Turkey Hotels

Other Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

Cordial House Hotel: A place to stay in Sultanahmet

by LetGoLetFlow

I spent a couple of days and a night in Cordial. It was through PASIFIK agency. I was grateful for the service i received. The moment i arrived, i was warmly welcomed and guided into my room. I was all by myself but was given a room w/ a couple of bed and a bathroom. It was clean and perfect for budget travelers. They've got a wifi zone lobby, a couple of desktop for internet access, and very helpful staffs.

I really recommend this Hotel for its perfect location in the old town of Sultanahmet. walking distance to the historical places.

Golden Day Hotel: Great Accommodation

by poppy6488

I travelled solo to Turkey (2011) and opted for this hotel as it was far enough out of the centre without being remote. It had had a complete refurbishment done that winter and was faultless. I found the (predominantly male) staff to be extermely efficient and helpful, and alway friendly but never over familiar. I had been given a standard room, but after having a little problem with the power supply to my shower, the manager personally showed me to a triple room! I was very impressed. It was spacious and comfortable with a large balcony. It must have been very well insulated, as with the sliding doors closed I could not hear anything of the outdoor entertainment. Breakfast was fairly typical with the ususal choice of continental fayre. The pool was large and plenty of seating, shade and sunbeds were available. The raised terrace overlooking the area was useful if you didn't want to be too close to the poolside entertainment and splashing participants. There was spa/turkish baths facilities but I didn't avail of them, preferring to find an authentic one in the old town. I found the stroll of about 1km to be far enough during the heat of the day, and caught a dolmus back several times. I would be happy to rate it an extra star.

Wonderful sea views from all the rooms and the sight of the large cruise liners entering the harbour in the distance seemed very exotic.

Various types to suit various budgets

by vpas

Turkey has a variety of accommodations to suit your budget and tastes. There are high end hotels and small boutique style hotels, inns, guest houses, hostels and dorms. You can choose from any of these.
Be aware that in Istanbul room sizes tend to be small. However most of them are clean and comfortable.

Club Virgin Bodrum: Hotel with Best view of Bodrum

by Designerartgirl

Bodrum Club Virgin is one of the most picturesque hotels i have ever stayed in. It is built on top and down the side of a large hill separating Bodrum and Gumbet, giving you the most stunning views of Bodrum Castle to one side, the greek island of Kos, on the other.

Although the accommodation was not up to scratch in terms of finish (room was made a bit quickly - bit too DIY in style) we had a beautiful ocean view room and the air con was working. something which you tend to pay extra for in most hotels. it had a fridge, was cleaned each day and had some english tv channels. And what else do you really need when you are on holiday with a loved one?

Staff there were all very very friendly, even if some of them lacked English but they made up for it with enthusiasm and an eagerness to please. Some particular ones to mention are Speedy. He lived up to his name in all ways possible.

Great Views
Great members of staff
good facilities - multiple bars, a disco most nights, canoeing, diving, snorkelling, sunbeds on both a beach and by pool
Very large buffet dinner
Contains a Spa although i did not use it so i cant comment on it.
Child Free - for all those couples out there wanting a romantic escape.
out of main town area - so very quiet but both Gumbet and Bodrum are easily reached walking (if you are reasonably fit) or a frequent bus

2 star or 4 star?: What do those stars tell you?

by TheWanderingCamel

Having recently travelled around Turkey - Istanbul, the Aegean coast and Eastern Anatolia - and stayed in a wide variety of hotels along the way, it's been an interesting exercise to look at the reviews others have written about some of these hotels. What is very noticeable is how often people question the star rating of the places they have stayed, the most common complaint being 4 star hotels that fail to live up to their expectations.

Photo: One of these has 4 stars

Four star to most people means very high standards of cleanliness, comfort and efficiency as well as decor, food and service. A good location is also part of the equation. It doesn't quite work that way in Turkey where hotel star ratings are based on the facilities and amenities provided. The more amenities a hotel provides, the higher the star rating. How they are delivered doesn't come into it - so a run-down place with shabby decor and surly staff that has a mini-bar and hair-dryer in every room, wifi (even if it doesn't work), airconditioning (maybe noisy and stuck on freezing), a swimming pool (full of leaves), fitness room (2 bent bycycles and an ancient weights machine) and a lift that fits 1 person and half a suitcase will get more stars than a spotlessly clean hotel run with smiling efficiency by a staff who will cheerfully carry your bags up the stairs for you and squeeze fresh orange juice every morning rather than set out dispensers of reconstituted powdered juice but can't give you a hairdryer or an provide overpriced can of Coke from a fridge in the corner.

