Fulya Hotel - Kamelya World

The location itself is out the way of anything desirable to see. From the complex you can walk down the road to a very quiet stretch of shops, complete with watered down perfumes and fake branded clothes. I really wouldn’t bother wasting your time. However you can get the Dolmus to the centre of Side that has better shops, but seem to sell exactly the same things in each street you go down. There is some culture such as the Apollo’s temple, a harbour and a few ruins, but that’s about it. Three words that need to be remembered when you go to Side is “Ive….Just….Eaten’, because they will literally try and lead you into the restaurants if your not strict with them.
My friend I chose this complex due to its vast range of facilities i.e. gym, tennis, numerous pools and location to watersports on the beach – all of which were present, the only problem being able to untilise them! It took us 3 days to find out how to book a tennis court due to the lack of English spoke by any of the staff. We got directed from place to place (by a finger point and very confused faces from the staff) only to give up at the end when we asked a German family how they managed to get one booked. The same could be said when checking in, because they couldn’t speak English - they failed to tell us how the air conditioning worked and that you weren’t allowed to eat in other hotels restaurants.
We stayed in the Hotel Fulya, which you couldn’t fault on cleanliness or appearance, it absolutely marvellous to look at. There was plenty of seating in the reception area and very bright and clean. It had recently been revamped outside and looked excellent. The room itself was quite small but adequate, nice furnishings and flat screen TV (all German/Russian/Turkish channels apart from BBC World), but overall the room was very nice. The cleaning lady was good, and realised we didn’t need the 3 layers of sheets on the bed, so kindly took them away after the first night, and left us lovely animal models out of the towels?!
The staff politeness varied somewhat. The bar staff were great and always made the effort to communicate, couldn’t fault them on their service. However, reception and activity staff were quite different. When trying to book a tennis court, we went to the Activity teams office and explained we wanted to play tennis, to which this cocky employee flicked his tip box over on the counter and smiled. This was returned by throwing his tip box away and walking off in disgust. Reception staff just look at you as if you are dumb when they realise you aren’t German, and just shrug their shoulders over numerous questions, such as ‘where do we get the towels from’ or ‘we have checked out, but can we get a shower somewhere’. So overall its all varied levels of service, the restaurant staff were good, always ready to take your plate or get your drinks, it was just the communication barrier that I think made it largely tricky.
The food situation is also tricky to review because of the different elements. The choice and presentation of the food was very good, primarily catering for the German and Russian guests due to all the cheeses and funny looking sausages, but I personally didn’t mind sampling the different dishes, just after a while you get sick of chips and fancy some good old bangers n mash. Anyway, there was a vast choice of salad, fruit and breads, just on some occasions the hot meal choices got repetitive. However the desserts and ice creams were top notch, very rich and filling. Our first attempt of booking the specialist restaurant was a complete farce, with reception booking our reservation at 21.30 when the restaurant actually closed at 21.00 – again, more evidence to suggest they weren’t quite with it, but eventually got it rectified and the meal was very nice. The snacks however consisted of burgers, pizza’s, chips and a bit of lettuce, not a healthy sandwich to be seen.
Overall the holiday was quite mixed, after a few drinks it seemed a bit more bareable, however it is very frustrating being an extreme minority and not being able to get the information you need. The rep said that its 75 English speaking guests to 3000 which puts the numbers into context of how much of a minority you are. If you don’t mind the Russians and the Germans pushing in and being unfair with sun loungers, then you will have a superb time. I think the travel agents are partly to blame because they said there would always be a fluent English employee to help you, but this was not the case. I wouldn’t go back again because its catered more for families with young children, however the interior of the hotels and appearance of pools and restaurants would suggest otherwise.

