Halici Holiday Village

I visited the Halici holiday village for 2 weeks, mid August this year with my family. I can safely say we had a wonderful holiday and are already considering going back next year with more friends and family.

First things first, you may have read several negative reviews of Halici. Please take note of the poor grammar, vocabulary and punctuation of the majority of these reviews (work it out!) At 17, I cringed at some of the reviews by these 'educated' adults. These were the exact sort of people at our hotel whom complained about just about anything they could find including:

● The poolside being slippery- yes, well done, when a surface gets wet with people jumping in and out of the pool all day it is bound to become slippery!! The pool was however cleaned thoroughly on a daily basis and re-chlorinated in the evening. Some mentioned it was overloaded with chlorine- absolute rubbish! The only thing I found it overloaded with was sun cream- which was expected! Several complained about getting various ear infections because of the pool and how it wasn't cleaned properly. This was not from the pool being dirty, how could it be if it was cleaned daily?! I and another member of my family suffered from slight ear problems for a couple of days and found it was from the pressure put on your ears from constant jumping in and out of the pool. This was soon treated by some ear drops from a local pharmacist- no problem.

● More complaints were about the staff!?! We found all of the staff at Halici very friendly and helpful. If you go to Turkey expecting the workers in your hotel to speak perfect English you are ridiculously deluded! THEY ARE TURKISH! Can you speak as much Turkish as they can English? I think not. Perhaps ignorance should be replaced by taking in interest in their language whilst staying there. I certainly learnt a few handy phrases. Bearing in mind most of the waiters in the hotel work 6.30-22.00, 10 days on/1 day off and the barmen 8.30- early hours of the morning. They still provide ridiculously good service and are constantly on their feet waiting to take your plates/cups away to be cleaned. Believe it or not a friendly smile and chat will go away compared to many rude, arrogant Brits expecting 5* and perfection- when looking at most of them, they were far from it!

● Steps and location. Halici is at the top of a moderately steep hill. It also has several steps to the reception/bar/pool and restaurant. These steps lead to an extraordinary view of the sea and mountains across Marmaris which many other hotels in the area lack. People still managed to complain about these. The steps are advertised on the hotel/booking website! So if you are elderly, with very young children (pushchair age) or simply very overweight and physically unfit enough to exert 5 minutes of stair climbing DO NOT stay at Halici. We found the stairs no problem (nor did the 5 year old of our party) and found they were a great help in burning off the copious amount of alcohol consumed that fortnight!

● Food and drinks. The bar was open 10-22.30 at night as all inclusive and after this time you have to pay for drinks or go out and explore Marmaris- which is fair enough, they have to make a profit somewhere! If you are not satisfied with this please save us all your complaining and stay in England. Various soft drinks were available- Pepsi, Pepsi light, Fanta, 7up, Water and Juices. The alcoholic beverages for free included Beer, Wine, Raki, Vodka, and Gin. I was easily merry by 22.30 and having a great time!!

The food in the restaurant was variations on a theme but this is expected as it's mass catering for 600+ people. Everyday there was a huge salad bar, chips, soup, rice, fresh bread, pizza, a pasta dish and then usually a chicken or beef dish and vegetarian options. I don't know how anyone couldn't find anything to eat from such a large selection. I met various 'people' who were exclaiming how they couldn't possibly eat anything and how their holiday was costing them a fortune from eating out everyday- well guess who's fault that is?

Another apparent 'problem' was the 'food hygiene' you guessed it more complaints, oh and even a petition. Surprise, surprise. Some people really do have to much spare time to complain in. I did not see any problems with the hygiene. The hot food was served on hot, metal containers and then stored suitably afterwards. The cold salad bar was on a refrigerated area with the majority covered in cling film and only the part being used exposed. In the UK under health and hygiene rules, food can be used, stored and reused for up to 72 hours. SO, when you read about the hotel 'recycling' the lunch time rice/chicken for dinner, they are allowed to do so and the food is still perfectly fine to eat! Finally, it's a hot country- you are bound to get some insects/wasps- deal with it.

