Club Xanthos

1 reader found this review helpful

I have stayed at Club Xanthos many times and absolutely love this hotel!
I could name almost every staff member, they are so friendly and definitely made my holidays ones to remember!
As for the not so nice reviews, I think the 'cat' comment is ridiculous, obviously the staff can not stop the cats entering the hotel but when they do, the cats are immediately taken away.
The food is reasonably priced, but if you want cheaper, travel into town for lunch, its not that hard.
I also think their food is very nice and there is always a choice of English menu for the fussy ones like myself! such as chips, burgers, toasties, pizza and very nice chicken salads!
The hotel is beautiful, especially the entrance. The rooms are of a good standard and the outside pool area is very clean.
The night entertainment such as Turkish Night is always good fun and the music is brilliant!
But overall it is definitely the staff that made my holiday!! Even the manager Ugi and his brother Ali get involved with the guests! They are lovely people, I'm gutted I wont be able to visit this year, but fingers crossed for next year as Turkey is such a beautiful country and this hotel is 10 out of 10 in my eyes!

sorry this was my worse holiday ever. the staff at the hotel were very rude and unhelpful. the rep from yesil dalyan was very unprofessional and did not support us through this tough time. the hotel was very clean but very expensive dont go bed and breakfast you will regret it. if you are a lover of cats you will be ok if you're not, well the place is infested, i mean in all the restaurants, they are everywhere.
my advice dont go!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a brilliant holiday in Kalkan. The hotel was superb, from the minute you walk in to the beautiful reception, the staff are so helpful and friendly.
There are a lot of steps, but we managed, quite good exercise! From the reception staff to the cleaners they are all very nice and can not do enough for you! Shandy who runs the pool bar, keeps you entertained and is a pleasure to talk too. Brian and his colleagues are so much fun, whilst having a professional approach also.
The rooms are cleaned every day and have beautiful soft towels. The restaurants in Kalkan are wonderful, we highly recommend the PAPARAZZI. He is a excellent spicy cook and has a lovely family who make you very welcome (the Masala is well worth ordering).
The GRINOLA is worth a visit. Jimmy runs it very well and the food is to die for. Just sitting in the bar area is great, let alone sitting on the roof terrace with a fantastic view! Go down to the harbour and rent out the boats ,we highly recommend YILDIZ 1 & YILDIZ 2. These are run by two brothers Osman and Adam, who give you the best day out ever, at a very reasonable price. Again they look after you and feed you and take pleasure in everything they do. The Aiden restaurant is great too. Go down to the beach club down at the bottom of hotel, SUPERB. Try there fried feta cheese salad mmm.
Can't wait to go back to Kalkan!!!!!

1 reader found this review helpful

Overall I would have to say that it was an excellent holiday - the hotel was spotlessly clean everywhere, the waiting staff and reception staff were faultless - they bent over backwards to provide the best possible service and when one considers that they work extremely long hours (One of the waiters worked from 08:00 till midnight) I'm not sure I could be so pleasant! And all this for probably a quarter of the pay they would get in England.
Food was very good too - buffet style and plenty to choose from. If I have a winge I would have to say that bar prices were dear - cheapest bottle of wine at dinner was over £11, which we could buy at the supermarket for under £4 - but - yes - I know it is a hotel and this is normal everywhere.
But the other problem I had was that you are issued with a plastic card which you produce at mealtimes or at the bar when you want to buy drinks or snacks and I'm afraid that is a system which does not work for me. I felt as though I was actively discouraged from paying with money - as though my desire to pay caused them real problems - there were no tills at the bar or in the restaurant and I was told that it was to make life easier for me. It didn't. I like to pay as I go - the possibility of arriving at the end of the holiday and being confronted with an enormous bill to settle doesn't appeal to me - though I am sure it will suit a lot of folks.
There is a one-way courtesy bus into Kalkan which is essential - it's a good half hour to walk into the village up and down some very steep hills in the blazing heat. BUT in the evening the bus went at 8.30 - since they serve dinner from eight o'clock you have just half an hour to have dinner if you want to catch that one.
Overall though, as I say generally very nice hotel and the travel operator - Anatolian Sky - was probably the best we have used to date - their rep Emma was fantastic, informative, helpful, and just as an illustration of their attention to detail, when we got on the minibus in Dalaman for the transfer we were presented with a complementary bottle of water - which after traveling since 2 in the morning was extremely welcome! Well done them!

