bus or by car.

If you are traveling by bus from Fethiye, you need to get to the bus station (otogar) located at the end of the dalaman road, fethiye junction. The bus leaves at 7:30 to Kaş and the price is approx 10 YTL one way. You can book your seat in advance during busy times so as to guarantee your seat.

If you are traveling by car heading towards kaş, allow 2 and half hours for your journey from fethiye. The journey after Kalkan is a wonderful experience with the road winding round the coast with beautiful panoramic views, and this in itself is well worth doing.

For instance we hired a car from Oscar which was reasonably priced at around 60 YTL and then added petrol at a cost of 60 YTL which took us all the way to Kaş and all around Kaş and back to Fethiye and around Fethiye too. There were four of us traveling and we found this a more desirable alternative to catching the bus, and it gave us more flexibility.
Upon our return journey that evening we encountered dynamic sunsets along the coastal road between Kaş and Kalkan

Step Three – Arriving at Kaş

If arriving by bus, get off at Kaş bus station located at the top half of the town. You can walk down to the harbor or Selo or one of his staff will pick you up and take you the short distance to the harbor.

If arriving by car, park on the harbor and Selo is located as the road goes round to the left opposite the tea garden.

Selo will welcome you on the harbor at his desk labeled Altug Boat Trip.

Give your passport along with the 15 Euros to Selo. Go opposite, have a cup of tea,a meal or a snack. While you are enjoying your food and drink talking to ex-pats Selo will have the boat manifest agreed by immigration officials, this should take around half an hour, after this you will be allowed to board the boat for an half hour journey to Meis. At this time when you are all together on the boat a policeman will check your passports and call out your names.

Step Four – Arriving at Meis

No beurocracy or passport control awaits you on Meis, you simply get off the boat. you normally have 2 – 3 hours on the island and the small duty free shop near to the boat opens one hour before departure.

Step Five – Departing Meis

Enjoy your half hour cruise back to Kaş, as you near Kaş, Selo will collect the boat fare, 40 YTL per person

Step Six – Arriving back at Kaş

A customs person will be awaiting to give everyone a cursory glance, he has no uniform to distinguish him from anyone else, so be warned, try to stick to your allowances, there is normally no problems.

You get off the boat, walk over the road to the cafe and get yourself a bite to eat while Selo takes all the Passports to the immigration police for the new visas to be issued.

Half an hour later Selo will hand your passport back to you with your new visa allowing you to stay another 90 days.

Post from: Fethiye Bay - Local English Newspaper

The Easiest & Simplest Way to Renew Your Tourist Visa

A warning before you decide to overstay your tourist visa;

The Turkish immigration authorities are getting tough on people who over stay their tourist visa.

The new rules are as follows:

Over staying your tourist visa by between 1 and 15 days – There is no restriction on re-entering Turkey but you will have to pay the appropriate visa fines and you will need to obtain your new visa from a Turkish Consulate.

Over staying your tourist visa by 16 days or more – Not only will you have to pay the fines for over staying but you would also need to leave Turkey and would not be allowed entry for 3 months

Over staying your tourist visa by 3 months  – In addition to the fines the person would have to leave Turkey and would not be allowed entry for 6 months.

For greater periods as above with fines but double the refusal of entry times – 6 months over staying, would not be allowed entry to Turkey for 12 months etc.

We think the penalties are very tough as those people who just make a minor date error and inadvertently stay an extra few days will now have to take a special trip to renew their visa outside of Turkey.

So it pays to renew your visa a little bit earlier to allow for any errors.

Post from: Fethiye Bay - Local English Newspaper

Tough New Penalties for Overstaying Your Tourist Visa