Orient Apartments

Have just come back from a week at the Orient Palace with my family having booked through Teletext holidays (Imperial travel). We went all-inclusive for the first time and were pleased with what was on offer having read some very mixed reviews!! The hotel itself is very cleanand well kept and the staff were very friendly and welcoming even though many could only speak a little english. The hotel is set on quite a steep slope which I feel would make it difficult for older people or disabled although they do have electric buggy carts to take guests up and down the hill from your rooms to the main building. The rooms were clean and spacious although the marble floors do echo every little noise! The view from our balcony was superb - looking out towards Alanya and the castle. The facilities were good with a choice of 3 pools, one with slides for the kids, and two of the pools have a bar to get your drinks and snacks from during the afternoon. There was also a sauna and Turkish bath in the Health centre for guests to use for free, although you do have to pay for additional services such as massage, aromatherapy etc.

The main restaurant offered a good selection of food for breakfast lunch and dinner which was a buffet service. The food was all freshly prepared with lots of salads, fresh fruit and hot food - the main meals at lunch and dinner weren't always clearly labelled! but were tasty and there was plenty of choice so even if we weren't entirely sure what it was we tried it then went back for more if we liked it! The lamb and chicken dishes in particular were very tasty. During the afternoon snacks like chips, hot dogs burgers and ice creams were available from the pool bar and there was a salad buffet at the terrace bar and from 5pm till 6pm there was a lovely selection of cakes and sweet things with tea and coffee on the terrace which became one of the highlights of our trip! At midnight there was also a snack buffet of salad soup and desserts on the terrace. We are quite fussy eaters but we never went hungry once during our stay!

There is a small supermarket on-site but it is priced in euros which did make it look expensive as they treat £1 as 1 euro. There were also a few shops and cafes/bars just down the road from the hotel.

It was a 5min walk down a slightly steep slope to the main road from where you can hop on the local dolmus to Alanya for only 1 lira, we did walk it one day but it took nearly an hour - not ideal in the heat! Taxis were easily available but we found them quite expensive. The hotel runs a bus every 30 mins to its own beach where there is a beach bar serving drinks and snacks (included in the all-inclusive) which was ok but was quite pebbly. The Kleopatra beach on the far side of Alanya from the hotel is the best bet if you're looking for a wide sandy beach. It is definitely worth the trip into Alanya for a good look round the shops as well as visiting the pretty harbour and going up to the Castle (great views!) Another nice trip is on the Dim river and Cavern in the mountains behind Alanya.

Overall we really like the hotel - the staff were very friendly and looked out for us, the food was good and very fresh and the facilities were great. Its an ideal place to go if your looking for a relaxing week were you don't really want much more than lazing by the pool! Not the place to go if you want to be surrounded by lots of British people as we were only 4 of about 50-odd British in the hotel, most were Russians. The downsides were the distance of the hotel from Alanya centre and the fact the hotel is built on a hill - ok for us but maybe not for those with walking difficulties.

One final point, the transfer from the airport is not for the faint-hearted nearly 3 hours for us - especially if you are booking through teletext and use their transfers as you will have to wait for several other flights coming in from the UK before the coach will set off (this took an hour in itself - not ideal when you're on a night flight!)

Sorry if I've rambled on but I hope it helps!!