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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

recommendations for a holiday in Turkey please

38 replies

Yorkiegirl · 27/01/2007 13:09

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OP posts:
Original poster
Yorkiegirl · 27/01/2007 18:55

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OP posts:
WriggleJiggle · 27/01/2007 18:58

Dalyan is fantastic. Only 1/2 hr from airport, small but big enough, turtles, boat trips, great beach.

CountessDracula · 27/01/2007 19:07

I agree dalyan is nice
Patara too, though you are not right on the beach, but the beach is fab

Kalkan is lovely
Gumusluk, Gundogan etc, but not been there for years so may be ruined since Bodrum airport opened

bakedpotato · 27/01/2007 19:08

we went here a few years ago, loved it

occakoy

bettythebuilder · 27/01/2007 19:08

for the past few yrs we've been to various resorts along the coast near Belek (flying to Antalya).
I don't know if an all inclusive hotel is the sort of things your friends are looking for, but I can thoroughly recommend The Sirene Golf Hotel and The Papillon Zeugma.
Both have fab pools with slides, are on the beach and have evening 'entertainment' (of varying quality )
Sirene

IlanaK · 27/01/2007 20:38

Bettybuilder, was it you who mentioned the Pappilon to me in another thread? We have looked extensively at it and have decided that is definately where we want to go. We have decided to chose the Zeugma and was wondering if you have stayed there. If so, did you stay in the duplex family rooms? What are they like?

Sorry to highjack!

bettythebuilder · 27/01/2007 21:02

Yes! We went last september. The hotel was marvellous. We stayed in (I think!) a standard double sea view room. It had a double bed, a single bed and an armchair that converted into a single. The room was a slight 'L' shape with the convertable bed at right angle to the main bed, so dd was mostly out of sight

We took a peek into some v.v. swanky rooms on the corner of the buildings which looked like suites and were blinkin' marvellous!

I'll have a look at the website to check what sort of room we were in, but I think it was the standard one, and there was lots of space.
In our bathroom there was an enormous corner bath with room for dh, dd and me!!

IlanaK · 27/01/2007 21:43

Oh fabulous! We are looking at a family room which is on two floors, but with no separating door. Just can't have the boys in the same space as us!

Thanks so much for telling me about the hotel. We are going to book through Cosmos as they seem to be the only company doing it. We are also wanting to go in September. How was the weather?

The hotel looks so amazing. I looked at a load of other 5 star hotels, but none of them seemed to compare. We want something really special as this is sort of going to be a one off. I am selling my business and this will be my treat.

Did you use the kids club at all. My oldest will be old enough for it, but not my youngest. And how was the food?

bettythebuilder · 27/01/2007 22:05

the weather was good - only 1 and a half days rain in a fortnight, but not cold with it, ikswim. 30 degs on the other days, and non stop sun.
Didn't use the kids club as dd was only 3, and I'm not sure how good that would be for british kids (dd was the only british child- the rest were Russian or German)
The food was good - evening buffet can be a bit 'samey' after 2 weeks, but there are speciality restaurants to try. (I'll ask dh about the food, as I'm v. restricted dietry-wise, so I don't eat much on hols )
The all inclusive aspect is fab as there's food ava. pretty much all day and the drinks are branded, so it's Gordons and Tonic all the way!!

IlanaK · 27/01/2007 22:43

Thanks for that. Who did you book through? We can only find cosmos doing it. And their return flight time is horrendous! Gets in at 2:30 in the mroning! I was wondering about maybe bokoing it direct and booking seperate flights. There are no prices on their website though so I emailed them. I would be interested to hear if any other holiday companies do them though as I am not doing those flights!

mimi1uk · 27/01/2007 22:54

olu deniz is the best part of turkey, u have the blue lagoon, etc and stunning beaches, i stayed at the olu deniz resort hotel, and its almost on the beach

Emprexia · 27/01/2007 23:09

I'll second the Olu Deniz and Dalyan recommendations. THey are gorgeous areas.

Avoid Kushadasi and Marmaris is the only other thing that needs saying.

bettythebuilder · 28/01/2007 00:27
SturdyAngel · 28/01/2007 11:16

I'll third Olu Deniz- It's gorgeous! It tends to be more expensive than the rest of Turkey but is well worth the money.

If it is too pricey, Hisaronu is very close by and you can catch a bus (Dolmus IIRC) down the hill to Olu Deniz. Hisaronu tends to be much cheaper hotel wise but is still nice and has a restaurant for everyday of the year it seems!!

SturdyAngel · 28/01/2007 11:19

Just read the other post- we went with Thomas cook first time but second time we booked flights and hotels independently- was much cheaper. I can't remember what airline we used... we found a nice hotel on the net, phoned the owner et voila!
The owner was English and asked us to bring some bacon and Heinz beans with us in return for a discount on the room!

CountessDracula · 28/01/2007 17:26

I thought olu deniz was horrific!
SO touristy and crowded and ruined.

Its natural beauty can't be denied though

SturdyAngel · 28/01/2007 19:38

CD- I haven't been for 6 years so you could be right...when did you go? I was hoping to go again with the children but if it is very touristy now I don't think I'll bother.

It was lovely when we went, quiet and the people were so friendly- took about an hour to walk 10 minutes to the beach as we had to go into all the cafes to have a coffee and chat! Dh & I did some paragliding and scuba diving while we were there, and got engaged...ahh fond memories!! Would be so sad to go back and find it changed!

CountessDracula · 28/01/2007 19:45

I was last there about 11 or 12 years ago
Were you there out of high season?

SturdyAngel · 28/01/2007 19:55

We went right at the end of the season. The lagoon was always very busy, we tended to avoid it and went to the main beach, which was virtually empty- apart from the odd mis-judged paraglider landing!

We stayed quite busy, doing paragliding, scuba diving, turkish baths, Pammukale (sp) and Ephesus (sp) So we probably missed most of the day time touristy bit in Olu Deniz, but the evenings were lovely, the owners of the restaurants always came and sat with us for a chat. Would like to go back there but don't want to spoil the memories I have!!

CountessDracula · 28/01/2007 19:58

We only went for an afternoon, we were backpacking round turkey and thought we should see the famous blue lagoon
We legged it out of there on the next bus!

SturdyAngel · 28/01/2007 20:01

I see what you mean- we only went to the Blue Lagoon twice, once very early in the morning when it was lovely but the second time later in the day- it really was wall to wall sunbeds!!

CountessDracula · 28/01/2007 20:07

All that stuff in the hills between there and Fethiye was pretty awful looking too - lots of full english breakfasts to be had

SturdyAngel · 28/01/2007 20:10

Yep, I'll agree with you on that one, the place in Hisaronu we stayed the second time we went, asked us to take english bacon and heinz beans for their "English breakfast from Tesco"!!!

I love the sound of backpacking, what was it like? Not sure if its an option now, with DC but maybe something to think about in the future!!

CountessDracula · 28/01/2007 20:13

very easy in turkey due to excellent bus network and dolmus rides to fill in the gaps.

We stayed in some fab unspoiled places!

noonar · 28/01/2007 20:16

hi. the crystal active beach hotel, in ortakent,( i think )looks fab . it used to be one of simply travel's hotels.