Myself and my boyfriend went to this hotel last septmeber/beginning of October. We stayed for a week and travelled with first choice. Having had a bad experience the year before with Thomas cook, and having read some of the reviews were a little nervous. However we didnt need to worry as the hotel was fantastic.
We had a very speedy transfer, only taking 20 minutes, on arrival at the hotel (about 2am) we were checked in very quickly and showed to our room. Make sure you have some change with you as the night porter will not go away until you have tipped. We made this mistake and the boy actually wedged his foot in the door! it's not rude, it is what they are use to.
The rooms are ok. We had a fairly big room. Unfortunatly we were stuck with twin beds that arent the most comftable in the world. In all the room was very clean, with our bed's made daily and fresh towels. We had a balcony and the room was very quiet. It was also a good distance from the pool and main reception, so we never had to walk very far.
The food was fantastic, there was always something new to eat and you never went hungry. Unfortunatly I am allergic to peanuts and had an allergic reaction to the homus. so please be careful! other then that food was fab and you could eat whatever you wanted. We also dined at the asian restaurant and the turkish. Both restaurants were freezing as there air-con was on too much, but again food was good and service fantastic. Dont forget to check out the pancake lady, the pancakes are delicious and are a great afternoon snack. some people are very greedy and take so much, dont forget to say thank you!
We spent alot of time at the chill out bar and had some lovely cocktails, although all spirts are free poor and the vodka was very strong!
We also booked in for a turkish bath with the rep until we realised that they take you off site to somewhere else. There is a perfectly good beauty salon in the hotel, run by locals and is about £5 cheaper. They are fantastic we even got a free facial. The staff did such a good job, and i have never felt so relaxed and clean! We then booked in for a full body massage the day before we left, just to make sure we were really relaxed! it was amazing, we had our massages together which i would recommend as my 'male' massuse seemed to become a bit excited!
We also booked in for a boat ride and to explore the sea, we were taken by some local lads to a cove which had amazing sea caves and the water was so clear that you could see the sea bed. We were allowed to get out of the boat and swim in the sea or jump from the rocks. We were then taken on to see rabbit island, which was a little disappointing as we only saw 1 rabbit! we then stopped again where everyone could do some snorkelling or swimming. This was again booked with one of the guys around the pool, not through the reps as these were so expensive! please use the locals as they dont earn much money and the reps are a complete rip off.
On the sunday we went into the local town, which is about a 20 minute walk to experience the market, and what an experience it was! we got down there at about 10am as we thought it was a morning market, this was a bit of a mistake as we were one of the first people here. My advice is dont get into a conversation with the sellers and keep your head down and be firm! My boyfriend got talked into buying a belt that he didnt want! The locals are very charming but they wont let you leave until you buy something. We got some excellent deals and the fakes are very good, and dont forget to haggle!
For us the town was a bit too quiet. we like the option to go out for dinner or drinks if we want to, but there was no where really to go. However the seafood restaurant is worth a visit. stay away from the dolphin bar, the cocktails are horrible and taste exactly the same and look like WKD, I couldnt drink mine as it was so sugary.
We wern't told by first choice that the hotel provided beach towels. So we ended up taking our own which was a waste of weight and space in our suitcases. You really dont need your own towel as they give you a clean swimming towel whenever you need it. We didnt have a problem with the sunbeds as the hotel was much quieter when we went, but we did still go and put our towels down before we went for breakfast as we did find a really good spot which had the sun all day.
Dont change up your money in the uk, do it when you get there, we changed up our money at the newsagent in the town. The guy who runs it, speaks fantastic english and is really helpful and we got a good deal, also the hotel will change it up for you as well. You get a much better exchange rate in turkey then you do in the uk. I think we got 2.90 to the £1.
In total, this holiday was fantastic. I wouldnt go back as I dont like to go to the same place twice, but I will definatly will be using first choice again and have just booked to go to egypt this year with them. Please dont pay too much attention to the bad reviews, its usually by people who cannot be pleased. The holiday is what you make it, but the hotel is fantastic and the weather was amazing. would recommened this holiday to anyone.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
