Karbel Hotel

Myself and my partner (both in our mid 20's) stayed at the Karbel from the 14th - 28th of July and can honestly say that this was our worst holiday we have ever had. I am amazed at all the good reviews on the net and wonder if it is slightly suspicious! The food is inedible, the drinks are extremely expensive (you pay more that you would in the UK) the pool isn’t very nice at all, it is alot smaller that you are lead to believe in brochures etc... 90% of the guests are English its like staying in Blackpool!
The hotel staff do not know how to deal with drunken idiots (and believe me there are a lot of them) English men with shaven heads and the football tattoos over their hearts, on holiday with their just as classy families.
There was an incident where a gentleman decided to start a fight in the pool, he was completely intoxicated at about 11 in the morning. The hotel staff got the gentleman out of the pool sat him at the bar and gave him more drinks!!! He later hit a member of the bar staff and nothing was done about it. This family went on to spoil many peoples holidays during our stay.
We only spent 4 days using the Hotel Karbels pool before we gave up and got sick of "giving the place a chance" we then used the hotel only for the room. Next door you will find The White Hotel lovely pool very peaceful and relaxing, we walked over and asked if they wouldn’t mind us using their pool and pool bar etc... they where very hospitable and had no problem with this. By the end of the 2 week stay there where 27 people from Hotel Karbel using the White Hotels Pool etc...
Suffice to say that we will never be returning to the Karbel or Olu Deniz. The resort of Olu Deniz isn’t much better than the hotel, there are many many restaurants but surprisingly only 3 worth a visit! The bars are overpriced and packed with English dancing on tables flashing their knickers (and other parts) it really was like watching a sky one series "Turkey Uncovered"
My advice to you if you have already booked to stay at the Karbel is:- go for a walk to The White Hotel (it was our haven): Drink at "The Buzz Bar" on the beach front upstairs: Have a go on "Master Armed's water pipes" again on the beach front: Do NOT eat at the Hotel Karbel (we gave up on breakfast after 3 days!)
My advice to you if you are looking to book the Hotel Karbel is: DON'T!

The hotel lived up to our expectations, having read previous reviews about the place. We’ve also had friends go there as well and they couldn’t fault it.
Don’t expect the rooms to be very big (two beds, a table, wardrobe and shower room and that’s about it) as far as the balcony’s concerned ......... well two B&Q patio chairs and no room for anything else.
I know picking on little things, but there wasn’t anything else to fault it on - easily a good 3 star hotel.
Don’t expect full English breakfast to be included in your B & B package ! Although eating in the restaurant for one evening meal is worthwhile - very big portions and very good quality!
The bar staff are great and always cracking jokes and making you laugh.
You MUST try the paragliding - what a thrill, launching yourself of a 6550ft mountain and then flying in a cool breeze for about 45 minutes ........ and the views, wow! We did it with Sky Sports (about £70) but they had personal insurance cover included - check this if you go with the "cheaper" operators!
The beach is peebly and you look like a drunk chicken trying to get out of the water unless you’ve got jelly shoes on as it’s a bit painful on the soles of your feet !
The reason I gave my review only 9/10 ! was for the fact that the Blue Lagoon (although beautiful and idyllic) was far too busy, with sun beds absolutely everywhere. You’re packed in like sardines and it takes the edge off the beautiful setting !
Would I go again; "yes" - you only need a week though !

Our first time in turkey what a fab holiday I got married there on the blue lagoon beach.
The hotel upgraded us for the whole 2 weeks to the honeymoon suite for a wedding present they were great there was 14 of us and they were great to us all .one family was staying at another hotel but never spent any time there as Karbel was as good to them as us who were staying there I cant praise the hotel enough.
It is a great place to stay we are all going back and staying in the Karbel they are so friendly and helpful and Olu Deniz is fab I would recommend getting married there as they are all so helpful cant wait to go back.

