Kavala Hotel

2 readers found this review helpful

Me and my partner booked this as a last minute holiday and had little time to research the area or the hotel, but the Thomas Cook rep ensured us that it was a quiet place and that was what we were looking for. We found Turunc to be an amazing place and thoroughly enjoyed our time there, however the same cannot be said for the hotel.
The rooms were very small and basic, which wasn't so much an issue but the shower is about 75cm x 75cm and after every shower the entire bathroom floor would flood as the shower curtains ended a few inches before the floor. In the first room we stayed in, the toilet flush did not work and after many requests, it was never fixed. Half way through our stay we moved rooms as my partner and I spotted a cockroach running around the floor of the room, when we asked for someone to help us remove it, after looking for it for less than a minute he told us that there was clearly nothing in the room which was rather insulting as we had just both seen it, and so I demanded a room change, the room was slightly bigger but the balcony was about a square metre big and had the fire escape stairs running right in front of it. The fire escape stairs were enclosed and any guests staying in the 2nd and 3rd floors would have to use this in the event of a fire, HOWEVER we noticed that the gate at the bottom of these stairs was permamently padlocked.
We paid for B&B accomodation but after tasting the breakfast provided we decided not to bother again, as we were presented with cheese, spam and olives. The biggest joke about this hotel is that you are not allowed to bring drinks or food (including water) from outside the hotel to your room. The only drinks provided by the hotel are extortionately priced water, beer and other alcoholic beverages, no fruit juice or soft drinks at all. At a shop in Turunc you can expect to pay about 1 lira for a large bottle of cold water, whereas in the hotel they charged us 3 lira.
The Kavala restaurant itself provided good food (if you were willing to pay, they had clearly gone for the cheap option when providing the included breakfast.) The waiters there are lovely and can't do enough for you. This was reflected throughout Turunc and I would especially recommend the Cardak restaurant near the harbour, not only are the staff brilliant but the food is cooked to perfection and very reasonably priced. Other good restaurants include Fidan on the sea front and Bondjuks just down the road from Kavala.
Turunc is a lovely place and the beach is amazing, you have to pay 3 lira a day per sun lounger but it's definitely worth it. The sea is so clear that you can see fish coming up to you and swimming around you in the water. I would recommend going on the 5 Bays boat trip, for only 25 lira per person (about £12) the boat and crew will take you to 5 amazing bays, giving you the chance to get off the boat and swim, there are sun loungers on the top deck and tables and chairs on the bottom deck, it's a full day out going from 10 til 6 and you get a barbeque meal including chicken, beef burgers, pasta, salad and bread. The only things you need to pay for throughout the day are drinks which are kept very cold and are reasonably priced.
After this trip I would never travel with Thomas Cook/Manos again. This is due to the fact that because we were staying in Turunc and not Marmaris, we didn't seem to be as important, there was no welcome meeting, and no set day for the rep to visit. She also gave us completely incorrect information about our check out times which led us to a £23 charge from the hotel. Also, when on the coach transfer from Dalaman airport, because Turunc is half an hour away from Marmaris they throw you into a taxi to the hotel and leave you to it, where as guests staying in Marmaris hotels are stayed with throughout the check in process. When being collected for transfer at the end of the holiday, the taxi dropped us off in a back street in Marmaris and with no clue what was going on, we were obviously very concerned and worried.
I would definetley love to visit Turunc again, but in a different hotel and definetly with a different company.