Product Reviews : Travel - Short Haul : Ocakkoy Village, Fethiye, Turkey

A fab alternative to "club" holidays: "it's simple and low key, very relaxing". The childcare "wasn't the most creative activity-wise, but in 40 degree heat escaping to an air-con room even to watch a video is a good idea!" Although "not five star" the accommodation is "spotlessly clean and well maintained" with "blissful" outdoor massage available. Food is "good if unspectacular" with "fun themed evenings popular with the kids". The nearby beach was "a bit disappointing" but there were "plenty of English playmates by the family pool". Everyone commented on the service: "staff were extremely attentive and obviously loved children." Overall: "highly recommended!"

Mumsnet top tip: "Nearby Fethiye is fun and we hired a massive boat just for the four of us but complete with crew for £100 for an afternoon. Definitely worth it."

Ocakkoy is a beautiful relaxing get away from it all location with fantastic staff. The accommodation is restored old cottages - basic but comfortable - with little terraces outside to sit, eat and drink and take in the views. The main bedroom has air-conditioning (much needed in August), but the sitting room which doubles as children's bedroom does not (although you can use fans), but this did not prove a problem for us as the kids slept really soundly after a day of swimming. Powerful shower in the bathroom. The cottages vary in size, so check out Ocakkoy's website which has layout diagrams. There are studios too – but I’m not quite sure of the set up there.

Ocakkoy has two pool areas - two at the top for adults (and older teens) and one much larger one at the bottom for noisy families! There is a very small pool alongside this for babies/toddlers and note that the family pool is deep so arm bands needed for non-swimming toddlers. We’ve been two times now and both times there were always been another family or two with kids for our two to make friends with and have someone to play with in the pool whilst we lounged and read our books! The majority of guests are English with Turkish families coming down from Istanbul for long weekends.

You can book thought various companies (Tapestry, Anatolian Sky, Cachet), but families I have met there got better deals by booking direct. Transfer time from Dalaman airport is just over an hour.

The restaurant food is OK to good and the menu does not change - so quite a few people choose to eat out which can get costly if you then have to use taxis. Easy if you hire a car of course. We have older kids so we used the 10/15 min walk through the forest to the main road to pick up the frequent dolmuses that run to Fethiye or Hisaronu & Olu Deniz. You can cook in the cottages, but the equipment is pretty basic (small hob and no oven) so pasta and salads are the easiest to accomplish.

The contrast with the busier areas around Ocakkoy is quite marked – for example Hisaronu (2 miles down the road) will most certainly not be everybody’s cup of tea – tattoo parlours, lots of English breakfast & roast signs and so on – but equally there are two decent supermarkets there. Olu Deniz is also busy, but we had some great cocktails and meals at the Buzz Bar down there watching all the paragliders swoop down from the mountains onto the beach!

Some lovely trips to be done – e.g. boat trip from Fethiye harbour with plenty of stops for snorkelling (don’t get on the big noisy ones), a canoe trip down river to Patara beach, a look round Kayakoy (the ghost village) and so on. Paragliding is a must if you’re brave enough (I wasn’t……..)

When we did go out, it was always lovely to return to the peace & tranquillity of Ocakkoy and a dip in the pool. And the wonderful massage man is still there.

If you can afford it, then I think to hire a car for at least part of the holiday be useful, especially if you children are younger or if you want to explore further afield, but our older kids were happy with the walk and dolmus mode of transport. Ocakkoy does offer a daily bus to Olu Deniz beach although our preference is for the pool!