Turihan Hotel

We've just got back from a week at the Turihan in Gumbet where we stayed from 24th September to 2nd October. On arrival at the hotel at 4am in the morning staff helped us with our luggage to our room, which as previously described by reviewers on this website, was basic but functional. The bathroom was small but clean with a plentiful supply of piping hot water at any time of the day. We had a twin room as this was a holiday we only booked the previous Friday! There was a small fridge and the bedding was clean. Airconditioning was available at a charge of £21 per week but we didn't opt for this and found that we were able to operate the airconditioner anyway, but didn't have that much call for it. Had to ask for a set of towels as there was only one set left for us but the guy on duty brought them within a few minutes. Also had to request change of towels after a few days as they hadn't changed them but again this was no problem. Our room was right next to the swimming pool and the windows had a sort of one-way mirror backing so that we could see out but had privacy from the outside in. Will point out again that this pool has no shallow end and so is not really suitable for children. The pool was clean and no too busy as it was the end of season and the hotel sits right on the beach. It closed at 6pm for chemical cleaning etc., which was a bit of a pain as we like an evening swim, but not the end of the world. The restaurant was a few steps from our room and in general it was clean and tidy and the food was of good quality. Servings were a little on the small side for me and the prices were no worse than most of the other restaurants around. Hygiene standards aren't as high as ours so was occasionally put off by what staff were doing with their hands one minute and handling our food the next. The staff were quite friendly and happy to help although their English was a little weak at times but hey, I can't speak Turkish. Usually managed to get what we wanted but DO WATCH YOUR BILL. Small example; menu stated burgers were served with chips - OK - but sometimes we didn't get the chips and sometimes they tried to charge extra for them! Sometimes we ordered the burger stating that it comes with chips and then we ended up with burger plus extra chips and were charged accordingly. These little 'mistakes' add up over the weekend so just beware of it. The hotel has its own Turkish bath which we highly recommend. The masseur Hassan was very friendly and helpful. For £15 each we had 20-30 minutes in the Sauna, followed buy a Scrub massage, a Soap massage and finally a fully body Oil massage. For the two of us this was 2.5-3 hours and was a very relaxing experience - so we had another the day before we flew home! Excellent value as I would normally pay £20 just for a 30 minute back, neck and shoulders massage at home. Would also recommend the boat trip from the hotel - you can't take a walk on along the beachfront without EVERYONE trying to sell you one! Most were £10 each but the hotel's was £7.50, including a light lunch and cake at tea tiime. The boat was certainly not overcrowded compared to some of the others that we saw. You DO have to pay for any drinks though, but you would do that at the hotel or anywhere else. The hotel restaurant fronts directly onto the beach so is very convenient. They weren't serving meals on the beach in the evenings when we were there but the weather was changeable for a couple of days and maybe this had something to do with it. If and when we return to Turkey and Gumbet we will certainly choose to return to the Turihan. I know this is not connected with the hotel but I will mention it - BUY YOUR WATER/DRINKS BEFORE YOU RETURN TO BODRUM AIRPORT! In the hotel a small bottle of water was 1 YTL (50p ish) - at the airport they are robbing 6 YTL (over £2!).

On arrival we were put in a family room which we hadn't booked. With 2 boys we booked 2 single rooms. They refused to change & after some discussion between manager and rep (Jackie, who was great) we got 2 rooms but our boys were on ground floor at pool and we were 2 floors up unable to even see their room. The boys beds were changes twice & clean towels once, ours were not changed at all, we had to take our rubbish to the bin at the pool side and I had to repeatidly go looking for toilet rolls. We paid for H/B to find out that the hotel is R/O & B/B basis only. therefore we were unable to pick what we wanted from the menu. If we wanted to choose we had to pay!!!!! In the heat they have the cheek to charge £21 for air-con per week. My son has asthma and was very stressed @ night. I may sound like a tight fisted Scot but, try & deflate any blow up beds, boats etc & bring them home because what is left they resell in the shop beside the pool, as if they don't make enough money out of us already. On a Tues nite it's Turkish Nite (well worth a miss) I could belly dance better myself. Someone came round selling raffle tickets for the Gold Centre which you could win a prize on the night. My boys one a prize each, I was told of a chain and a ring I have yet to receive them!!!! We had to go to the shop to collect them, when we decided not to go as we knew this was to get you in to buy something a certain member of staff was very unhappy about this and avoided us the second week of the holiday. At the bar we had a few heat moments at the till when we were accused of not paying for drinks when we knew that we had, especially the next morning from the night before if the staff are different, I know it's hard when you are trying to enjoy yourself but try & keep a note of what you have drink. The only staff we found friendly & helpfuI, Mehmet & the two brothers whom we did not know their names. I could go on about other complaints and thing to watch out for but as this review is about the Turihan only all I can say without scaring you is go with caution and if you don't like being ripped-off don't go at all. We certainly will not be back!!!!