● The rooms and accommodation. Absolutely fine. Fresh linen and towels were provided daily and the apartment was cleaned well. The beds were nice enough and the room included a kitchen area, balcony, working shower and hairdryer. Air-con was fabulous and well worth the £35 for 2 weeks (2 rooms.) Some complaints from various about no TV but really... who wants to come on holiday and watch TV? Get out and see the sights! The hotel itself has a Turkish market and dancers once a week, 2 pools and 1 baby pool, (kids never get bored of swimming!) a park and tennis courts. Outside of Halici there is plenty to do including boat trips, aqua parks, jeep safari or simply see the sights and explore Marmaris. There is a beautiful beach 5 minutes away from the hotel which runs all the way to Marmaris town centre.

All in all we had a lovely time for a much cheaper price than expected. Thank you to all the likeminded people and wonderful staff of Halici who allowed us to still have a great holiday despite all the ignorant, whinging, complainers of Britain. If you don't appreciate a beautiful country- PLEASE stay at home next year!

WOW. What a massive dissapointment the halici holiday village turned out to be, at first it looked amazing but after a couple of days we'd more than had enough,our main problem was the food and drink which was pretty dire.

so if your taking youngsters with you be very careful. When you take a walk down the main strip be prepared to be pesterd by every shop owner they are real pains and can spoil it for you if you let them,good points were the sun and the second much quieter pool and a steak house on the corner at the bottom of the hill called the magic garden, we had an english breakfast every morning and our tea there every night because the all inclusive we had payed for was that bad, i'm not joking it was vile and i'm not posh or a fussy eater but i could'nt handle it, so get yourselves down to the magic garden, the staff there are great and make you feel right at home and comfortable,also do the jeep safari what a top day that is also the turkish bath which is a nice treat. don't think we'd bother with turkey again and defo, defo,defo, defo never even consider the halici tatil koyu holiday village again.

I have never written a holiday review before but felt compelled to offer our experiences of the Halici Holiday Village hotel. I read the reviews before I booked the hotel and thought that on balance the hotel was generally okay. And I am pleased to say that is what we found. I thought it was definitely not 4* luxury and at best is looking at 3* but as long as you accept that, and that you don't get a 4* hotel at 2* money then you will have a good time. The rooms were basic but very clean, think of a Greek villa (like the hotel in the film Mama Mia) and you won't be far wrong. Ours was cleaned every day, with fresh bedding and towels. I checked the mattress and it was immaculate. The pillows in our sons room were hard, but he complained and new ones were brought by the next night. Fresh towels every day and apart from a couple of occasions we had hot water.

The rooms all have air conditioning which we left on all day and it was lovely, and a small balcony. There are lots of steps to the rooms, but the hotel is up in the hills surrounding Marmaris so what do you expect. The views were absolutely breath taking.

The pool was great and cleaned every day, the all inclusive drinks did run out at 10.30 pm but we all just toddled off to the apple bar or garden bar at the bottom of the hill to finish the night off, and had a good laugh with the staff.

The food was the only thing I can think to say anything negative about and to be honest it wasn't that bad. I thought there was little choice, with only one hot meat dish on offer every night so if you didn't like it, tough luck. Lots of salad and fresh bread, but it was all very Turkish, but hey, your in turkey!! We did eat out a couple of times and to be honest we only had bad stomachs from food we had eaten outside the hotel, never once did any of us get ill from the hotel food.

Marmaris is great, loads to do and see, Icemelar is a quieter more sedate Marmaris and well worth a visit day or night. In this hotel you are ideally placed to access both by the dolmus which run every couple of minutes. On the beach front there are many quieter places to eat and drink and we had a great day at one hotel on the beach front. Hotel Orsmaris boutique let us use their beach sunbeds (gorgeous) for free, gave us free towels and even let us use their pool (which only had us in it all day, so was a private pool) and never once hassled us to buy food or drink. We even brought drinks and snacks with us. We did however had lunch in their restaurant as it was so nice and it was really cheap.

Overall and to summarise I would say that this is a pretty, rustic hotel set in a breath taking location. To be honest, you get what you pay for and we paid bed and breakfast price for all inclusive!! If you view it as B and B with food and drinks thrown in for free you will not be disappointed. If you are used to and expect 4* Luxury then I wouldn't book this hotel, but if you don't mind a clean basic base for a great holiday then go ahead and book. We had great fun, met great people and thoroughly enjoyed our 2 week stay.

