Hi Carole,

If you are looking for the best all inclusives then I would suggest looking over toward the belek or Side part of the Turkey as they are very nice and mostly brand new over there with lots ultra all inclusive as in 24 hours booze and includes international brands

John

some of the best 5* A/I are in Lara Beach Antalya. - Or Belek or Side as John says. The season also lasts longer here and most hotels are open all year round. Regards Denny

The Hemera in Side is an amazing hotel but I was very impressed with the Club Turban in Marmaris in June.

ill second the hemera

I would recommend Lykia World in Olu Deniz although it is only full board plus so drinks, wine and beer available only with meals but you can make this last most of the day!!

It's a fabulous hotel in a beautifu location and only a short drive into Olu Deniz, take a look at the thread running on here and also the reviews.

In particular I would recommend it for your son as it has it's own children's paradise with an array of water slides/pools, 18 or so altogether I think and the activities for him are tremendous as the clubs arrange visits out for his age, boat trips, safaris, etc and only nominal charges for jet skiing, banana boat rides and the sort. There's also paragliding here and they land right on Lykia's beach in front of the beautiful Marina restaurant.

Hi Pamplemouse, i went to the PP the same time as you 2 years ago, we have just had a grat time at Lykia World,your kids would love it and the food is great, if you want to have a look at the hotel juat go onto Lykia World .com and you will find the website nad the entertainment would put PP to shame and the animation team are very good with the children, and thelocaton and views are fantastic. if you want anymore info just ask Yours Janice

Hi Carolb

Not sure if you remeber me, but we met up a few years back in here, after you had trouble with your son and him being so frightened of flying.

I hope everything is now well with your son, and your all can enjoy a family holiday together again.

We stayed at the Kaya in Side, this is now with Wings holidays. Had superb time. Then stayed st the Sunrise resort again in Side this hotel is a fair way out of the main area of side, and taxi or a morning boat ride is the options to get to main area,, we had a few mishaps here ( typical as t/cook changed us to this hotel) , anyway due to the large rooms for familys with 3 kids our friends have returned after again staying there and they said it had improved 110%........ and have rebooked again for 08.

Next year 08 we are off to the hemera in june and cant wait, lots of good reports on here for this hotel, and in the past knew of familys that had been here 4 yrs running.

hope this helps
snow-white

Hi Caroleb

Thomas cook have free kids place to 14 years at the hemera, side. I just booked for 26 Aug 08 and they have free kids place left for some of the school holiday dates.

I never thought I would be able to get a free kids place for my 13 year old and in a quality hotel. I thought I had better take advantage of the free kids place because after next year that will mean the end of free kids places for me.

Hi

Club Asteria in Belek is fantastic for kids

Its on the Thomsons website

hi thanks for all the replys looking to book hemera.been looking on the net and thompson comes out with great deal,snow white yes i remember you my son is loads better now so much so we all made it out to turkey last year yippy,thanks to hypnotherapy worked a treat.so if any one has the fears my son had i would recommend going to see one .

letoonia is lovely in fethiye and i also agree about lykia world its kids paradise, we went with kids aged 4-18 and they all loved it, so much for the kids to do and scenery and food to die for , 2 years on my now 7 yr old still mentions it as the best hotel ever and shes stayed in loads since then

caroleb

I am suprised thomson is cheaper, I priced them all up and thomas cook was the cheapest. If had booked a couple of weeks earlier I would of got a better price through portland and thomson. What makes thomas cook cheaper if they have a free kids place. Thomson and portland raise their prices for the hemera by 45%. Ouch.

If you have co-op travel care near you they will come on price and I manage to get £400 off of my holiday, you should gone a £100 more. I just said this is the price I can pay and they done their said we can do that.

On top of that my wife is a member of the co-op and will get dividend points worth £70 to £80. They are not like tesco's who send vouchers, its paid by cheque.

Hi carolb

I'm so pleased to hear that your son can now fly. I remeber you having such upsetting times with him, and many of us who read your postings felt for him and yourselfs.