3 readers found this review helpful

This is our 2nd visit to this complex. We stayed in the Hotel Fulya this time as it has just been refurbished and is in a central location. (Our Kamelya World stay was about 5 years ago)
Since our last visit, much of the complex has been extended and improved. The Kamelya World accomodation has not yet been updated - we were told it was not very good and found it needing refurbishment when were stayed in them 5 years ago.
However, the facilities in the complex would make up for this. The food, pools, facilities and activities are all excellent. The Kamelya rooms, resturant and pool are lively and tend to have more children staying there. The hotel Fulya has a cooler restaurant, with better quality furnishings and a more civilised atmosphere.
You can use all bars, snack bars and facilites throuought the complex, but have to stick to your own restaurant for lunch and dinner. You really have to see the complex to believe how good it is - if you look up the hotels own website it will give you a better picture - however, some photos are old. There were filming new video and taking photos while we were there - so this may appear soon.
Highlights include: Pools & waterslides, indoor pools, foam beach party, flat screen TVs in rooms and bars, quiet pool, Selin terrace cocktail bar, dragon beach bar. Dance shows - trained dancers mean if you like this sort of thing, the shows are generally better than the average ones you'll come across abroad. Also, a la carte restaurants - be quick to book these as soon as you can to avoid disappointment.
I would recommend anyone to go to this hotel as the value for money is outstanding - you really can eat and drink virtually all day and all night. All staff in the hotel are very friendly and really appreciate the British manners and happy disposition.
However, there are a few things you may like to consider - which if they are important to you, may affect your choices:
1. Kamelya world rooms not yet refurbished
2. There isn't anywhere near the hotel to "go for a walk". Shops in Colakli (5 min walk)are not glamorous. Shops in Kumquay are better (10 mins by dolmus) Side is about 30 mins away on the Dolmus and is excellent for Roman ruins, museum and shopping.
3. British people are very much in the minority in this hotel. It's mainly Russian guests, then German. Other nationalities, including British being the smallest contingents. English is sometimes used in day and night entertainment but not all staff speak English.
Having said the above - we met British people who were impressed with the complex, most of who had been before, or would visit again.

2 readers found this review helpful

2 weeks from 17th July 05, 2 adults 2 kids, very large family room, and key fob controlled air con. (remove the fob from the key ring to leave it on all the time).
Free mini bar restocked daily with still and sparkling water, beer, Coke and Fanta. 2200 guests only 160 British - so get up early to bag your bed around the pool! - but plenty available on the beach all FOC - with towels supplied, which you are able to change every three days. Advise to book your special restaurants at the beginning of your holiday, as they do get booked up. Receptionist don’t all speak English - as German is their second lang. Food everywhere! there are snack bars on the beach, and ladies making pancakes.
There is food available all day, different bars serve different things, burgers, hotdogs, chips, jacket pots, fresh melon, kebabs, cookies - and the restaurants serving lunch and evening meals; something for everyone. one of the bars on the beach serves Becks Beer, which is in the all inclusive deal. But ice creams are chargeable. and they don’t like Lira, so take Euros - all the market traders like euros or pounds. Not too keen on there own currency. But always barter!! If you’ve got clean sterling notes (ones with no writing on) you can get a better price. Leather and gold very cheap, and good quality 'designer' clothes. This resort is mainly geared for German and Russian guests, so the evening entertainment team translate everything into about 5 languages, so it does make it very hard to listen for 'your translation' . There is Tenpin bowling in the Selin - 4 lanes and very cheap, but book it, as there is waiting list, and the Germans don’t like queuing and also are very rude!
Worth watching them queue for the waterpark to open at 10am, and running thru the kiddies pool to bag the best sunbeds, but be warned, they wont care if they knock your kids under the water in the process. We used the waterpark quite often, but based ourselves elsewhere. It’s worth standing back by the railings and watching them one morning. Took a trip to the water park in Antalya - not worth the money - only about 6 slides, very tame and cost £88 for the four of us, drinks very expensive and food very poor, no sunbeds left and very dirty- been to better for much less. went on the Thomas Cook trip to Antalya shopping and then onto the waterfalls - very good adult day out - but not ideal for kids.
Market is very busy, and the waterfalls are quite slippery with lots of steps. watersports on beach very cheap, banana boat etc. free canoes, pedaloes and windsurfing, but you do need to have lessons to windsurf. very enjoyable holiday - would definitely recommend it. Only down side is the language barrier - but I suppose we made no effort to speak Turkish.

Went with my husband and two daughters aged 12 and 10, never been all inclusive before and we were all very impressed with the food and drink that was on offer, something for everyone, and as it was all inclusive it even encouraged the children to try food they wouldn’t normally, everything beautifully presented, and the staff were great.
The room was comfortable and very clean, with the cleaner coming in daily, changing towels and sheets, the only downside was the bed settee the children used ,it was squeaky, I would have preferred two separate beds.
A man came in everyday to replenish the mini bar[ which is free] with water, beer, and soft drinks. they have speciality restaurants, Turkish, Chinese, fish and Italian, we tried the Turkish which was very good, and the Chinese, which wasn’t! You have to book these when you arrive, we never had a problem getting reservations, but some people seemed to. The resort is mainly geared up to Germans and eastern Europeans but don’t let this put you off, as because of this the standard is high, the only thing I recommend is that you take euros and not Turkish lire, as everything is priced in euros and you get ripped off if you pay with lire.
We had a couple of problems with air conditioning and the TV, but the staff sorted the problems out promptly. As with most people, a smile and please and thank you go a long way. We would certainly recommend Kamelya world, but mainly to families with children under the age of 14/15.