Palm Wings Beach Resort Kusadasi

Stayed here to celebrate our wedding anniversary in September - my first visit to Turkey. Booked a swim up room, and so pleased we did, as it gave us some peace and quiet away from the main pool, which was very loud and noisy. Food was fine - bit of a ‘miss match’ some of the time, and sometimes it could be difficult to find things to go together, but there was always something to eat. We ate a couple of times in the Al la Carte, and enjoyed this much better - it had a far better ambiance, as we found the main dining room very busy, noisy and full of people who seemed to think they were the priority for everything! The Staff in this hotel are delightful and very tolerant of some of the other guests who were very rude and demanding. The Hotel is spotlessly clean; the public areas were constantly being cleaned from day to night! We didn’t go to the entertainment as it’s not really our kind of thing, however we did hear it and it seemed to cater more for the Russian guests on the whole, I usually really enjoy holidaying with people from other countries, however on this occasion we found the majority of the other guests unfriendly - totally ignoring any attempts at a ‘good morning’ nod etc. None of this however is the hotels fault, and it is a nice hotel - maybe we just picked a bad week to go. The location was a little isolated - not much around to stroll to on an evening if you wanted a change of scene and a taste of local life.

I wanted to give the Palm wings beach resort and spa about 2 or 3 stars, but to be honest, the food served at the 'A la carte restaurant' (located upstairs, which is not part of the free food served downstairs) was amazing and the level of service that Hikmet the chef provided honestly changed a disastrous holiday into a bearable and enjoyable one. This is why I have added the extra stars. Hikmet is a brilliant chef and his food is top quality! He made amazing 3-course meals that you would find in top restaurants in London and it's very affordable and it was so fresh. If it wasn't for the a la carte restaurants and Hikmets food, I would have been starving! The actual resort itself (minus Hikemt), I found the free food at the resort to be diabolical at best (the quality of food provided was so cheap and it was obvious, especially when you went into the city to find food outside of the resort), this put a downer on the experience as food is a big part of being on holiday. The gym is terribly small, with barely any equipment or space to workout. The spa could be improved, the massage therapists are very good and the sauna is nice (I found the facials and other services in the spa are below par). Hardly any of the staff speak English which is a major inconvenience, saying this, however, the beach is very nice and is kept clean daily, there are lots for children to do and the sun improves everything. Definitely make sure you go out into the city of Kusadasi and go to the shops and try the food. Also, do make sure you try out the A la carte restaurant because it tops the holiday!