Shopping in Alanya
Alanya is a good city to shop in - boasting excellent shops selling leather articles, clothing stores, jewellery shops and a local market selling everything in addition to a good choice of food items. Bargaining is an essential skill to possess if you intend to make a success of your shopping trip here, and you can bargain on virtually everything except food. The rewards of bargaining can be estimated when you learn that with patience and smart negotiating you can bring down the prices by as much as 30-50%.
[read more]When shopping, expect to be pleasantly greeted with refreshments like tea by salesmen. Make sure you negotiate well; you will be rewarded with neat bargains!
Our Alanya shopping guide below will tell you everything you need to know about shopping in Alanya. And if all this retail therapy is making you hungry, visit one of the great Alanya restaurants. You can also find more general shopping information in our Turkey shopping guide.
Alanya Shopping Guide
The streets of Alanya are bustling with shoppers and salesmen busy in the act of exploring, buying and selling. There are countless shops selling an amazing variety of things at very sensible prices - specialties are Turkish rugs and textiles, jewellery, handbags, copper work and souvenirs. But the unique item on sale in Alanya markets has to be painted gourd!
Markets
The local markets in Alanya are vibrant and have virtually everything on sale - from locally grown fruits and vegetables to hand made products, dishes and pottery. It's a place where you see both locals and tourists shopping away - for their daily rations and for interesting and pretty trinkets!
The fruits and vegetables sold in these markets are painstakingly fetched by farmers from markets and mountains outside Alanya. Food is one category for which you don't need to bargain as the price of seasonal items is very low anyway. Food markets generally remain open from sunrise to sunset.
The Alanya bazaar covers a very vast area between the harbour and the Dolmus station and is cut into two parts by the main street running in between. The bazaar is separated from the major road called the Atatürk Caddesi (street).
This bazaar is huge and can stake claim to being one of the largest markets on the Southern coast. It is indeed a haven for shoppers, selling all kinds of items like shoes, clothes, bags and many other leather goods, different qualities of clothes, sweets, jewellery of silver and gold and the inevitable souvenirs.
Turkish Rugs
Turkish rugs are indeed very pretty and if you do seriously plan to take one home then make sure you do your research well. As a preliminary move, try and visit as many shops before you decide upon a rug you like. The challenge would almost surely not be finding a rug of your choice - it would be settling upon the right price to pay. Bargaining is essential and would prove to be a big money saver.
Rug buying tips
You can identify a good quality rug by its material and the closeness of its weave. A good rug should be made of 100% wool and when you turn it around the weaves should be as close and the knots as small as possible.
Rugs are either dyed with natural colours or with chemical ones. The naturally dyed rugs tend to fetch a higher price so you may be pressed by salesmen into buying those. Make sure you know what you want to buy and stick to your decision instead of being led into a higher priced naturally dyed one when you would be just as happy with a chemically dyed rug.
General Tips for Shopping in Alanya
Resist the temptation to start shopping the instant you land in Alanya. It is a wise idea to give yourself at least 2 or 3 days to acclimatize yourself to the currency and the general value of goods before plunging into the shopping seas!
If shopping is a big to do item while in Alanya then make sure you start on it fresh in the morning. This is because at this time the markets will be less busy and you will be able to gain almost all of the salesman's attention. There is also a cultural twist to this tip. Many salesmen in Turkey believe that the day's first customer is sent by God and would bring luck to them for the rest of the day. You could be in for special treatment if you turn up early enough!
Avoid shops that seem inhabited by over-zealous salesmen insistently pulling customers inside. Things may turn unpleasant if you ultimately choose to not buy from them!
Make sure you get a price from the salesman before he starts describing his goods in further detail. If you ultimately refuse to buy things because they seem too expensive, after having spent quite some time listening to their descriptions, the shopkeepers tend to feel quite irritated and show it too!
Food is the only item category for which you should refrain from bargaining. If your bargaining skills are good, you could succeed in buying items for as much as 50% of the originally quoted price. You can even get the price of jewellery reduced to 30%. But do remember, bargaining here is generally a long drawn out process - have patience, and the results would be sweet!
You don't have to feel pressurised to buy from a shop just because you have accepted refreshments like tea or coffee, soda or water from the salesmen. But if you have been offered alcohol, then realize that the salesman is expecting a sale!
Bargaining aside, the price of goods generally is a good indicator of their genuineness. The salesmen you would encounter are generally honest, and you really don't have to worry about buying a fake for the price of an original. Though very often it is seen that even the copies are of extremely good quality.
Ask for a certificate of guarantee when you buy something expensive like carpets or jewellery. Make sure the guarantee has the store's name on it.
