Best For Turkey with young kids ?

Britta

Hi All,

We're off work next week and there are some very cheap flights to Turkey (Antalya and Bodrum) on offer.....

We are two adults, 1 almost 5 year old and 1 almost 2 year old.

Would love some tips on what resorts are best for young families like us that we can get to from Antalya and Bodrum. Either the resorts or specific hotel tips.

- Doesn't have to be all inclusive, but I guess that's easiest with the kids.
- High quality, cleanliness etc
- Kids pool
- Sandy beach
- Not rowdy but not posh !

Prefer to keep the transfer time down to e.g. under an hour but if there is somewhere really special then it's OK, it's just our daughter tends to get car-sick

miamoo

I would look for as short a transfer as possible if your daughter is car sick. My daughter used to be travel sick and a non airconditioned coach, plus a bumpy road makes even a 30min journey seem like 3hrs!

Depending on where you are flying to, the Turgutries area looks lovely, short transfer, and family friendly.

littlereddevil

Depending on when you are going Turkey can be very hot for little uns

balletshoes

if you want all-inclusive, the Antalya resorts are generally better known for their AI over the Bodrum peninsula (I love the Bodrum area, but the hoteliers are traditionally more into self catering or b&b/half board there).

If your top requirement isn't AI, then I'd say look at Bitez or Turgutries from Bodrum - both are less than one hour from the airport, and you can go as basic or as posh as you like really.

Britta

Thanks for the replies.

The Bodrum flights got full while we were deciding so ended up with Antalya flights and then booked a big AI hotel called Pegasos world.

Now just got to sort out the transfers and we are all set

spheric

As it happens, I was at Pegasos World at the start of the month... Anything you want to check out?

I'd paid extra to get upgraded to one of the "family suites" - which essentially gets you two rooms, one double and one twin. It looked like quite a nice upgrade for the £30 or so (each) extra we paid.

The market at managvat really wasn't all that exciting, but it was only a cheap dolmus ride away. Side was very touristy, but worth going for a day.

The beach snack bar was closed (too early in the season) but is apparently better than the pool-side snack bar, which wasn't wonderful. The main restaurant serves a plenty decent lunch.

Oh, and enjoy the pancakes for breakfast... Lots and lots of pancakes

Britta

Thanks a lot !
Kids will love the pancakes ....

The room upgrade sounds good - was that done when you arrived ?

Anyone got any thoughts on the transfer ? pre-book or grab something at the airport ? Maybe it's best to pre-book so we can get a baby seat for the littlest one.

spheric wrote: »

As it happens, I was at Pegasos World at the start of the month... Anything you want to check out?

I'd paid extra to get upgraded to one of the "family suites" - which essentially gets you two rooms, one double and one twin. It looked like quite a nice upgrade for the £30 or so (each) extra we paid.

The market at managvat really wasn't all that exciting, but it was only a cheap dolmus ride away. Side was very touristy, but worth going for a day.

The beach snack bar was closed (too early in the season) but is apparently better than the pool-side snack bar, which wasn't wonderful. The main restaurant serves a plenty decent lunch.

Oh, and enjoy the pancakes for breakfast... Lots and lots of pancakes

spheric

Britta wrote: »

Thanks a lot !
Kids will love the pancakes ....

The room upgrade sounds good - was that done when you arrived ?

Anyone got any thoughts on the transfer ? pre-book or grab something at the airport ? Maybe it's best to pre-book so we can get a baby seat for the littlest one.

We did the upgrade at the time of booking, seeing that it wasn't much extra, not really knowing how much extra space it'd give us... If the hotel have availability, then you may be able to get it on arrival.

As for transfers, I personally prefer to get it all sorted beforehand, - that way I can stumble off the plane as a bit of a zombie, and not have to think about anything until I've gotten to the hotel and had a nap, shower and some food & drink.

Make sure you have some £10 notes to buy the turkish entry visas at the airport.

On the last day, grab some bottles of water before heading back to the airport. Antalya airport searches you on the way in for guns/explosives etc, but liquids aren't confiscated until the gate. The shops at the airport are expensive, so go prepared.

The pound shops have some inflatables in at the moment, and it may be worth taking a beach ball or swim ring etc rather than buying at the hotel.