Palmiye Hotel

Have just come back from a week in Palmiye - don't know of many other places where each member of the family is so well catered for (I got to do my watersports, my wife got to take some dance lessons and relax by the pool and our 4-yr old had a great time in the Mini Club). Some tips for those who don't know about Club Med: - it is a french company, so expect to meet lots of french staff and guests (most staff spoke good English) - probably as a direct consequence of being French, the food is good (3 buffet meals per day) - the staff will try to cajole you into group activities (singalongs, dancealongs etc) by the pool or during the evening entertainment. Be prepared for it and try to get into the spirit of things - you'll have more fun. - Check the brochure/website carefully - each Club has a different focus (childcare, nightlife, types of sports on offer) - make sure to book the one thats right for you and you'll have a great time.

We stayed at the club for one week end of October with our three daughters (12, 2, 0 years). It was my first club holiday and I was sceptical about it, but there was no reason to be: Holiday was perfect. The whole complex is huge and so you never felt to be in the crowd, although the club was booked out. We stayed at the hotel and had two connected and nicely decorated rooms, I would say good 4 star standard. Our oldest daughter was happy in her teenager group, with the nightlife and the program and many children around. We were happy with the little ones to chill out in the sun or make nice walks at the beach. The water is wonderful, as the location with the mountains behind the hotel. Best of all is the food: Quite amazing what the Turkish cooks are celebrating three times a day, for all tastes with perfect local dishes and children food alike. The atmopshere is relaxed, the stuff is friendly, locals and internationals alike. If you are for total peace, might be not the place to go, but perfect for a relaxed week with some entertainment for the children. Only minor point: We thought to have booked a 'sea view room', it turned out to be a 'sea side room', so you might take care about that before you book... And be aware that it is mainly a french club, so that's the first language to speak, also for the cildren.

I stayed with my 3 teenage daughters (13, 16 and 17) for 2 weeks in Club Med Palmiye in july 2008. It was excellent. You have to like the weather which was very hot (up to 38 degrees Celcius). The food was very, very good and the sport facilities were also terrific. You can waterski and sail all day if you want. For me the big advantage was that my daughters could go out every night safely. First they visited the shows (which were not that bad) and after the show they went without me to the disco until 3 am. Under 18 you cannot order alchol. An advantage is that Club Med Palmiye is with the Club Med on Sicily one of the biggest with around 1500 guests so there were a lot of teenagers to meet. Rooms were basic but good (we stayed in the villagio). If you like the "Club scene", you like sports and you like excellent food, this is the place to be. Don't go when you are on a diet, want peace and tranquility and hate sport....

We have just spent one week at the Club Med Palmiye. The resort is excellent for families and also for couples and teenagers. The grounds are beautifully kept. The food is exceptional (the best I have ever had in an all inclusive resort), the choice and presentation of dishes excellent. The pool areas are good with a great kids club seperate pool area with waterslides. Beach towels are available. The only thing which lets this place down is the evening entertainment. It was usually very boring. Not at all up to the standard of other hotel shows. All in all a great place for a holiday.

We stayed for a week in June of last year and had a marvelous time. The location is out of this world. Your own bay in front, gorgeous mountains behind and no other hotels or buildings in sight. The grounds were covered with all kinds of flowers and waterways with real swans. The food was great even our picky kids enjoyed everything they tried. Many delicious Turkish dishes as well as International ones. We had two connected rooms which worked out great. More space for kids and more privacy for us. Furniture was new and modern - nothing upscale except flat screen TV. Kids enjoyed the Mini club and the pool with water slides. It was lovely for us to have time as a couple while they were entertained and feed. We had absolutely no worries about the kids while they were away. We stayed at many other Club Meds (Cancun, Punta Cana, Beldi). With all honesty this was the best location so far. Planned to be in Kamarina/Sicily in two weeks because of our wonderful time in Palmiye and I don't see how it can be any better. We'll wait and see!

We stayed the first week of May 2008. The accommodation was excellent, the grounds well manicured. the facilities extensive and the food great. We were a party of 5 adults and 6 children ranging 2-10. There was plenty for everybody to do and the resort had a good mix of all nationalities. The only minor fault I had was the tennis lessons. I took the advanced lesson each morning from 8.30 - 9.30. It was all a bit casual. The class did not happen 2 days and finished each day at 9.15.

