Olu Deniz, Montebello Hotel

Me and my wife went to Turkey for our holiday the first 2 weeks in September 2007 and stayed at the Montebello Hotel in Olu Deniz. This is not to be confused with their sister hotel the Montebello Beach Hotel, which we did not visit and we can't comment on that hotel.

The hotel is generally in good condition, pleasantly decorated and well maintained. The pool, which was renewed over winter (in-laws went here last year) is clean and of a good size. There's also a jacuzzi and a kiddies pool, both are sufficient. There's plenty of sunbeds available and we only had trouble getting a sunbed the first few days. This was due to a few selfishly minded people who would put towels on beds the night before and then not use them and instead stay in bed or disappear to the beach or the bar. One particular woman struck me as being very selfish as she would have 2 sunbeds each day and after a few days it was clear she was on her own and simply used the 2nd bed to put her bag on and dry her towel! Bearing in mind that we actually had to lay on her lilo's one day and other people just didn't get a bed at all, this was a 'thorn in my eye'! I can only fault the staff that they did not enforce the signs all around the pool which stated the rules with regards to the sunbeds. But that's the only thing you can fault them for. They all work hard and are friendly for the whole of their long shifts (16-18hour shifts daily are 'normal'). The few English people who were rude to the staff when they were obviously just trying to be friendly and act from their Turkish cultural background, are typically also the people that complained about everything. 10/10 to the staff for me though!

The hotel is cheap to book and the room was basic as a result, but clean and includes air conditioning so the value for money is optimal in that respect. The food at the hotel is very greasy and drenched in poor quality (olive) oil. The drinks are slightly overpriced. Not compared to English prices, but compared to the surrounding shops, bars and restaurants. Buying water for example, which is essential, would cost you about £40-50 more over a period of two weeks and that's not mentioning the crisps, ice creams etc. The BBQ night at the hotel is an exception to this, for £10 pp each you get 25 Turkish Meze dishes to choose from, a big BBQ with plenty of meat, a free glass of wine and a whole night of entertainment (Salsa dancing, Breakdancing and Bellydancing). Excellent night, great atmosphere.

Olu Deniz is a lovely resort. As always the restaurants and tour companies try to get you to buy from them, but they are very friendly and never aggressive or rude. Places we ate at and definitely recommend are: Captain Hooks (at Asena Beach Hotel, main strip, centre), Bella Gusto and Buzz Beach Bar (both at Seafront) and Phillips Bar and Cafe (main road to beach). All excellent in their own capacities/menu's. More disappointing were Ata Lagoon (main road to beach) and Cherry Chow (Main strip, centre) both restaurants looked nice and the food was OK, but not special and even a bit of a school-canteen approach at Cherry Chow.

The Blue Lagoon is well worth the visit and so is the beach. Bring some kind of water shoes though because the beach has shingles rather than sand, which could hurt your feet.

We booked through TravelRepublic.co.uk and picked our own flights, transfers and hotel which proved to be easy, efficient and very good value for money. We easily saved £300/400 if not more compared to similar packages with companies such as Thomas Cook and Thomson.

In short I would certainly recommend the Montebello Hotel and Olu Deniz as a resort. There's plenty to do and busses to other places are cheap and readily available. There's some great restaurants and bars and the weather was top. The hotel is located close enough to beach and restaurants/shops but just far away enough to not be kept up at night. We would definitely go again and as the next time will be with our first child (my wife is pregnant), I would also recommend this for families because of the safety.