Hi all,

We got home last night after spending two great weeks at The Holiday Village Turkey. I'll be posting a full review later, but I'll be happy to answer any questions in the meantime.

Samanthar6,

Since the Scottish school holidays started, the hotel has got very busy over the last week. Our first week was problem free for getting sunbeds and queing for drinks, but our second week was different. Most decent sunbeds gone by 8am and evening times saw the waiting time at the bar shoot up as no extra staff were laid on to cope with the demand. There were a few "disagreements" over who was next to be served as no one actually queued and everyone just flooded the bars.

oh dear sounds like we chose a good fortnight to go.we were never at the pool before 10 and always got a sunbed. i remember someone saying when we were there the scottish school hols were earlier than ours.. hope they get a few more staff then to cope with it.thats what we loved about it , it was all very relaxed

Last Wednesday, we returned to our room to find a note from the hotel mangement. It was a note that all rooms got and it was asking all guests to observe the rule about reserving sunbeds before 9am. They claimed that all towels and other articles on sunbeds before 9am would be removed and taken to reception, but still most sunbeds were reserved by about 8am and nothing was removed from the sunbeds as threatened.

Oh, and a word of advice for anyone about to go, I was one of very many people to get an ear infection and was landed with a £67 bill from the hotel Doctor. If you cant find ear plugs before you go, the hotel shop sells them for 5 lira a pair.

Also, there is a notice on one of the First Choice boards that a case of head lice has been reported at the Holiday Village. I dont know how old the notice was, but if you children are prone to catching head lice at school, it may be advisable to take some sort of treatment with you.

Kids Clubs - It seems that since I asked about them on here before we went, they have settled on a first come first served basis. You do not need to register them for each session in advance, however, if you want them to get in to a session, the queue starts to form about 30 minutes before the session is due to start.

Currency - Take Sterling as its the cheapest way to buy. If you want to buy in Lira, they convert it at a much higher rate and it will cost you more. Even the kids club sessions do the same. The chocolate party will cost £3.50 or 10 lira which is £4.00. The market in Sarigermie will accept Sterling too and we found you had more bargining power with a £10 note.

can anyone tell me if the palace have a free beach towel service, I was at the tropical side last year and they had one. Iam going to the palace next year as my holiday to the petra mare in crete this year was a bit of a let-down compared to the palace and tropical hotels. many thanks ginkster

yes the palace do have a towel service.you can pick them up from 08.30. ive been reading your comments on petra mare site as weve lust returned from pp and my choice was betwen pp and petra mare. so glad we chose pp as had a fab time. the 2 hour transfer and being so remote put me off i think. pp only has 20 min transfer and lots of trips which was a bonus

can you still use both hotels like you could last year , as we enjoyed being able to pick and choose from both, it breaks up the holliday nicely.

Duncan wrote:

The chocolate party will cost £3.50 or 10 lira which is £4.00.

Wow - that's a big increase in a year! It was £2 or 6 lira last year and to be honest I'm sure each child eats no-where near £3.50 worth of chocolate (or sweets at the sweetie bingo). It's not too bad if you only have one child but for my 3 to go it'll now cost over a tenner a time. I know not all the evening sessions are charged but I still think it's a bit steep

Hi ginkster,

You can pop across to the tropical, but they have different coloured wristbands so you cannot eat or drink there unless wearing a long sleeve top. I know that some from the Palace went to use the waterslides at the tropical as there were better. I used the slides at the palace just once and quite frankly it was quicker to get up and walk down.

Hi lynda1972,

We had two kids and we thought that the charges were steep. Not only do you have to pay for the Sweetie bingo and the chocolate party, but there is the VIP party for the ones going home which is £3.50 or 10 lira and the also charge £8 for the older kids and £10 for the younger kids to do the high ropes. Just why that is, no one could tell me.

Also, the kids club programme is weekly, so its all repeated again in your second week.