We just spent a week in October with our family of 4, kids aged 9 and 5 years old, during the European school holiday from oct. 27 to nov. 3. This large, 4 trident club med is situated in a private bay, with wonderful landscaping and a gorgeous beach. 4 pools, including kiddy pool with waterslides and large outdoor pool heated to 30° celsius every day. Lots of room, very little crowding (which is what I hate the most about many package holidays)! More than enough lounge chairs everywhere for everbody. No need to wake up at 5 am to stake out a chair. We go for the sports activities: here you have waterskiing, hobie-cat, windsurf... all included in the price. Also of course tennis, soccer, full fitness-aerobics program.... and flying trapeze lessons and a mini-cruise out to an isolated cove on a typical Turkish wood sailboat! Wonderful miniclub program, our 5 year old girl and our 9 year old boy made friends rapidly, had a choice of activities every hour, and really had fun. Kids from 6 and up are taken out waterskiing, on the hobie cats, there is also MBX biking, archery, water games, etc.... Gorgeous private beach, well equipped with wooden walking paths so you don't have to trudge around in the sand. Docks allow you to jump off into the turquoise water, delimited swimming areas ensure swimmers are not bothered by boats and surfers.... Ocean water was 25° - 23° in late october; swimming was wonderful, clear water and lots of fish to be seen! Outdoor eating every night, buffet restaurant is indeed huge but there were many empty tables and we always found a quiet place to sit. Wonderful food, exquisite vegetables... Turkish wine was quite good as well. This was the best all inclusive resort we have ever been to (been to about 4 or 5 others before). So what are the downsides? The bungalow rooms are very basic; they are dark and a little cave-like (probably intentional for in the extremelty hot summer) and feel a bit cool in october... Bathrooms are functional but very basic and a little mouldy; toilet ventilates into the entry hall! No terrace or outdoor area attached to your room. In general, you will not want to spend any time in your room except for sleeping and washing (and I even decided to take my showers in the central turkish bath or sauna!) But that's OK , you can just go to one of the many lovely outdoor bar areas to read your book or have a drink. => However if you have young children who will take a long nap in the afternoon you would be cooped up in a dark room all day, so not a good choice (prefer the adjacent club med hotel rooms with sea-view terrace). Other down point, for us: we go for the sports and the childrens infrastructure, not for the "clubby" atmosphere or nightlife. We don't like loud music by the pool (here you can always get away from it but you might have to pick up your stuff and move) We don't like loud disco music at night either... and you can hear the loud animations in every bungalow until about 11:30 or midnight each night when the pary goes inside to the nightclub. We also don't like sitting with other people at dinner... There were tables for 4 available or it was easy to keep a table for 6 just for as as there were many empty tables everywhere. This did not bother us too much though.

We hadn't been to the Club Med for years but after hearing favourable comments lately, decided to give it a go again. Reservation was unusually easy and flexible on the Club Med web site. We paid the extra and took a suite at the hotel. This was very comfortable. Large bedroom, large sitting room, 2 bathrooms, loads of wardrobe space, 2 flat-screen TVs, radio and CD player, 2 balconies with sea-view, Nespresso cofee machine (with complementary capsules), mini-bar with complementary drinks, safe, free WiFi in-room, As we had a couple of days of rain during our stay, we appreciated the comfort of the room. The grounds are beautiful and immaculately kept. There are 12 tennis courts. 11 are good synthetic grass and 1 hard court. They are all in excellent condition. All food and drink are included in the price, yes even from the bar. We didn't spend a penny extra during the whole stay. The food was excellent and varied. Often, the food in hotels can be repetitive but here they have themes for each evening so this wasn't the case. There are quite a lot of children and so meal times can be a bit noisy. We had an excellent experience and would recommend this to anyone. It's terrific valuse for money

We stayed in this hotel half board basis and it was great. The rooms all had seaview balcony and the beach was so close and lovely. staff were great too and very close to everything in Alanya. Great Holiday. I recommend the Turkish baths trip that can be booked across the road.

We had our first Club Med holiday here in Palmiye in Turkey. As Club Med virgins we could not compare it with other locations, but other veterans we met rated the best they had been to. The staff were excellent on our (late) arrival at 1am and got us the room quickly. The rooms (we went for the village) are small but clean. When we go back we will probably stay in the hotel part(the resort has both village and hotel, the hotel being the 'quieter' area) as we could have had two joined rooms, whereas a bungalow room is just one room for all four of us. Facilities at the site are very good, with lots of staff and lots of equipment. I wanted to learn sailing the Hobie cats but these get booked up very quickly (be there prompt at opening time to book!). Also they often have regattas so no training, and on one day the wind was too strong. The GO's english was generally quite good but one sailing teacher was unable to progress beyond French with a lot of pointing. Other activities are more accessible, the pools (there are two main ones) are excellent and you're always able to find a spot nearby. The inclusive bar is excellent and although it's tempting you don't abuse it (well we didn't). Our two girls (2 and 3) went to Kids Club - very reluctantly at first but by the end they were dragging us there - mostly thanks to the fantastic GO's who really made their holiday special especially the outstanding 'Cid'. The man deserves a medal. Entertainment and special events such as the GO show were superlative as well, despite very tired kids. The food is plentiful and varied - we never got to try the special restaurant so cannot comment, but the main area was fine.