My partner and I have spent a week at Club Xanthos and were generally very pleased. We found the staff very friendly and the room fine. Clean towels every day and constant hot water. Everywhere in the hotel was spotlessly clean. On arrival the air-conditioning in our room, after I turned it on, was dripping water onto the floor. I reported it to the Reception and it was repaired within an hour.
Food was freshly prepared, with plenty variety, thanks to Falcon the Chef. Drinks in the hotel are very expensive – 4Lira for a small can of Efes (Turkish beer). Whilst traveling out and about we were paying 3-4 Lira for a large bottle. When you register, on arrival, you are issued with a plastic card, credit-card size, with your room number on. This is retained by a staff member when you order drinks, and returned to you when you have signed for your drinks. You then settle the bill at the end of your holiday.
When we came to pay for our drinks, with a credit-card, just prior to being collected for the flight home, the hotel’s credit-card payment machine wasn’t working and we were unceremoniously bundled into a car and driven to the bank in Kalkan to withdraw the cash from a machine. This was at 2am! Requests to use the hotel phone to contact the Thomas Cook rep were refused. We were made to feel like it was our fault that their machine wasn’t working. This was the only bit of ‘negativity’ we experienced from the staff. I recommend that you settle your bar bill in plenty of time and keep some cash available for any drinks/snacks you may want after paying your bill.
There is a lovely shaded balcony (tremendous views) where you eat, however, if you don’t want to be bothered by the resident sparrows don’t select a table at the outer edges. I like birds, but not when I’m eating.
We enjoyed our week at Club Xanthos, but some ‘in-house’ entertainment, if only for 2/3 evenings would have been welcome.
If you visit Saklikant, approaching from the Kalkan ‘end’, be sure to avoid the first eatery on the left as you drive in. The food was appalling. When it came time to settle the bill we were approached by an elderly Turkish lady that wanted to tell our fortunes. She speaks for about 45 seconds, in Turkish, and then hands you a broad-bean seed to throw in the pool beside the table. For this ‘fortune-telling’ x2 she was expecting a total of 40 Lira. We leave you to do the math. We gave her 15 Lira. When we refused to pay the 40 Lira, enter one very large Turkish ‘gentleman’ that tried to intimidate us into paying the rest. I speak minimal Turkish but found using the word ‘Polis’ rapidly defused the situation.
I recommend you avoid the ‘Jeep Safari’ excursion. During our travels we saw several dozens of these Jeeps/Lorries and not one had any cover in place to shade you from the sun. Take my word for it, it gets HOT outside, 42C on 2nd July. These trips are £23-25 per person. You can hire an air-conditioned car for £25 a day, lovely! (£23 a day for 4 days or more).
The trip to the ‘Green Lake’ at Gombe can be a bit misleading. Yes, there is a green ‘lake’, but this is water being held back by a new dam that is still under construction. The trip is worth it for the fantastic scenery, but don’t expect to see much when you get there. We didn’t go on any of the organized excursions but hired a car for 4/5 days. Even allowing for petrol it still worked out cheaper than organized trips and, of course, you have the car to get into Kalkan from the hotel. Walking into Kalkan is not for the faint-hearted! If you do hire a car, keep a wary eye out for tortoises. Their favoured footpath seems to be down the middle of the road.
The Turkish people are warm, friendly, and generous of spirit. We stopped, out in the wilds, to ask directions. The elderly man, that lived in little more than a ‘shanty/shack’ indicated the direction we were to travel. As we are about to pull away he gives us a handful of freshly picked Apricots and a small bunch of Basil. We were quite touched by this generous gesture from someone that obviously had so little.
So, go to Turkey, get off the beaten track, and meet the people. You won’t be disappointed.