Hi all,
Also just got back from PP on Monday night, Had a great holiday and spent far less than expected (even with going to the Sunday market twice), speaking of the market.....Duncan and myself invented a great new game to play for those of you who are soon to be going there...it's called 'Market Bingo'.......I'll let Duncan explain but it's a great game for all the family to play and above all.....its free !!!
oh by the way, take sterling for those of you who are wondering, far greater buying and bartering power.

I think the answer about the steep charges for the payable kids club sessions lies with the fact that it probably goes in the kids rep's pockets, rather than first choice's. Are they seeing it as a lucrative money making scheme with a captive audience due to the fact that nothing else that's free is laid on for kids at the time of the evening sessions?

As for the discrepancy between the high ropes fees perhaps this is due to having to have more staff to reduce the child:adult ratio with younger kids? Or insurance? Not defending them - I will be questioning it too!

Did they still do the "pirates adventure" session? This included high ropes, raft building etc and went on for about 2-3 hours for £10. That was good value for money and it got all the kids working together and meeting new friends.

Lynda xx

The Bugs Bunny club has a high ropes session that also includes Canoes on the pool for £10 and runs from 2.30pm until 6pm.

Liam! Good to see you on here.

For those who have never been before, The Holiday Village Turkey is situated to nearby Sarigerme. It's a 20 minute walk but I dont recommend doing that. You can get a taxi from outside the hotel for 7 Lira. But better still if you walk out the front of the PP and past the tropical, you will find a 17 seater air conditioned minibus that will take you into the village for 1 Lira per person. So if there is a group of you, it is the chepest way of getting to the Sunday market.

Now, the Sunday market is great. I really recommend you give it a try and even if you dont buy anything, you'll leave with a smile on your face. As liam said, we played Market Bingo. Anyone can play, and it's a fun game.

Get some pieces of paper and a pen, and jot the following phrases down. You will hear these phrases along with many many others shouted by the market traders and each one you hear, cross it off your list. The first one to cross off all their phrases is the winner. Got that? Good, here are the phrases:

Cheap as Chips
Cheaper than Matalan
Cheaper than Primark
ASDA price
Cheaper than Shoplifting
Quality cr@p
Cheap Sh1te
Cheaper than Peacocks
Cheaper than ASDA, better than Tesco
Buy One Get Me Free
Loverly Jubberly

There was one other but it involved a racist word so I wont post it. But the Market is a real must, so enjoy and dont forget to haggle.

hahaha! I'd forgotten about the "quality cr@p!"

What about the "genuine fakes"!!

Yes the genuine fakes were most certainly there but only yelled by a select few......it must be one of their more quality crowd pleasers..

Here's some useful info on excursions if you are off to the Holiday Village soon.

below is a list of trips that are run by both First Choice (FC) and Sarigerme Tours (ST). I have only listed the trips that are run by both companies so as you can compare prices.

Marmaris £12 (FC) £8 (ST)
Fethiye £12 (FC) £15 (ST)
Turkish Bath £16 (FC) £12 (ST)
12 Island Boat Trip £20 (FC) £15 (ST)
Dalyan by night £6 (FC) £7 (ST)
Jeep Safari £24 (FC) £20 (ST)
Scuba Diving £45 (FC) £35 (ST)

There other excursions that one or the other companies run. For example, Sarigerme Tours do a trip to Rhodes for £50 and a Horse Riding Safari for £25 whilst First Choice can do you a Gulet Cruise for £27. Children 7-12 are half price and kids 6 and under are free.

Those prices seem expensive, 12 islands boat trip from Fethiye is £9 (2 years ago), arranged at the harbourside.

Turkish Bath in Fethiye was £10.

I would say Sarigerme Tours (or any other local tour co) would be able to arrange any of the tours that FC can do, if you asked them.

Well, it would be cheaper if arranged on the harbourside as no coach journey is involved. From sarigerme, it's a 30 min journey by coach to Gocek and the same back.