Great trip to southwestern Turkey.
Turkey
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May 5 - May 18, 2026
Zehra was amazing. Very quick to deal with our requests and answer our questions and she kept an open dialogue with us throughout the trip ensuring we had all the contact info on all our guides and drivers.
Our guide Eda in Istanbul was very good. She showed us how to you the transit system and sent us directions for our outings on our free day.
a tip for other travellers - air flights in turkey only allow 15kg checkin whereas international is 23kg. We had to pay extra on every flight.
Pera Palace Hotel was excellent. In Cappadocia, Alan and I were in a small room much Lower Than the rest of our group and little space for our luggage. The 2 at the higher level had separate rooms with fireplaces and plenty of room. We ended up upgrading 2 level and they gave us a complimentary upgrade to be at the same level as our friends. Otherwise you had to wait for golf carts to get back and forth. The room we were given was amazing. Also the pool was heated. The hot air balloon was amazing. I would recommend it to everyone!
Our guide in Antalya, Fatih Babaoglu, wasn't sure what he was supposed to show us until I showed him our writeup. It was a long day visiting the Roman ruins which made a very late lunch.
The boat from Olympos to feithye was a disappointment, partly because it was so rough and cool we weren't really able to swim. We could barely move around the boat when it was moving. We couldn't get into Blue Lagoon. Secondly the food was not great. There was very little protein in the meals so we were hungry sooner. Very basic meals, little variety and desert really only 1 night. Also no power outlets in the cabins so my husband could not use his sleep apnea machine and had to store his insulin at the bar (making it easier for him to forget it). Cabins were extremely small and not well laid out. My husband and I had a double and single in our room so had to crawl over each other to get in and out of the bed.
Bodrum was great. The Marmara Hotel was great and the views awesome. It would have been great to have had a heated pool as it was chilly. As it was up in the mountain we needed a taxi to get back up but it wasn't too expensive.
We really needed a full day in Pamukkale . It had some amazing sites but we didn't arrive til around 1pm and had to get lunch before we toured the main attractions. We ended up taking a golf cart to see the Roman ruins (which I think might be the best way as they are really spread out). We would have liked to have gone in the Cleopatra pool as it was open again but we didn't have time and we couldn't go in the limestone laden springs as it was too slippy. It was still wonderful to see. The Richmond Pamukkale Thermal Pool was not up to the standard of the rest of the hotels on our tour. It was a very worn resort hotel and catered to huge groups. Even the dinner wasn't great - too crowded too many people and buffet style!
Hotel Reviews
beautiful central hotel
Beautiful location but isolated!
Room was adequate.
Beautiful hotel. Beautiful views but very isolated. Pool not heated.
it was set up for large groups of tourists. Not our style. The pool wasn't heated. lightbulb needed replace and a napkin stuffed in the smoke detector. Maintenance took a photo of it but didn't remove.
Activity Reviews
there wasn't that much for us to see and it was too rough when we were moving and food wasn't great.
Long drive, short time for seeing the attractions of Pamukkale
Just amazing - all the rock formations, how the people carved them out and lived in them and the hot air balloon.
Long walk in the hot sun!