We stayed in the Halici Holiday Village for a week on the 29th June. We arrived in the early hours of the morning and after a horrendous transfer our bags were carried up the 200 steps by the handyman who was always on call and very friendly. And this being my 9th time in Turkey I love the culture and the friendliness of the people, but the staff at the Halici totally changed my opinion. I thought the bar staff were rude and obnoxious and seemed totally unable to deal with the volume of customers at the bar. All inclusive and no entertainment at the complex - we had to go down the street to the Apple Bar where the staff really made you feel welcome, and the food was great. The views from the Halici Village were stunning and really made the holiday worthwhile. Although classified as a four star hotel I would say it was more a two plus.

We went to Halici Holiday Village for 7 days from 19th July. After extensive delays we finally arrived at 5 in the morning and then had to carry our cases up 200 steps until we finally reached the room. We made it down in time for lunch the next day, having read a few reviews I was not expecting amazing food but I was unprepared for dishes such as pasta and tomato ketchup, I didn't even eat that when I was a student. We persevered and tried to make the most of it but the food got worse as the week went on in my opinion. We were only able to drink the beer (until it ran out) as we thought everything else tasted like harpic. I eventually cleaned my jewellery in the gin when we were leaving. There was no entertainment on whatsoever and the bar area became very dark at night. The air conditioning in the rooms lasted approximately 40 mins before it had to be reset so this resulted in interrupted sleep as it was very hot.

I looked at other people's review before we went and as some had given it 9/10 and others 1/10 I took an average and thought we would make the best of it and surely the food couldn't really be that bad - it was!!

The holiday was all inclusive yet we had to go out and eat because the lack of choice of food was terrible. We would have been better going self catering. A complete disappointment.

We had a wonderful week at Marmaris, good value for money and not slap bang in the middle of the towm so quite serene.

An excellent holiday, will definately be going back. The staff in the restaurant, bar and the cleaners were amazing. So nice and polite. Not been on a better holiday.

We came back after 10 nights of our 2 week holiday because we weren't enjoying ourselves!

Firstly the hotel:

*It was definitely not a 4*; more 2* standard, especially the food!

*We were all inclusive, but on our first night we were told by the barman that we weren't allowed free drinks until 4:30pm, even though we were supposed to be allowed them all day!

*A lot of people found the hill up to Halici and the steps to the rooms very difficult! We didn't find them too bad, and we felt it was worth it for the spectacular views. However, we went in September when it is not too hot, so that probably made it easier!

*The food in the hotel was very poor. Lots of other other people in Halici thought so too! Some nights the food was OK, eg. chicken kebab rice and chips, but a lot of nights it's chicken or pork, which tasted awful! There was not much available for vegetarians. There were lots of salads, but there was no hot food for vegetarians except rice and chips! We expected to see stuff like burgers, pizzas and quiches etc., but there were none! Also, food was only available at set times. At other times we had to pay for food, even though we were all inclusive!

*Rooms were OK. They were cleaned every day and clean towels were brought. The downside was that the beds were really hard, and the bed cover was really small, thin and horrible material. The pillows were also hard!

*The shower was good and very powerful, and there was hot water most of the time! The bathroom did smell pretty bad because of the poor sewage system in Turkey!

*The pool was OK. Quite busy, but we always managed to find a sunbed! The pool bar had a beautiful view across the sea, as did the restaurant and some of the rooms.

Now for the resort:

*The worst thing was all the hassle from locals! Everywhere we went there were people trying to sell us stuff. They would come out of their shops, bars, restaurants and travel agents and pester us to go in. If we said we weren't interested they would shout down the street at us, and we really couldn't relax! Even on the beach, the restaurant staff would be trying to sell us food and drinks!

*The poor sewage system meant that really bad smells would waft around in the streets now and again, which was really unpleasant! The hygiene standards were not like other European countries, and we often had bad stomachs!

*The beaches in Marmaris are not very narrow, and the sea is lovely and clear, but there are lots of reeds and plants on the sea bed, which weren't nice to walk through, but many people weren't bothered by it!

If you want a cheap holiday with great bargains in the shops and to sit on the beach a lot, you are likely to enjoy it! If you get bored by sitting on the beach and shopping all day, it's not the place to go! We don't recommend Halici Holiday Village because the food is so bad. You have to eat out lots, and it's a waste of money going all inclusive!

The staff are very friendly at the Halici Holiday Village in Marmaris, and the hotel is very clean. The room was cleaned every day. The view was very nice, overlooking the sea. The food was fresh and very nice. The pool was warm and clean. And it was right near the bars and shops, but far enough away from noise.

I loved it.