My wife and I have stayed at The Turihan twice in 2006 ( 2 x 2 weeks). We love it. The style is typically Turkish. A small Hotel family run with simple but adequate rooms, each with patio or balcony. Fridge, en-suite shower, air conditioning, phone and places to park. We hired a car but regular bus services and taxis are just around the corner. Well established trees and flowers. Excellent position, literally one or two paces to the sandy safe beach on beautiful Gumbet Bay - the quiet end. You see all the view of the Bay from the Hotel’s Bar and Restaurant. Gorgeous backdrop to your morning coffee or midnight drink. Very peaceful with no disturbance. The food is excellent and plenty of it, a very good varied menu all at reasonable prices. The chefs will cook to please you - the best food on the Bodrum Peninsula. One can eat in the restaurant in the balmy evenings and on the beach, where the waiters prepare candle-lit tables right next to the sea. The staff are extremely nice. The whole atmosphere is one of polite genuine friendly care. One is made to feel at home. Any problems or needs are dealt with immediately. Most of the guests we met there were regular visitors to the Turihan - that is surely the best recommendation. The hotel has a Mini-Market and a resident Masseur complete with Turkish Baths etc. It has its own Sailing Ship with daily sea trips, a large Pool Table, TV Screens and Live Music (Excellent Saxophonist plus weekly traditional Turkish Evening with Dancers and Musicians) There was one criticism - there is no shallow end in the lovely private pool - 1.60m throughout and only one set of metal steps into it. So, if a shallow end could be made, the Turihan would be be perfect. We hope the Turihan will do this. We will definitely continue to return to the friendly little Turihan (approx 35 rooms). My wife felt that it had a touch of Agatha Christie about it - Miss Marple would have loved its charm and character. Susan & Chris Canning (Bronteland, West Yorkshire)

I am just back from my second holiday to Gumbet, and it was fantastic. We arrived at 6am at the Turihan Hotel, which was OK. In honesty its basic but if you have ever been to Gumbet (and even those who haven't yet) you will find that all you need is a bed for the night. The Turihan supplies just this, and a simple Turkish breakfast (we were on a B & B board which gave us the Turkish breakfast but if you wanted anything other than bread, juice, salads and coffee, you had to pay extra.) The pool there is OK, not too cold and not too hot, and is a fine size for a few lengths in the morning to freshen up. We ate there one night for dinner and it was nice no more or less pricey/cheap than anywhere else. Larger portion than most, which (as you will come to find out) is not such a good thing. When you end up drinking a lot of water to hydrate yourself throughout the day and the heat itself, really saps away your appetite so when you are faced with a large plateful, you almost feel as if you are cheated as its quite hard to finish. Anyway we never slept after our arrival that morning and went for a walk along the beach to see how much remained the same from the year before. I am glad to say that it was much the same, and if possible, a little better. As we were so tired from our flight we decided to revisit my haunt from the year before - Fun Sports watersports hut, and was elated to find many of the staff there were there from the year before and recognised us (even though we had only been there for a week!!) A big thank you to Peter Pan (Hakan) who made our week again this year!! I was out on the jetski every day and other watersports including ringos, speed zone and the banana boat (and we even got a shot at driving the speed boat from another of the guys we met last year.) We went into Gumbet town, and Bodrum taking in the sights and sounds, visited Bodrum Castle - a Must, even if you are not a history enthusiast, went to Turgetreis market - great for clothes, bags, shoes, belts, jewellery, fruit...Beware the women who try to decorate your hand in bracelets to show the best ones for you to buy, they are easily offended and quite pushy, We had a Turkish bath - the best experience ever (almost) - you get all sweated up in the steamroom for about 15mins, and then go into the bath itself, which is actually a giant locked down room with a heated marble plinth in the centre and a marble bench running around the room with little basins to rinse you down. You spend about 15 mins getting sweated out in there and then the guy comes in and rinses you down, and places you on the plinth like a slab of meat and proceeds to SCRUB. Once done he rinses you again and then you lie down again while this other guy covers you in silky bubbles and massages you, once rinsed again you go out and sit down and wait for your pores to close. We went to the Sunway bath as we had seen it last year and not actually gone for it. I HIGHLY recommend for feeling good and getting a good tan. We also went on the 5 island boat trip which is a lazy day at sea sunbathing and travelling to volcanic caves and swimming and bathing in the mud, then cliff jumping from about 50 feet in the air to a giant 250 meter deep METEOR HOLE!! and camel riding on camel island, a free lunch at Bagla Bay, listeing to lots of chilled out music, drinking and good company, followed by a swim with the fish in a natural aquarium...bliss.... There are so many places to eat and drink but after a good source telling me so, we tried out Chinatown, Mystery Bar/Restaurant, Red Dragon, Central Bar - fabulous tunes, X Bar, Shamrock bar...Basically if you want to eat/drink out, the best you can do is sample each place.Gumbet really is fantastic for anyone from the kids to the elderly - you are likely to find a wee boy dancing with his Mummy in a club whilst granny looks on and the hedonists get their drink and groove on, on the dance floor!!! Only in Gumbet!! We miss you Hakan, Darren and the rest of the Fun Sports guys for making us so welcome and giving us the craic.

