I booked a holiday to Turkey through Goldtrail travel for me and my boyfriend. It was cheap and there was a good choice of hotels, which were described to me as basic but that appeared to have everything we needed. The flight was not due to arrive in Turkey until 3.55am their time, so that wasn't brilliant, but I figured you have to make some sacrifices when you're not paying that much.
The flight was delayed by 2 and a half hours which meant we didn't arrive in Turkey until well into the morning, but Onur Air were great once onboard - the inflight meal was actually edible (and might I say quite nice!!), and free drinks were bought around a couple of times. The transfer at the airport was painless, and we set off for the hotel relatively quickly once we had arrived and sorted out visas.
When we arrived at the hotel Palmiye it turned out that they didn't have enough rooms for everyone and another couple and us were moved to a German hotel across the street. This was quite a big deal for us at the time as we hadn't had any sleep for a long time, were annoyed at the relaxed attitude towards the inconvenience, and not that impressed when arriving at the German hotel to find the shower in our room didn't work and nobody spoke English. Once we'd had some sleep we'd got over being annoyed, but if something like this is going to ruin the holiday for you then be aware that it may happen.
But, it wasn't all bad. In 2 days we moved back to the Palmiye hotel which had nice, good sized rooms, and a lovely pool. The food was quite fast-food like with pizzas and burgers, but there were plenty of other places to eat if you wanted a change, and the hotel did run two entertainment nights with buffets of food that was lovely.
You had to pay extra for air-conditioning, but we were comfortable without it, leaving the balcony door open instead. You also have to pay extra for a safety deposit box (located in reception) which we did due to leaving our balcony door open all the time, but this worked out at £1 a day and was reasonable.
The nearest town to the hotel is Side which is lovely, with an amphitheatre and plenty of history and ruins to look at. I don't recommend paying to go into the museum, but it is definitely worth going into the amphitheatre, especially at night. The town is within walking distance from the hotel and although it takes about 15-20 minutes it's a nice walk. There is also a bus that runs. A free bus service is provided by the hotel to take you to and from the beach if you wish.
Towels and sheets were not changed often - we couldn't decide if they had been changed at all in the week, but we didn't feel this was unreasonable although some guests did. It is a basic holiday - you get everything you need, but don't expect luxury because you don't get that! But overall we had a great time at a great price and I'd definitely go back.
No delay on the transfers or flights home.
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Oct 18th, 2006
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