1 reader found this review helpful

I had stayed in Kalkan 5 times previous to this holiday so knew the level of service to expect. Unfortunately Club Xanthos lets the side down. It didn't help that the tour rep refused to help, whenever I raised a problem she claimed she had to be somewhere else and left rapidly.
We arrived after a long night flight to be told our breakfast would be provided in our rooms for us. This turned out to be a roll each, this equated to one of our paid for meals meaning that the day we departed we were not entitled to any food.
The room was tiny! There was no space big enough to lay a suitcase on its side (except for in front of the toilet). The wardrobe doors were mirrored; one of these was badly chipped and cracked. No attempt to repair it evident. The balcony was only large enough for one person. I found this particularly annoying seeing as I had paid extra to have a deluxe room!
The tour rep did not feel there was a problem with the room, so I was left to sort the issue out with the hotel staff. I ended up paying an extra £400 to have an apartment room, this was far superior and much more to the standard I was expecting.
The bar was very expensive for food and drink, we ended up walking down to the bathing platforms where there was a cafe. The evening food was brilliant some nights and a bit iffy others.
Watch the reception staff their exchange rate was always more in their favour than anywhere else in Kalkan. I suggest using the bank in town.
Kalkan itself is a lovely town, famous for its roof top restaurants. Brilliant beaches and scenery. I would suggest staying in one of the hotels closer to town - Samira I/II, Pirat, any of the tapestry hotels, the Elite and so on.

My man and I have just returned from this hotel having embarked with some trepidation after reading Mrs. Cary-Lang’s and Mr. Walsh’s comments. However, both myself and Colin are well traveled, having been to many countries around the world and we both thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the club Xanthos.
The hotel was extremely clean and the staff helpful. The restaurant was well stocked with a huge variety of foods. Breakfast was typically a continental one with breads and tomatoes with cucumber and eggs but there was also sweet breads and cake along with various yoghurts and jams and also cereals namely cornflakes and sugar puffs!
I had the lot at some point! Dinner was equally as varied with a lovely home made soup and a huge assortments of salads, then there was also the main course which the chef dished out and the another array of sweets! Colin and I were pigged after eating our meals. Over indulgence comes to mind! On two separate occasions Colin and I had wine with our meal which we purchased by the bottle with the full intention of saving some for the following evening. This didn’t happen as we drunk the lot but hey were on our jollies!
The wine was expensive along with everything else in the hotel including the water. But which hotel have the people mentioned been it that doesn’t charge a huge mark up price? But if these people are the well seasoned travelers as they claim then they would have known that! As far as the water is concerned, water is not free for the Turks so why do they think it should be free for the Brits?
Anyway, Kalkan is a beautiful town although rather hilly and I would not recommend it to anyone who are dodgy on their pins or who doesn’t like walking up and down hills as some of them are rather steep to say the least! I also would not recommend it to families with young children as other than a small pebble beach or around a pool there is nothing for them to do. However, if you are someone who enjoys going out for a good meal with good wine or the occasional Efes beer or 10 and enjoy chatting to friends and people watching then I would certainly recommend it!
To such an extent Colin an I are returning in October for two weeks this time as we didn’t want to leave this delightful place. Admittedly we will not be returning to the Xanthos but that is only because of the locality of the hotel, being a little too far for us and me being lazy so we are going to rent an apartment in the town, hire a car and go a little further afield around this beautiful area.
On a final note, having been to turkey twice previously I was not impressed by the place and only agreed to go for financial reasons. I was skint! But I can honestly say It was well worth all the scrimping and saving to get there. Its beautiful!

Club Xanthos was clean and welcoming, with very friendly, hardworking staff and my husband and I had a very enjoyable 2 weeks there.
The ruling about not having food and water in your rooms in your rooms was excessive. The water that was on offer there (called Tat) was not up to Evian's standard but it wasn't as bad as some that we had whilst sight seeing.
We made up our minds to enjoy ourselves and not let silly rules about food spoil our holiday. Yes it was expensive to eat there at lunch times but the food was good and the service even better, the waiters being more relaxed when their tyrannical manager wasn't there. If you can't spoil yourselves on holiday then when can you?
The Turkish bath was an experience that should be taken up and they are right it does prolong your tan!
We are going again this year and plan to enjoy ourselves as much as we did last year whether we can take a packet of crisps into our room or not!