The Turihan is ok if you don't mind a basic hotel, it has all the facilities you need and if you just want somewhere to lay your head at night as we did, it serves that purpose. You get a lot of hassle in Gumbet from bars and restaurants etc. We were two girls in our twenties so we were expecting a little hassle but we were not expecting it in our hotel every time we stepped foot in it. Most of the staff were lovely but one guy in the restaurant would not leave us alone, he was rude and made us feel extremely uncomfortable. On our first morning there he came over and told us we made him very angry for not eating there the night before when we arrived. We told him that we wanted to eat in different places as we were eating breakfast there but we would try the hotel food one night but he got worse every day, in the end we took to walking out of the hotel through the reception area instead of through the bar/restaurant and stopped eating breakfast there. This is a shame as the rest of the staff were lovely and we would not have had a problem with this hotel had it not been for him. My advice would be, eat there on your first night to keep him happy and then explore the rest of the restaurants in Gumbet!!

in this place it was the best one i stayed in and i been to turkey 8 times and stayed in 8 different appartments so i know wot some hotels and apartments are like the beach is on the door step the pool is on the door step and the bar in on ur doorstep i got very friendly with the man behind the bad i called him faddy we had fights every day and he wud push me in the pool every day they are all so friendly i loved it here and will deffo be back stacey xxxx

we had a fantastic time , the staff were the best, you couldn't get any closer to the beach . Will certainly be going back.

Just got back from the Turihan Hotel Monday 10th October 2005, Rooms were basic but clean the hotel staff were great fun and very helpful, we had a very enjoyable holiday. ALL MY THANKS TO ALL THE HOTEL STAFF for making it a great time. The photo is taken from the bar of the hotel.

Had an excellent holiday at the Turihan last summer. We booked late and it was only $340 for both of us for a week in August. The room was OK not fancy but clean the only complaint I had was the scratchy sheets - cos they were dried out in the sun! The hotel staff were very friendly and worked from morning till night without complaint. Its location on the beach was fantastic - we ate most nights at our own table on the beach and the waiters from the hotel were first class!!!!!! We were very sad to leave and are intending to return this August

We were upgraded to this hotel on our arrival in Bodrum!!! Its position on the beach must be what gives it its 3* rating (ha! ha!) because nothing else could have! The rooms were dirty and in need of a good overhaul. We didn't even want to take our shoes off or use the shower!! The sheets didn't cover the mattresses properly and the blankets we asked for had dirty marks all over them. I realise that October half term week is the end of the season however we still had to pay £300 a week for our trip. (more than in the height of the season) and expected higher standards. On our first night we went for a walk along the beach front and decided to have a last drink at our own hotel bar. The table was really dirty so I asked for it to be cleaned. The cloth the waiter brought was filthy and the table looked even more greasy after he'd cleaned it than it had done before. Whilst sitting there we chatted to another guest who informed us that he had spoken to lots of people who were complaining about the standard of this hotel. Thankfully we only had to stay here for two nights after which we moved over to Turgutreis to stay with a friend.