Turihan Hotel

10 readers found this review helpful

I'm so amazed at some of the previous recent reviews I had to check the address!
My friend and I spent two weeks (11th to 25th Sept 09) at Turihan Beach, through Thomas Cook, and were pleasantly surprised by our experience. What value for money! I still can’t believe it!
We arrived about 8pm on a Friday, but our room was not ready - not a great start, but we were put up in 5* accommodation next door, for our trouble, and the courteous Turihan receptionist accompanied us to check in and said they would see us at breakfast the next day. We quite enjoyed our stay next door - very plush, but we felt the hotel lacked atmosphere.
The next day, we checked into Turihan room 402.
In summary:
Thomas Cook Rep (Katie) – Didn’t try to sell loads of trips. Did give us the information we asked for – well done!
Hotel Layout -The hotel is delightfully laid out with all rooms facing the pool area on three sides / two levels. The fourth side has a waterfall cascading into the pool. The fresh decor and foliage around the pool area makes this hotel very atmospheric and I don't think it is an exaggeration to say it has a boutique feel.
Pool - The pool and surrounding area were always spotless during our holiday and were continually being cleaned. The cascading water coming into the pool means it is always nice and cool. You should be aware that the pool is all one depth (approx 1.6m I think).
Sunbeds – There were plenty of comfortable sun beds, tables and parasols.
Turihan Beach Area – As above, the hotel provide plenty of comfortable sun beds, tables and parasols at no charge. The area was continually cleaned and bar staff were constantly on hand to bring drinks and snacks. The sea is a very short distance from the hotel and has a very gentle slope re depth, so very safe for children or unconfident swimmers.

Reception – Clean and inviting. We experienced professional, courteous and friendly reception staff. There is a lounge area to sit and wade through the tour operator information, but most of the time we asked the receptionist to point us in the right direction.
Room – Lovely, crisp blue and white décor. The room was clean and spacious with all amenities that we required, including; fully stocked bar, hairdryer, TV (a few English channels) and plenty of storage space. The AC was FREE and effective. The safe was also free. The double glazed doors and windows meant no noise could be heard inside. It was particularly useful, for two women sharing☺, that the basin and mirrors were outside the bathroom! We both agreed that the beds were so comfortable we couldn’t get out of them.
We were on the ground floor, but had a lovely enclosed patio area outside the room, with table and chairs.
Cleaning – The maids cleaned our room and changed the towels every day. I think the beds may have been 2-3 days, but they were made every day. This is some feat, as my friend leaves her OCD at her own doorstep when she comes on holiday! When I asked the maids for anything (e.g. more hangers), I got it.
Breakfast – The Turkish breakfast is what it is! That said, I thought that Turihan delivered a good spread of food and replenished pretty well for all those walking in at 9.55am. It got sooo hot, sooo quickly – I did notice that they were really careful not to let the food stay out too long and they lightly cling-filmed any vulnerable foods from flies. They had PROPER coffee – this is not a given in Gumbet, where most will give you weak Nescafe.
Lunch – There are plenty of tasty, reasonably priced bar meals / snacks that you can order to eat in the bar / on the beach or around the pool.
Dinner – We had arranged B&B, but we paid on one night for the in-house buffet. I enjoyed it, as did my vegetarian friend. It was very reasonably priced in relation to outside restaurants.
Turkish Hamam – Situated next to the pool within the hotel, we tried this on our first day – WOW!! A couple of hours later, my friend and I just about managed to pull our muscles back together to walk the 30 second walk back to our room. Hassan is a professional sports coach and masseur and he knows what he is doing. I’m not going to spoil this for you – just do it!
Bar / Nightlife – Whilst the only official nightlife at the hotel, at that time of year, seemed to be the Thursday Turkish night (Oops missed, but heard good reports) the owner has somehow managed to employ a right bunch of ‘characters’ for bar staff. Our ‘quiet nights in the hotel’ were anything but!
Location / Noise – This hotel was located in an enviable spot – near enough for easy access to the main strip, but far enough not to suffer from the noise! The 5* hotel next door has a little music spot about 9.30pm ish for about an hour. If you are out on the balcony, you might hear it, but not if you are in the room. Compared to most hotels in Gumbet, this, for us, was ideal. We wanted to party elsewhere and then leave it all behind. I should point out that, the clever layout of the hotel means that relatively noisy music can be played in the bar without impacting on other guests.
The important stuff – The reason I enjoyed staying here was because everything about the stay made our holiday better. Getting from room, to balcony, to pool, to bar, to beach was a short stroll. The guest needs seemed well anticipated. Hassan, the masseur, is also one of the most genuine guys we have ever met – he will do anything to help anyone at the hotel. Unfortunately, near the end of the holiday my friend had to be admitted to hospital the day before I had to fly home – he went to visit her several times – no strings, just genuine concern – how often does that happen? A special thanks to Nuru & Mehmet and all the waiters / guys behind the bar – I don’t know how you managed to be in so many places at once, but everyone in the bar seemed to be partying with you whilst you were working – what a skill! The reception staff bent over backwards to help me when, a little bit shell-shocked, I came back from hospital without my friend – my sincere gratitude to you for your help and assistance. To the great family who run the hotel, I have to say that we both thoroughly enjoyed our stay and would certainly not hesitate to return. To Katie, the Thomas Cook rep, who visited Nicky every day, I thank you.
Gumbet – We went to several lovely restaurants during our stay, but would recommend Saray, Windmill and Anil. The ‘strip’ was sometimes a little much for us, being late 30 singles (ouch), but we managed to have a really good time anyway, and there are plenty of good bars for the (eek) slightly older crowd. You cannot say that there is not enough choice in Gumbet! I really liked a few bars in Bodrum – Latino’s for salsa and a little Turkish folk music bar two doors down on the corner. You could get the bus to Bodrum outside the hotel (2.20 NTL each way) and be there in 15 minutes. We were told that buses were 24 hours, though they seemed to stop at 3pm at the time we were there. It’s only 20NTL in a taxi anyway. We did go on the boat trip, through Rami (Ramizan) outside Turihan hotel. The downside is that we missed out on the cliff jump / mud bath, but the upside is that this boat has 12 – 15 people on, rather than the usual 25-30 and they play traditional music, rather than booming dance music! We enjoyed the trip and thought it was good value for money.
I hope this helps, but I’m happy to answer any specific questions.

1 reader found this review helpful

My husband and I stayed at the Turihan Hotel in August.
We found the hotel basic and the maid service poor, however the food and the waiter service was of a very good standard.
Regarding the rep service, well that was laughable as we didn't even see her, and that was for the whole two weeks we were there.
I will consider going back next year, but would have to stay in one of the bigger rooms as I found our room much to small.