Nicholas Heights Review

Overall Rating

Location, ambience, quality of rooms

Evening meals

Hi, this is a long but detailed and very fair review!

We have just returned from a week at St Nicholas Heights, and it certainly lived up to our expectations. Our only regret is that we booked half board, we did not enjoy the evening meal on the first night, although the breakfasts were fantastic (cold buffet and a la carte cooked choice). Other guests we spoke to seemed to be very pleased with the quality of the food in the evenings, however it was not for us. We are not fussy eaters in the slightest, but although the food was very well presented, we thought it did not taste as good as it looked! Also, there are several meal options blanked out on the menu for half board guests (when we complained to the rep, the hotel denied this so it may have changed following our complaint!) and also please be aware that the brochure (First Choice) is incorrect regarding the option to eat out three nights in Hisaronu. When we asked about the 'selection of restaurants' available to us we were advised we could eat at the sister hotel or one in Kaya which is over 10km away! In the end we cut our losses and ate out every night, and we did not have a bad meal. There are so many decent restaurants in Fethiye and Olu Deniz you would do better to go bed and breakfast. Restaurants to go to include the Olive Tree, Robin Hood and Dragonaro (Chinese) in Hisaronu, and if you venture into Olu Deniz you can't go far wrong with Captain Hooks or Buzz Beach Bar.

Food at the hotel aside, the rest of the holiday was amazing. The hotel is the quietest, calmest place we have ever been to. If you are looking for thumping music by the pool all day, evening entertainment, lager louts and screaming kids everywhere then this is not the place for you. There are none of the above, and that's what makes the hotel so special. The views are breathtaking, everything is impeccably clean, other guests and staff are very friendly (although it is true that many of the staff don't speak great English, but you are in Turkey so this shouldn't be a complaint! With a bit of patience you will communicate what you want!) The rooms are amazing - we had a jacuzzi suite and we don't think we will ever stay anywhere like it again. It was HUGE! The TV is on the wall in the lounge area, the room is so big you can barely watch it from your bed! The bathroom is massive with a double shower, king size bed, lots of beautiful little touches like nice little bottle of champagne on arrival and twinkly fairy lights above the jacuzzi. You definitely need to spend a little extra and have a jacuzzi suite. I cannot put into words how fabulous the room and the views were.

The location of the hotel is very convenient. It is set far enough out of the resort to be peaceful, but close enough to be accessible to both Hisaronu and Olu Deniz. You can take a very pleasant 10-15 min walk through a pine forest to reach Hisaronu centre, or a taxi or dolmus down to Olu Deniz (bus is 2.5 lire and you can get it from the bottom of the hill outside the hotel (2 mins away). The hotel also has its own private beach down at the lagoon and runs a shuttle bus there twice a day. The lagoon is peaceful but personally we prefer Olu Deniz beach as the sea is clearer and the beach nicer looking. Be warned you need beach shoes (you can get them for a bout a fiver there) because between the sand and the sea there is a lot of rock and shingle which is hot and sharp!

If you find yourself getting a little bored lounging by the infinity pool (stunning views over the bay - how could that be boring!?) then we would definitely recommend a boat trip. We booked ours through 'Explorer' on Hisaronu main street - Ahmet in their was extremely helpful. When we said we had heard that the 12 island boat trip was good he simply said, "I don't recommend it and don't think you'd like it - loud music, up to 250 people, too much sailing!" This was enough to put us off and he sold us a 5-stop boat tour leaving from Fethiye. For £11 you get an all day trip, 10-5, fantastic barbecue lunch, there were only 18 people on our boat (all decent and very friendly!), and 5 stops at beautiful little coastal bays, where you can dive off the boat, swim, fish, snorkel or simply soak up the sun. It was a fantastic, relaxing day and well under-priced. Definitely worth a try.

My partner had 3 Turkish shaves whilst in Hisaronu and would definitely recommend it to other men! We went to Moonstar barbers on the main street where the 3 guys in their were super friendly. For 6 lire he got a full shave, head, shoulder and back massage which lasted about half an hour. We paid 10 lire because it was ridiculously cheap!

The last thing I would like to add, which is a moan but did put a dampener on our holiday (nothing to do with our hotel!) is that we would not recommend travelling here with First Choice. We felt they provided a very British service, offering awful flight times from most of the Midlands and London airports. We flew from Birmingham at 11pm on a Thursday night, arriving in Turkey on the Friday morning. We only found out on our last day (the following Thursday) that we had been booked into our hotel from the Thursday night (when we were in Birmingham airport) and were expected to checkout at 12pm the following Thursday, despite not flying home until the Friday morning at 5am! Luckily the hotel manager was very accommodating and for £20 we got a later checkout until 5pm, but still had 12 hours until our flight. We will be making a formal complaint to First Choice, as I find it disgusting that they book us into a hotel the night we are at an English airport! We did not have this problem with Thomas Cook last year when we had similar flight times. So my advice would be to check everything thoroughly before you book, which I thought I did - I never realised when I booked a week's holiday I would only get 6 nights at my hotel! Maybe first choice work on a different calender to the rest of us?

All in all, I would say that if you are thinking of Nicholas Heights, then definitely go for it. Have a jacuzzi suite, but go bed and breakfast as there are many fab restaurants to choose from. This is a truly tranquil, relaxing and essentially superior hotel, in a class of it's own. There are only really couples there and everyone is so friendly and looking for the same sort of holiday. Enjoy peaceful, quiet days by the pool, and if you want something more at night then Hisaronu is a walk away and Olu Deniz a 5 min bus ride (Olu Deniz is a much calmer pace, and we preferred it having been there last year and enjoying it as much this year). I feel that entertainment at this hotel would spoil it. I can't see how anyone could be disappointed with the quality of this hotel overall.