So how do you choose? The website shows photos that look great, you've read the reviews on Trip Advisor, booking.com and perhaps a whole host of other booking sites. Can you believe them? Not always.

Word of mouth and recommendations from people you have a connection with is always best but if that's not possible, I'd check out guide books and VT first, then take a look at Trip Advisor and maybe a hotel booking site.

This is not critique of hotel prices per se but more a note about how the hotel rating system works in Turkey (and some other countries), just one example of how we shouldn't assume that what we take as the norm is going to be the norm in another country.

This review compares two Istabul hotels we stayed in during the first week of our Turkey tour. We booked ourselves into the 3* Sebnem and paid 90 euro a night for a standard double room for the days we spent in the city prior to the start of our tour.. Our stay at the 4* Arcadia was part of the organised tour and I have no doubt there was a discount for a group booking but had we booked ourselves the rate would have been 140 euro. Read the review and decide for yourself which hotel gave the best value and whether the star rating system is a reliable guide.

A private home in Orselli: No Trip Advisor or booking.com here

by TheWanderingCamel

Photo:
1. Orselli night
2. Making new friends
3. Dinner's over
4. Orselli dawn
5. Breakfast

Hotels come in all styles and sizes, offering a whole range of experiences, but one thing never changes - the guest is always on one side of the reception desk, the staff are on the other. A real highlight of our Turkey trip was the chance to step around that desk and spend a night with a Turkish village family. The village was Orselli, way off the well beaten tourist track between Behramkale and Bergama (Hellenic Assos and Pergamon) in Western Anatolia, and we were there as guests of the village's carpet weavers of the DOBAG project.

Our tour was organized by the Australian representatives of the project, a great couple who have been travelling to Turkey for 15 years now, during which time they have become real friends with the Orselli weavers and time spent in this village (and others) is always an integral part of their annual tours.

We arrived in the late afternoon, with time for tea, to meet family and friends and take a stroll around the village before dinner which we ate sitting on the ground on a terrace spread with Dobag rugs. Dinner over, the dishes washed and put away, it was time for bed - village life means early to bed and early to rise. Where were we to sleep? The options were in the house, in the rug storage room or on the terrace, under the oak trees and the stars. We all chose the last option.

Bed rolls, sheets, pillows and blankets were brought up from the rug room and spread out on the rugs. One by one we made our way down the path to the little wash-house and then it was time to crawl in between the sheets and snuggle down for the night. We all slept the sleep of the dead, only waking as dawn began to break, filling the sky with a gorgeous peachy light. Much wriggling and twisting ensued as we dressed, staying under our bedding to do so to preserve the sensibilities of our hosts as much as our own modesty.

Bedding all put away, it was time for breakfast before setting off to meet more of the village women in their homes, watching and learning about their weaving as we went. A visit to the school and then it was time to move on.

Of course we're not the only people the village plays host to in this way, but everyone who comes does so through some contact with the DOBAG project. I know there's a Norwegian company that regularly arranges a tour that visits Orselli. There may of course be others in other countries.

Orselli is the centre of one of two DOBAG cooperatives, the other is in Avyacik. It is possible to contact both groups and arrange a visit though I don't know whether an overnight stay is an option in this case.

Savon, Antakya (Hatay): Savvy Savon

by TheWanderingCamel

Photos:
1. Pretty entrance
2. Standard rooms
3. Courtyard tables
4. Love those arches
5. Street frontage

Converting a 19th century soap factory near Hatay's souk into a smart and comfortable boutique hotel has created a great addition to the city's hotel scene. The rooms are on a par with 4* hotels anywhere (and about as distinctive) but the public areas of the foyer and lounges are lovely- big, stone vaulted spaces furnished with plush seating and elegant antiques, creating a sophistcated, stylish look that is matched by the efficient service and the quality stock in the small gift shop. Most of the usual 4* amenities are available, though if, like us, you're only there for a night, the only ones you're likely to be interested in are the internet (free Wifi), television (some English language channels), airconditioning and heating (we needed neither in September so I can't say) and breakfast (room service available but we chose the courtyard).

