Marmaris Saffron Apartments

We travelled to turkey at the end of june, when we got to our hotel and midnight, we wasnt greeted untill about 10 mins of standing there, as there was no one on reception, or all the time we were there. We got to our room, and thought they'd but us in the wrong one, as it was like a little square box!. No air con, little bathroom, dirty. And aslo no cooking facilites, no hob ect. Only a fridge a kettle on top, with a few glasses, As we were self catering we thought that this couldnt be right, so we sleeped on it, and consoluted the rep the next day, to our supprise, he didnt really care, and left saying he could not deal with it, which is dreadfull. So we were stuck in this room, then we asked the hotel manager who didnt care, if we could move, he moved us to the room below, which was the same but with aircon. This was awwfull. The hotel wasnt clean, there was one member of staff who was nice, the kitchen, was alittle dirty shack, that we could see from the window of our room, as we had no balcony. And dont eat there, there were potatoes left out all day with flies on! The only good thing about the hotel was the location, I advise you not to go to this hotel, it is awfull!Also wires were hanging out in our room, and wardrboe fell on my head, air con was leaking all holdiay, and ther is a brothal oppostite above little mini supermarket, in which they charge different prices, different time, same as hotel, they change the prices, and the pool, was ok! But had to fight for a sun bed, I would rate this hotel 0star!!!

If you come to Saffron Apartments expecting to actually be able to prepare your own meals in the apartment's kitchen area, then you're in for a disappointment. You get a two ring kitchen-top unit and that's it. No kettle, toaster, oven, grill. You do get a fridge, but ours had the top freezer section door missing and it consequently dripped inside constantly, and the door didn't close properly. Basic cutlery is provided, along with one saucepan, one frying pan, four plates and three bowls. No tea towels or dishcloths. There are plenty of little food shops immediately around the apartments, but they only provide the very basics - there's no decent grocery/delicatessen provision unless you're prepare to travel around and look for it in a larger 'supermarket'. Something that's difficult to do in the hot summer months. Restaurant fare in Marmaris is almost exclusively English, catering for those who want the sun but aren't interested in exploring the local culture. Food is cheap here, though, so it's not that taxing to have to eat out all the time. You'll find a few Turkish dishes on most menus, but they're heavily Anglicised for the British palate and more expensive than the ubiquitous burgers/pizzas.

Noise: don't expect to be able to escape loud disco music and doors constantly slamming until 12am when it all stops. At Saffron there's a small swimming pool facing the main street, but it is quite small. Take your own towels as you can't use theirs at the pool. Our two bedroomed apartment was in fact one bedroom and one living room with sofa beds, and the air con (£20 a week extra) was a unit in the bedroom only - none in the rest of the apartment.

Good thing about this holiday is that the Turkish people ARE very friendly and don't turn nasty if you don't buy from them. The excursions (cheaper if booked in town rather than through your rep) are very good value and give you something to DO other than lounge on the beach (10 mins walk away) or round the pool, and lots of wide-ranging excursions are available. We visited the beach once only(!) as 1. even 10 mins is a long walk in the strong heat, 2. it's jam-packed, and 3. it's a fairly nasty, volcanic grit beach that's quite narrow (about the length of your living room to the water's edge) and being non-tidal, it's always like that!

That's about it. The holiday spirit is much needed to get the most out of a stay in Marmaris.