We went to Olu Deniz for a fortnight to get married and have our honeymoon and had a great time. If you are thinking of getting married abroad I’d highly recommend the Blue Lagoon - the setting is fantastic on a grass verge next to the beach. All the locals both in the hotel and outside were genuinely friendly and were great with our 3-year-old daughter. They seem to have a very child friendly culture over there, which we sadly lack in the UK.
We went to Olu Deniz at the end of May and although there were a couple of cloudy days, the weather was generally excellent, and the setting is fantastic, with an idyllic lagoon and mountain views. The only minor gripe was that the beach was strewn with pebbles, which meant we had to take care when walking to and from the sea.
There are plenty of activities and excursions, the best of which were white water rafting and visiting the mud baths of Dalyan. It takes a while to get to these places from Olu Deniz(between 1.5 to 3 hours) but its well worth it. If you stay closer to home there’s paragliding, speedboat hire and micro flights, plus loads of Turkish baths.
The hotel was good, with a great selection of food for dinner, which only cost 120 lira for 4 nights for 2 people. Standard rooms are small - we struggled for space with a double bed and single bed in our room and limited storage space, but there was air conditioning and we were only in the room to sleep so we could live with it. By far the best thing about the hotel was the staff - they were very courteous and friendly, and even upgraded us to the honeymoon suite for 9 nights rather than the usual one when they booked us into the wrong room when we arrived at the hotel.
Bit of an essay this so I’ll end with the restaurants, which were all good or excellent apart from the Cherry Chow, which served the worst food typical of what you might expect at a Little Chef (OK not that bad, but close enough). Two restaurants I’d definitely recommend are the Secret Garden, which is very close to the Karbel hotel, and the Sea Coast, down on the beach front.
All in all a fantastic holiday and we’ll look to go there again. My in-laws have already rebooked to go in September.
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This was the first in a twin centre holiday.
On arriving at the hotel we were greeted by a friendly receptionist who explained a little about the hotel and the facilities. They offered us a deal for using their restaurant in the evening which was have three meals and get a fourth free. The hotel worked on a card system where you could only pay for drinks etc on the card and then settle up at the end of the week.
The staff were all pleasant and friendly and this was the main benefit of being at the hotel. We were shown to our room and were disappointed to say the least. This must have been the worst accomodation we had had in our 6 trips to Turkey. The room itself was very small it had thread bare blue carpet and was very shabby. There were two beds and a cabinet a dressing table and a shoddy wardrobe. The shower, toilet and hand basin were clean but generally the room needed refurbishing. Saying that if you spent your time outside the room the hotel was fine.
Breakfast was buffet style, the staff were always trying to encourage you to eat there in the evenings.
There was entertainment every evening, but generally we ate elsewhere. We did go to the Turkish evening and this was great it was a very lavish buffet which went on until 10pm.
The only bar was near the pool and Happy hour was between 6.15 and 7.15pm and this was when you saw the majority of people.
There was a permanent sign at the pool saying there were no life guards, so be careful.
The hotel was at the top of the main street with shops and bars, but was not noisy.
My only warning is do not go to the White Dolphin restaurant. We decided to go as it was recommended on the web. On asking our reception they contacted the restaurant who sent a courtesy taxi to meet us. It was no more than a few minutes from the hotel set on a cliff top. On decending a step set of steps we walked into the restaurant they sent us down a further set of steps in the cliffs to get a drink from the bar. As we were there at 6.45pm we saw the most fantastic sunset. The drinks were expensive about £5.00 for a cocktail. After we had sat there for an hour we decided to see what was going on and were shown to an outside table with a wonderful view. There were no menus or prices and on asking about this were shown up to the main area where there was a counter of fish. When we asked what starters they had we shown this table. Standing next to us were another couple who were choosing some prawns. There was a set of scales these were placed on and they were told that two prawns cost 50 million which works out to £20. Well as you can guess we decided just to have a main meal. We choose a fish that was meant to be big enough for two. This was put on the scales and was 80 million (£32) including vegetables. There were no price lists etc and I swear when the fish came out it was a different one to the one we had chose. Anyway the main course was extremely small and we were both very hungry. After that we decided to cut our losses and leave, in all it cost 110 million £44 for two glasses of wine and two main meals. My warning don't be caught.
The hotel itself appeared to be going through some refurbishment and it will be fine when this is completed.

Two adults one child aged eight, we stayed t the Karbel for two weeks, it was our first time in Turkey, we have already booked a return holiday at this hotel for June 2005.
Every part of this Hotel was above its 3 * status, all the staff, bar, restaurant, cleaners, were very friendly, our son made lots of friends, as did we ourselves, we won’t be going back to Spain in a hurry , now we have sampled this lovely resort.
We cannot really praise it enough, food was brilliant, service of the highest order.
All the rooms are being upgraded air con etc, and the pool will be redesigned for season 2005, (one part of the pool was 2.5mtrs deep, this was proving to expensive to insure, so we have been told that the pool will be changed).
Overall a 5* holiday.