Julian Forest Apartments

More negative points than positive, most to do with the kind of the guest this hotel attracts and its attempt to please them.
The resort is far enough away from the centre to keep you dashing back and forth on dolmus', but Icmeler is like Blackpool anyway so I wouldn't bother! I'm not a rude person but by the end of two weeks of continual hassle I just couldn't be bothered with trying to be polite to overbearing waiters standing outside their restaurants. If you like sausage, egg and chips you'll love Icmeler. The beach is dirty, water cloudy and diesel filled and no toilets unless you sell your soul to the waiter opposite. Don't expect to feel or see any "real" Turkey, you could be bck at home with the amount of Union Flags flying.
The accommodation at the Julian Forest is well above that found in other holiday destinations, the maids do a quick tidy and empty your loo paper bucket daily and linen and towels are changed every other day. Kitchen utensils are a bit sparce for cooking but OK, however the fridge is tiny and hardly fits all the juice and water you will use. The soundproofing between rooms is not up to standard and you will hear every squeak of chairs, bed etc being moved. If you are unlucky enough to find your neighbours prefer to party all night and sleep all day -tough! reception will shrug their shoulders.
The entertainment team are very likeable, but their choice of ear splitting music played from 10-5 is repetitive and more suitable for a club, don't expect radio edit lyrics your kids will hear full versions of eminem and 50cent songs. As previously pointed out by another guest there is no escape from this barrage of sound. At 5pm happy hour begins when the music stops and is replaced by the top volume of a 42" plasma in the bar...great! This will go on till 1am minimum.
Expect to feel milked! Flexi dine, massages, tatoos, hairdressing, manicures and pedicures are seriously pressured by all staff around the pool, changeover day is like a feeding frenzy with everybody fighting over possible commision. There are rules everywhere, but don't expect anyone including the staff to pay any attention to them. These include glass at the pool, numerous people smashed glasses and instead of getting plastic next time the waiters swept up the glass and gave them a new one! Needless to say none of the people had barefoot kids with them. The no cash system is entirely suspect, waiters are reluctant to give you a receipt, probably as tips can be applied to your account at the till without you knowing.
The food is terrible, mass cooked and mostly buffet style in the evenings if you choose to stay in and watch the bizarre and terrible entertainment, awful I've seen better at school plays. The kids were bored silly, apart from the water slides(open limited hours) there is little for them to do there is no play park or even any grass at all at the hotel. The one saving grace was the kids club organiser, she was a Godsend who made the biggest effort to ensure all these bored kids had a good time.
Prepare to get up early, if you haven't bagged a bed before 8am, don't expect to get one. The Julian Forest is popular with very large families (12+ groups) who take over whole areas of the hotel, pool and bar for their own. Just because they've got a lot of adults with their children, don't expect them to be supervised. Bombing swimmers seems to be the new sport, encouraged by drunken parents. Actually, don't expect to be able to swim anyway, at one point I counted 13 lilo's, 7 large rubber rings, 3 games of water polo and a frisbee in the pool, it looks like a shop.
4/10 purely for the accommodation, maids and kids club, otherwise ruined by badly behaved "Brits abroad" and greedy staff encouraging their behaviour for extra tips. Would not recommend or visit again.

1 reader found this review helpful

Had a great time here. Yes, the apartment is far from the main town but u can catch the dolmus bus which runs every few mins and can get there in 5-10mins. We walked on 1 occasion, it took us 30mins. If u want to walk, the best time to go is in the early evening, not so hot then. dolmus runs until 1am
The hotel staff are always friendly and cheerful, no matter what time of the day. rooms kept clean daily by the maids. apartment was excellent, a modern quality feel to the room, no cheap tat. free air con! food was ok and reasonably priced. what more do u want?
pool area was great, always beds availble. nice view of mountains. nothing bad to say about the hotel. a relaxing fun trip.
we did various trips during our 7days there. quad/buggy ride, all inclusive criuse, turkish bath, jeep safari (this is a must!)
theres a top notch restaurant called Gunay's Restaurant (near Amazon Tours, they do trips at very cheap prices by the way), try their Turkish pitta bread, its free with ur meal, quality stuff.

