Hotel Aqua

Went to this hotel as a honeymoon. Had never been to Turkey before but it was amazing and am definitely going back again. The hotel itself was very nice for a relaxing holiday. Everywhere is very well maintained and clean and the food is amazing, never known such good food on a holiday and I have been to a few different places. The only way I can really explain the size of the room is it is like a nice premier inn but with a balcony. There is a TV in the room, not that we watched it and when we arrived they had left us a basket of fruit and a small bottle of wine to congratulate us on our wedding. There is also a kettle and tea/coffee facilities plus a daily restocked minibar. We only used the Italian al a cart but it was lovely...a six course meal and excellent service. There is a waffle and ice cream bar next to the pool that we visited daily and it was delicious. Throughout the hotel the staff are all very friendly and willing to help no matter what. For example, we arrived at 3 am and were offered cold food, admittedly it wasn't to our liking but it was a nice gesture, we also could not get into our luggage at 3 am as the lock had been broken and they had a handyman come to us within minutes to sort this free of charge. There is a small shop that is in the lobby area which sells essentials and we found the pricing to be reasonable in here. The hotel is literally meters away from a private beach (only about 100m long but never over busy). The sand is quite grainy and in the sea quite stoney. There are also water sports available on the beach. The nearest place which you can get a boat taxi for 20 tl each to is Marmaris. It is about a half hour boat ride but the scenery is lovely on the way and you go past the dolphin arena. I will admit Marmaris was not to my liking it was a little busy for us and the only way I can really explain it is it was like a hot Blackpool but without the attractions. We realised the next day that there were the exact same things (shops and restaurants, etc) just behind the hotel within walking distance, just on a smaller scale and much nicer. Mr cheap is the shop to go to if you want cheap ok quality clothes, there is one near to the hotel and reasonable prices too. While there we swam with dolphins, we payed 20 tl for a taxi to get there then realised it was only a nice half hour walk back along the beach. I booked online the night before for 5pm the next day and it cost £72 for half an hour but was an amazing experience. It was just me and a family of 3 in the water. Just be careful if you do it this way as there was about a 3 day wait for different times of the day. We also went to turtle beach which we booked through the stall just outside the beach. It cost about £17 each but this included a lunch and a mud bath within the trip. The trip was amazing too, we went on a big boat for 2 hours to turtle beach (just watch as they sell everything (drinks, crisps, ice cream) for 10 tl and do it as a tab that you pay at the end on the boat...we took our own water for the 2 hours there and found the smaller boats really well priced so stocked up before getting on the big boat back), after the big boat they transferred us to smaller boats (language allocated) which took us first to the beach and then through the grassy waters to the mud bath and to see the tombs. (The beach was fine golden sand with fresh water one side and sea water the other...it was beautiful) We spent an hour on the beach which was the best I've ever seen and then went through the fresh water looking at the huge turtles and on to the mud bath and tombs before returning back to the big boat at 4.30 for the 2 hour journey back. It was a long day but well worth doing. The one and only thing I would say be careful of about Turkey itself is that at the duty free part of the airport they lie and tell you you can take much more tobacco/fags back to England with you than you are allowed. There is also a macdonalds KFC and burger king there which after a long day was well needed. We flew from Dalaman airport. The transfer time is 1 half hours from the airport to the hotel which felt longer when tired but if you are going to Icmeler it is well worth looking into getting a taxi when at the airport as we found that this is only 240 tl each way so not much more than we paid for a shuttle which took longer.

stayed for 2 weeks end of July early August 2018 and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. I fully agree with all other reviews about hotel cleanliness , excellent staff in all area's , entertainment and location. As all hotels marketed as 5 star you could always pick out niggly things that could be improved on but the fact that so many people have or would return shows the hotel leaves a positive memory for most. The position of the pool to the hotel building means that even through enough beds are available by the pool the ones in sun all day go quickly. There is room to extend the pool towards the beach by using the unused grass area which would be one way of improving this. Here are few tips if you are visiting soon for 1st time. 1 exchange in resort currenty 6.60 to pound in locall bars or exchange office so change over here. 2 trips very cheap and easy to book in resort with all offering roughly the same price so shop around before booking through rep. 3 highly recommend private transfer. if you do nor book before you travel you can book your return at hotel reception for about £35 and our return only took just over an hour in a private spacious mini bus decked out with leather seats, tv , air con and fridge. 4 hotel jewellery very reliable and no hassle with lovely staff ang good prices. 5 hotel breakfast finishes very early so if you or want a change local restaurants do a full english for about a pound or the florida bar is 5tl about 70p.and very good. 6 a number of local restaurants doing good value meals and local entertainment only the way the Turks can to make a change as hotel food good quality but quite repetitive. 6 The local shops are very good value for all the fake cloths , shoes, bags so dead easy and cheap to find gifts to take home but be aware that they are red hot on weight at airport and Thomascook were even weighing in hand luggage max 6kg and charging loads if over so see rep and pay for extra weight before you leave. 7 airport is very expensive. spend as little time as possible in departure lounge all in all we loved the resort, weather, local people extremely friendly, other hotel guests very friendly giving hotel a lovely atmosphere and would stay at the Aqua again .