For once we didn't eat dinner in the hotel but the bougainvillea-bedecked courtyard was a great place to take breakfast, chosen from the buffet laid out in the restaurant. No surprises in the breakfast but everything was very fresh - yoghurt, breads, fruit, cheese, tomatoes, etc with eggs cooked to order.

Our room had a window overlooking the courtyard, others in our group scored a room with only a skylight - such are the hazards of converting old buildings.

Our stay at the Savon was a Sunday, and it was blissfully quiet inside the courtyard walls. I think I would be wary of staying there on a Saturday night - something tells me this place is a favourite wedding venue - and, in Turkey that means loud and long. If you're on an itinerary that brings you to Antakya on a Saturday night - pack some earplugs.

The hotel is located in a quite interesting part of the old town, near the souk, but a fair walk from other places of interest such as the museum and the Habib-i-Neccar mosque. St Peter's church is a taxi or bus ride away.

Zeus Hotel, Kahta: As near as it gets

by TheWanderingCamel

Photos:
1.Zeus Hotel's garden setting
2. Good sized rooms
3. Anyone for a dip?
4. Can't miss that sign
5. King Antiochus and Zeus

Spectacular, unique - and very remote - the pantheon of extraordinary statues of gods and an obscure 1st century BC Anatolian king lined up on two terraces high on a mountain top (Nemrut Dag) make any journey, detour or backtracking needed to see them worth every bit of the effort. And if you want to stay as close to the mountain as possible, then Kahta is where you should head for, and the Zeus Hotel may well be where you end up.

The hotel is well geared towards the needs of visitors planning to reach the terraces at either sunset or sunrise. As ours was to be a sunset visit, we arrived at midday, stayed one night and left early next morning. During that time, the hotel provided us with a light lunch, somewhere to relax for a couple of hours before setting off for the mountain, an ample and well-cooked buffet dinner on our return, satisfactory bed- and bathrooms for a quiet night's rest and a breakfast sufficient to our needs before we went on our way. The staff were both friendly and helpful and we came away quite satisfied with the service and facilities provided.

Most people who come to Kahta come to see Mt Nemrut, they stay one night and they move on. The Zeus Hotel, with its sixty-six large, simply furnished rooms, free internet, green gardens, well-kept swimming pool, covered terrace and friendly staff, caters very well for such visitors. Needless to say, it is popular with groups and must, at times, get quite busy. Our visit, late in September 2011, was right towards the end of the season, and there was only one other small group staying there. They arrived late in the afternoon and were planning an sunrise trek up to the statues - in late September that would probably mean a 4.00am departure from the hotel ... I'm happy to say I was sound asleep at that time, some of the hotel staff wouldn't have been so lucky.

Dedeman Hotel, Sanliurfa: Ancient city, modern hotel

by TheWanderingCamel

Photos
1. Spacious room
2. Decent shower
3 & 4. Views from the 7th floor
5. Don't miss the museum

Sanliurfa's Dedeman Hotel was exactly what we expected from this Turkish chain. Big, modern, clean, efficient, comfortable .... and rather bland ... but after a couple of nights in, albeit wonderfully atmospheric, hotels fitted into the great stone walls, small rooms and idiosynchratic plumbing of mediaeval caravanserai conversions, even bland was an acceptable tradeoff for the comforts of a kingsize bed and a decent shower.

In just a two night stay, with such a lot to see and during the day, we didn't take advantage of the gym, the swimming pool, the sauna, the hammam, the barber or the babysitting service, but the wifi worked, the laundry came back on time, our room provided the wherewithal to make tea and coffee, the TV had a good range of English language channels and if there was any noise from the hospital over the road we certainly didn't hear it once our heads hit the pillows.

The hotel's location, a fair way from the city's old heart, and the tour arrangement of evening meals being taken in the hotel, meant that, yet again, once we had returned to the hotel for the evening, we stayed there. Hotel dining wasn't anything wonderful but our Sanliurfa lunches were more than satisfactory, so that was OK but anyone looking for a livelier night-time scene (other than the hotel's own nightclub) might well prefer to stay somewhere more central.