Our family of five went to Club Xanthos for two weeks in July 2005.
We traveled from Luton Airport to Dalaman with no problems at all. Although unfortunately, the food on the flight was minimal and unappetizing! The travel from the airport to the hotel was well organised and punctual (prepare yourselves for a long drive, but it’s worth it in the end).
The Staff and Management at the Hotel were welcoming and friendly on arrival and remained completely helpful throughout our stay at Club Xanthos. Nothing was too much trouble for them, they respected the guests privacy and offered good advice about the local area and its highlights.
The children (all teenagers) felt the staff took a genuine interest in them whether we were with them or not and felt completely safe around the hotel.
Our rooms all had the fantastic sea view that was promised, they were clean and well equipped. The pool was kept clean at all times and looked beautiful especially at night when lit up.
The restaurant and food were excellent, and we enjoyed our family meals together!
We were asked politely to refrain from keeping food in our rooms, which we were happy to oblige to maintain the high standards of the hotel. Sweets however were another matter!
The extras activities offered by the hotel i.e. Turkish bath, sauna, gym, computer room, pool table were used constantly by our family. I would certainly recommend the Turkish bath!
We had a fantastic holiday. For five paying adults, it was good value for money and have already booked again for this August. This is the first holiday that we have ever returned to and we are really looking forward to going back and seeing more of this beautiful country, the local people and Club Xanthos.

The Hotel Club Xanthos in Kalkan is one of the most disappointing hotels I have stayed at, and I am a frequent traveller. Having visited Turkey on many occasions, I have stayed at a number of hotels and pensions of varying standards, but have normally had the type of experience that corresponded with the money paid. This was certainly not the case here.
Club Xanthos sets itself up to be a sophisticated 4 star hotel and while the hotel itself (though abit naff) is clean and basic with some good facilities, it is incredibly expensive to stay at (one you’ve arrived) and and most of their facilities are pricey. The hotel’s attitude was of extreme penny pinching and it employed some entrepreneurial ways of going about this!
Firstly, the hotel is normally half board and drinks at dinner are very expensive - there are no free drinks available, not even water. The hotel really frowns upon anyone bringing in food or drink into the hotel and will confiscate food if you do - we heard that a child had a bag of crisps taken away!
Secondly, the hotel is a hot, steep walk into Kalkan and taxis are expensive (around £3-£4 for a 5 minute ride). The hotel didn’t run a complementary bus into town while we were there, although I believe they’ve started this now twice a day.
Thirdly, on the third day we were there, dinner started to be served later so that people would stay on in the hotel rather than go into Kalkan after dinner. To encourage this, they had two sets of 'Happy Hour', one before dinner and one after. Drinks were still incredibly expensive at this time.
Lunch is served at the bar but is really expensive too. The times that we went into town for dinner we were pointedly asked 'why?' and waiters seemed keen for people to stay round the hotel. The bar behind the hotel at 3T Hotel and apartments is much better value for money, but guests have been stopped by security at the hotel and asked why they’re going there. The hotel has a bit of a reputation around Kalkan for charging too much.
Given the amount of good accommodation in Kalkan I couldn’t recommend Club Xanthos on any score, except to say that it is a clean hotel and is well kept. The waiting staff too are nice and obviously work very hard, but the good old Turkish hospitality and generosity that I have always experienced was sadly absent in this hotel.
Kalkan has a lovely range of restaurants and the town is very pretty but it must be emphasised that with thousands of British people now owning homes there, the prices are now often based on UK prices and the town is completely given over to the tourism. There are rumours that the 18-30s brigade is about to move in and, consequently, many locals and long term residents are moving out. This would be an enormous shame for this lovely little town.