Juliekl

I will be travelling through Turkey in June with my husband and our 4 year old son. We are planning 4-5 nights in Istanbul, 3-4 nights in Capadoccia, and then want to treat ourselves to 5 nights relaxing on the beach in a luxury hotel. I'm confident in planning the Istanbul and Capadoccia aspects of our trip, but need help choosing a beach resort. We'd like a 5* resort with a wonderful kids club and I don't want to be fighting for a chaise lounge each day. I'm considering Mardan Palace but would be grateful for other suggestions. Thank you!

otherchelebi

Although it is not as luxurious as Mardan Palace, we were always very happy at Club Med Palmiye at Kemer, to the West of Antalya.

When our children were younger, you would leave them at the mini club at 9 AM, picked them at about 5PM for a wash and change, and left them again for dinner and and show preparation. Then they would bring the kids to your table during or after your dinner, at about 9PM, after which you would both go to the dancing and the show, where the child would socialize, throwing away any possible inhibitions.

It has a hotel, and bungalows, with the best open buffet of any holiday village we have visited, at both sides of the grounds, with also two pools. Huge grounds and a long but unfortunately pebbly beach. Pleasantly landscaped and cared.
Some a la carte restaurants. area with lounge on the lawns with piped classical music. Entertainment coulsd be very good depending on the crew that year. Excellent sports facilities.

When our kids were little, Belek had not been developed and there were no super luxurious resorts like mardan which is said to be a seven star facility. belek nowadays have other hotels which get good reviews. Also Lara area of antalya has a few.

But the coast from Beldibi to tekirova, to the East of Antalya where there are three club Meds, with Palmiye being the more upscale and with the better mini club, is much more beautiful in terms of scenery, the high pine forested mountains coming straight to the coast and nicer for short boat cruises to bays like Phaeselis which has the ruins of a partially sunken city.

Other facilities we tried were Kiris World, further East of Kemer, and Lykia World, in Fethiye. The miniclubs were nothing to rave about in either place and you had to be involved most of the time. Kiris had a nice sandy beach and Lykia World had an extensive childrens wet play area with a pirate team. However, the Lykia play area pools are mostly in the shade of beautiful trees, and although pleasant to look at, has very cold water even in June.

Another nice resort that we know is Hillside Beach Club at Fethiye, but it has a smaller beach and i do not know if they have any kids club.

cavergirl

We stayed at the Four Seasons in Istanbul and Esbelli Evi in Cappadocia and wanted a 5* resort on the coast. We did not find any 5* resorts but stayed at Villa Mahal in Kalkan. The location was central to seeing the sights and the views of the bay and sunsets were spectacular. You might want to check them out. Here is the website info www.villamahal.com or [email protected].

cavergirl

PS - I do not know if they have a kids club but we had loungers right outside our unit that we could use in addition to the poolside loungers next to an infinity pool. The place is built on a hillside and was terraced rather than a huge highrise. It felt very boutique-like. The restaurant was on a roof top and again offered lovely views.

otherchelebi

Villa Mahal is an excellent boutique hotel, for a honeymoon or a romantic getaway. Has nothing for children and a would be a nightmare for parents because of unprotected terraces, steps, swimming from platforms on rocks, the exposure to the hot sun of Kalkan. it has less than twenty rooms, most of which are tastefully and quite privately placed and furnished, but, even for, a romance holiday, you would need a car to stay there. (I have very nice memories of this hotel, although i discovered the heart condition which lead to my operation, while in Villa Mahal, when i was trying to climb up and down the steps to the seaside)

Juliekl

Thank you for your suggestions. Will look into Club Med...

reets

Not an expert on 5* hotels but I can recommend Royal Wings Hotel Lara Beach Antalya. Its only 25 mins from the airport beautiful gardens a childrens playground with water park roundabouts train etc even a wave pool! The hotel is comfortable and spacious a choice of 5 ala carte restaurants but to be honest the food in the main restaurant was so fantastic we only went to 2 of the a la carte. I have never had such a big variety of very good food and you can eat all day and most of the night. The patisserie has cakes and biscuits to die for. The hotel has gardens and pools right down to the beach and there are plenty of areas to sit out. We visited in Feb so some of the facilities werent open but to again be honest they couldnt have given us more than we had. The hotel was spotlessly clean and the staff extremely helpful we had all inclusive tariff and even had table service in the bar. The wines in the restaurant were good and cocktails were included in the deal!!!!