Would I stay in this hotel again, or recommend it to others? Probably not, not because there was anything wrong with it, and I have no idea of what other hotels Sanliurfa has to offer, but I'm sure anyone travelling independently would prefer to stay in a more interesting part of the city. If you're on a tour, unless you're the organiser, you're not going to have any choice anyhow.

If this hotel has one thing to recommend it over any other in Sanliurfa, it's its proximity to the city's museum, just 5 minute's walk down the hill. Nicely laid out, and with a charming garden lapidarium, it's not a huge museum, and variations of most of its artifacts can be seen in provincial museums all over the country but it holds one of the most extraordinary finds that have been made in all Turkey. We chanced upon it while taking a late afternoon stroll around the neighborhood; had we stayed in a more central hotel, I'm quite sure we would have missed it - everybody else on our tour did, and I would think that's the case with most tour groups.

Otel Artuklu Kervanserayi, Mardin: What a wonderful building!

by TheWanderingCamel

Photos:
1. Restored and refurbished
2. A bed fit for a King
3. Somewhere to sit
4. Some rooms are small
5. Ancient stones

800 years old in parts, built of golden stone carved and decorated with the skill that has made Mardin's stonecarvers famous all over Turkey - an absolute maze of bedrooms, sitting rooms, passageways, winding stairs, sheltered balconies and terraces - you could easily get lost in this fantastic building. Anything less like a modern hotel with scores, if not hundreds of identical rooms leading off long straight corridors would be hard to imagine.

So what if our room was small, the bathroom even smaller, the bedroom decor looked like something dreamed up by a dotty maiden aunt with designer delusions. The bed was comfortable, the sheets crisp and clean, the bathroom produced enough hot water for a shower and a decent towel to dry off with - for a single night, that was all we needed.

The half-board arrangement of our tour booking included a multi-course dinner of lots of the old favourites we'd encountered pretty well all the way around Turkey and the by-now-standard breakfast buffet, both served in the cavernous vaulted dining room. A large , well-furnished balcony was the ideal spot for after-dinner tea and chat on a balmy evening.

As is so often the case with conversions of buildings such as this, the constraints of hugely thick stone walls and mediaeval building techniques mean the finished hotel is most unlikely to rival modern, purpose-built hotels in comfort and convenience. The newly-opened Hilton on the outskirts of Mardin will probably suit some travellers far more than the idiosynchratic Kervanserai but if I should ever return to Mardin, it's the Kervanserai that would get my booking.

The hotel's location, next to a Shi'ite shrine, means no alcohol may be served in the public areas of the hotel but one of our group was celebrating a significant birthday the night we were in Mardin, and we wanted to celebrate with him. On hearing of this, the hotel moved him and his wife into one of their best rooms - known as the King's Room in honour of a visit the Prince of Wales paid to Mardin in 2004. It's a lovely room - quite grand, very spacious, furnished with antiques and with a large Turkish-style seating alcove (like a very big day bed) - just the place for a party. They also produced a spectacular birthday cake to round the evening off.

Mardin is a small, provincial city in the far south-eastern reaches of the country. Tourists are only recently beginning to return to the area after many years of terrorist activity turned this part of Turkey into a no-go zone and some tourist facilities here and throughout Eastern Anatolia may lag behind the standards on offer elsewhere in Turkey as a result. This will change but for now, visitors may find some aspects of their tour through the region not as polished as they might have expected. By my reckoning, any such niggles are more than compensated for by the fabulous sites and sights the region has to offer and anyone travelling there now, with all the pleasures unspoilt and uncrowded places have to offer, can count themselves very fortunate.

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Other Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

Cordial House Hotel: A place to stay in Sultanahmet

Golden Day Hotel: Great Accommodation

Various types to suit various budgets

Club Virgin Bodrum: Hotel with Best view of Bodrum

2 star or 4 star?: What do those stars tell you?

A private home in Orselli: No Trip Advisor or booking.com here

Savon, Antakya (Hatay): Savvy Savon

Zeus Hotel, Kahta: As near as it gets

Dedeman Hotel, Sanliurfa: Ancient city, modern hotel

Otel Artuklu Kervanserayi, Mardin: What a wonderful building!

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