Akyaka, Yucelen Hotel & Apartments

We ate breakfast only in the hotel from a buffet which was adequate but would not have wanted to eat all our meals there as there was little variation.

There are several good restaurants in the village only a short distance away and superb fish restaurants on the Azmak River a 15 minutes stroll.

The hotel was very clean and the staff extremely helpful but we would not return due to the dog problem (we are dog lovers but not when they are in such numbers around food and fouling the beach) There were also numerous cats constantly begging for food in most of the restaurants.

Great location with really friendly people. Immaculately clean with a large majority of the staff being multi lingual. The town itself has plenty of bars and restaurants all very reasonably priced. Organised boat trip to Cleopatra's beach was a great day out.

Overall a great experience. Considering I used to do long haul holidays I was amazed to find this gem just 3.5 hours from Gatwick. I have no hesitation in recommending this for everyone.

Perfect location very helpfull staff. The rooms were very clean I could go on, it really is a superb hotel.

We thought the breakfast was the best we have ever had in our many years of travel to turkey. well done Yucelen Hotel!

The flight out to Turkey was a good start to the holiday. We flew with Air Malta, and the seats were comfortable and roomy enough.

Anatolian Sky provided well organised and efficient transfer for the few people travelling to Akyaka (from Dalaman Airport), and the Yucelen hotel itself provided good basic accommodation for our bed-and-breakfast stay. It's an attractive setting, with well maintained pool, friendly staff, good service, and clean, air-conditioned rooms.

The local town is small, quiet and friendly, with excellent restaurants. Wherever else you eat, you must try Golden Roof Restaurant, closely followed by the nearby fish restaurant on the river - a wonderful setting and delicious fresh fish (called the Kordon Restaurant, if I remember correctly).

It's a safe and attractive area for walking, and has a sociable, friendly atmosphere without warranting the ubiquitous description "lively". It is perfect for families and couples, but perhaps teenagers / 20+ would want more night-life.

We have stayed at Yucelen Hotel & Apartments 5 times, generally with a group of friends, who like us have all fallen in love with Akyaka and the Yucelen. The hotel location is superb and the village idyllic ! If you want peace and quiet, with lots of sun sand and sea, then there cannot be a better location than this. The whole village is friendly, the beach front cafe/restaurants are excellent, we particularly enjoyed the Gulsah, and the live Turkish folk music. The restaurants in the village are also superb, particularly the golden roof (try mama's special) an evening walk up the hill to be pampered with a Turkish shave/massage is also a must ! Also, take a taxi to the restaurant up the hill on the road to Mugla, excellent setting and panoramic views!

One benefit of being in a group of nine people was that we could charter a boat privatly, we book with Nisha ( captains) on the jetty, and twice hired a large sloop for the day for about £14 per person including a BBQ lunch !! excellent value!!

Yucelen Hotel & Apartments are very conveniently located within the resort of Akyaka, just a two minute walk to many of the restaurants located on the sea front and a five minute walk to the shops.

The shops are basic and will provide you with the essentials if you are self catering within the hotel appartments.

The resort itself is small and still quite traditional so there are not many souvenir shops - if you want markets to try out your haggling skills and bigger shops for clothes and jewellery you'll need to take a trip to Marmaris (a much busier,louder 18 - 30s kind of resort).

We stayed in one of the hotel rooms as opposed to the apartments. The hotel and grounds are beautiful - palm trees, a spring running through the grounds, ducks, fish and turtles - what more could you ask for! If you can get a pool view room - do. Our balcony was just above the area that the ducks and turtles congregate which was lovely. The ducks do give you quite a wake up call about 7:30 though! Not a bad thing as this is the time that you need to get your towels out! The whole putting the towels out before you sun bathe is not something we would normally condone but at this hotel, when it's busy, you need to get them out early to get a decent sun bed. Everyone does it so there isn't a problem with it at all.

The staff at the hotel are lovely, all very friendly and eager to please. The brochure we had mentioned an indoor pool, fitness centre, jacuzzi, sauna etc. At the time we visited the fitness cetnre didn't exist, the sauna was closed, the indoor pool freezing cold and in need of a little TLC and the jacuzzi was broken. We believe that parts of the hotel are still going through refurbishment and these things will probably be looked at shortly. DON'T let this put you off going to the hotel - it is lovely and the fact that these things weren't available did not marr our holiday in the slightest. There is plenty of shade if you need it around the pool and a nice touch is that there is complimentary tea and cake at 5pm each day.

The restaurants along the sea front sell a variety of very reasonably priced food - the drinks are a little more expensive compared to the food, especially wine. A basic meal (starter, main course and a drink) costs about £8 each. Our particular favorite restaurants were Yagmur on the sea front - the staff are so friendly and will give you a very warm welcome, especially if you take the time to learn a little Turkish before hand (we'll be puting a basic language guide on our website www.adamandlyn.co.uk before the end of 2005!) and ATI - a short walk up the hill from the hotel into the main square.

Anatolian Sky are a very good tour operator. On pick up from the airport in Turkey we received a complimentary bottle of water each - we thought this was a very nice touch as it was rather warm out! They offer plenty of trips - jeep safari (great fun), one day trip to Ephesus or a two day overnighter to Pamukkale and Ephesus (a little rushed but worth the while we thought), a moonlight cruise along the Dalyan river past the rock tombs with a visit to Caunos (a wonderful trip - do it on the Sunday, the day before you come home, it's a perfect end to the holiday).

We hope the above gives you a good idea of what to expect.

Do go to Akyaka and stay at the Yucelen Hotel, it's super!

Enjoy!