We have booked the Hemera for next yr, on 19th june for 2 weeks. I also managed to get a free childs place.

I met a lady whilst shopping in Asda a few years back, when we were just about to go to Turkey for the 1st time, and during some chit chat as she rang in some clothes for holiday, it turned out we were on same plane to turkey, they were off to the Hemera, and it was going to be their 4 th holiday there. Our coach dropped them off and we loved what we could see even whilst on the coach !! Last winter it had a refurb and is surposed to be even better now than before.

Another user on here has sent me some pics of the hemera, and we cant wait. We havent had a holiday now for 2 years , as my depression was so bad I had to give up me little job, no after what I call my 2 gap years, I'm back and working again, and a holiday is booked to celebrate.. Didnt ebven think of another country, and decided that Side it had to be, although was tempted to try a different area, which we will do next time...

I rang around and spent a whole weekend going through brouchures, and websites!!, but actually got the best price from the Thomas cook shop on our high st.

Hope you get a good deal
Best Wishes to you and your family
Snow-white

Barut hotel used to have a better web site than now, you could see 360 degree view of every part of the hotel. There seems to be hardly any pictures of the rooms. I was looking in the photo albums to see if any picture of the hemera had been posted but no luck.

caroleb don't forget thomas cooks free child places are to 14 years old.

Snow white what date are you going, I am going on the 26th aug for 2 weeks, did you get a free child place. I priced them all up and direct holidays wanted £4300, manos wanted £4300, cosmos wanted £3900, portland wanted £4000 and thomsons wanted £4100. I got the holiday with thomas cook for £3300 4 adults and 1 child, day flights, if I took night flights it would of been £2900. I couldn't stand a night flight, decided never to have one after a flight about 10 years ago being stuck in palma airport at 2am with 2 young children. I would rather pay the extra.

Anybody got any pics out there of the hemera.

hijust oin to check thomas cook guy and thanks for all the advice.snow white imso happy to hear your going back and holdayand depression getting better i remember your comforting words couple of yearsago regarding my son ad they meant alotifi can help you in anyway tocoe with your depression i will just email me for a cat if you like

caroleb

Did you post few years ago that after the 9/11 your son freaked out at the airport and wouldn't fly. As I remember the insurance company wouldn't pay out. Its good your son will fly again.

I think its actually bad to show distress pictures on the news while young children are around. Kids are clever and know what it means, it affects kids and they believe it the norm for these disasters happen every day. Saying that my brother of 39 has not been on plane since the 9/11. We say we are booking a holiday for all of us and he says yer I will fly and go, but when I say I need your deposit he changes his mind.

yes that was right my son my son had severe panic attacks and had to be of loaded me never got on holiday second year we spent 6 months with child physchologist still never made it even with medication from gp. the last resort was hynoptherapist worked a treat my son flew i was so proud of him he was so relaxed even 2 hour delay couldent hamper him he has so much more confidence now so much so that he started to play rugby league last year,this year he got picked to play for our county went to presentation night on sat wow what a surprise he picked up huge cup for player of year,so for anyone out there who is scared of flying i would defo recomend hypnotherapy it changed my sons life for the better

caroleb

I will have to try a hynoptherapist to motivate me to make lots of money.

Its really good it has help your son so much, sounds like its turned his life around. You must be very proud of his acheivement. My oldest daughter has just passed 9 GCSE's A-C, she acheived A's for spanish and french self taught in spanish. Its probably be 10 because the exam board marked her whole form wrongly, they didn't include about 40% of the work done for music. We are very proud of her, she worked very hard and deserved her pass marks.

What dates are you looking at for the hemera as you know I am going on the 26 aug. Picked those dates because earlier dates the price is too steep, I am paying for 4 people, Just wished I booked with portland a couple weeks ago, they were really cheap, but I was waiting for somebody to confirm if they could go. To get a better price phone around the travel agents start at thomas cooks web price and then see what they do.