1 reader found this review helpful

First time in turkey thought it was amazing we stayed at the Julian Forest apartments It was Lovely And Clean Staff were Very Very Friendly would we defently back next year for 2 Weeks! because one week was not enough for all the things to do!

the hotel is lovely the staff are so friendly
the location off the hotel is nt gd
i went with my mum anf im 17 and there is nothing to do at nite or day time
you were stuck in the mountains the town was 30 mins away i didnt like it
wouldnt go bk to it again
and its really deer!
there were snakes and flys
the bad thing was u have to eat outside nt gd

1 reader found this review helpful

I have just returned from weeks stay in Julian Forest and it is the best holiday ever! Me and my boyfriend were not sure about going to Turkey as we had never been and it didn't appeal to us but we booked it as a late deal, got a good price and now we want to go back!! The hotel is lovely and all the staff are very nice and helpful. The food was nice and we ate there most days, it is just out of Icmelar but get the local bus (Dolmus) and it takes 10 mins. Good size pool compared to some others we saw but we would recommend this hotel and we hope to go back in September.

My family of four went to Julian Forest during the last week of May 08. We were very pleased with the standard of accomodation with two large bedrooms, one of which was en-suite. The apartment looked out over the pool and it had TV and a balcony. The hotel was kept very clean and so were our rooms. The on site shop was expensive and nothing was priced up, so we often walked to the nearest shop (about 10 minutes) or caught the regular dolmus into town (still only 1 lira).
We took the 4 day flexi dine option and were not disappointed, i am a vegan and they catered for me easily. I was worried about the food but needn't have been. There were vegetarian options all over Icmelar and everyone was so friendly and helpful and catered for me easily. Particular thanks to the Romance (www.romancerestaurant.com) in Icmeler who made the best food and entertained us and collected and took us home for no charge! They even emailed me pictures of our time with them and had free internet access!
The pool was fine but too loud, really our only complaint about our stay, and we did complain daily, the music around the pool would start at about 10am and go on until 5pm, they would turn the music down a bit for a few minutes but then it would be ear shattering again! In the end we took to going to the pool at the hotel next door (Green Park) as they were pleased to welcome us and took cash for ice creams and drinks etc (rather than the token system at Julian).
Wasps weren't a problem early season, though the weather was fantastic! Sun, sun, sun and hot with it! We will return, but hope they read our thoughts on the music, which really was so loud nobody could sleep after lunch!

We enjoyed a week at the club julian forest hotel. Overall the hotel was very clean, with very friendly staff. The pool area was excellent with plenty of sun loungers if you want to laze abouth the pool all day. There is plenty for kids to do, they have two water slides and kids club. The entertainment staf are excelent and keep everybody on the go all day. The bar area was excellent to, however quite expensive.
We upgraded to flexidine for four days and found that very reasonable. Icmeler is only a short ride on the dolmush which is the local form of transport. In icmeler you can find some fantastic bargains but again more exspensive than we imagined.

excellent hotel, wonderful staff, extremely clean. brochures do not do this hotel justice. its in an excellent location, very peaceful setting far enough away from the hustle & bustle to unwind however its only 5 mins on the bus to civilisation! flexidine offered by the hotel is great value for money, food is of a high quality and service is excellent. highly recomended

Just returned from spending a week at this hotel. It was my first visit to Turkey and I was pleasantly surprised. The hotel is set in beautiful scenery, a little way out of Icmeler but not a problem because local buses pick up outside hotel every 10 minutes and only cost 1 lira (40p). It takes about 25 minutes to walk. This hotel is very clean and the staff are very friendly. Good entertainment throughout the day for the kids which is run by locals who do an excellent job especially when trying to referee the water polo..! Even water aerobics is fun.
Food at the hotel is very nice and the waiters are very helpful and pleasant.
Bbq night is well worth trying, entertainment on this night is great fun for all.
The hotel doesnt deal with cash, instead you get a wrist band which you put cash on at reception, we found this good especially with the children as they could go to shop and buy ice creams and things without having to try and work money out. The hotel shop is slightly more expensive than local shops but not to bad, there is a bigger shop about 15 mins walk away where they have a great variety of products alot cheaper.
Coach journey took us about 2hrs from airport but you get to stop at a motorway service half way for refreshments which is great. Well worth the journey to end up at this excellent hotel.

weve just got back from turkey. it was are first time and didnt know what to expect.we arived at the hotel at 6 in the morning and got checked in really fast the room was very clean ,and over looking the pool area which was great. The staff the next morning was really friendly and had time to sit and chat . we really made a lot of friends and was sad to leave.The flexi dine is a great idea 189 lira for 14 meals which can choose when to eat the food is brilliant plenty of choice.theres akids club there is a good idea.We made good friends with a lot of the staff the photographer was brilliant.2.5 km outside town doesnt matter get the bus which 1 lira and there all the time.If you want to go out do the jeep safri what a day.Overall a brilliant holiday amazing country my family all cried when we left weve booked for next year.