Mrs SC and myself arrived back last Monday (16/6) after 2 great weeks in Olu Deniz.

This was our 9th holiday to Turkey having previously been to Gumbet, Turunc (x3), Icmeler, Calis, Bitez and Kalkan.

We booked flights with Thomas Cook (£220 pp), hotel Montebello with Med Hotels (£120 for the room, inc breakfast and air con), and private transfers with Hamish McTurk (£70 return)-so a total of £315 each.

Flights

More or less on time both ways-very cramped and uncomfortable flight going out (literally 12" from the end of my nose to the back of the seat in front!)-more comfortable coming back as it was a larger aircraft (Boeing 767 I think).- No problem with excess baggage at Dalaman as we had paid for 20kg allowance and were just underweight.

The Montebello is situated just off the main road as it starts to incline up the hill and just a few minutes walk from the centre of Olu

I will post a fuller report on the hotel in the 'hotels' section but in a nutshell it was ideal for us-clean, nice pool, pool bar (a little pricey but they did have a happy hour most nights 7.30-8.30 and 10.30-11.30). breakfast was the usual bread, toast, eggs, cereal etc. but perfectly adequate and we would definitely stay there again.

Food and drink

Generally food and drink prices were much the same along the seafront and central area restaurants, a little cheaper a bit further back and to the sides. I can't say we found any outstanding restaurants although they were all ok, but 3 that we would give a recommendation for food quality are The Magic Garden, The Rose Garden (but doublecheck your bill and change) and one along the seafront called Kumla or something like that (the one with the bowling alley).

Large Efes ranged fom 3.5ytl to 5ytl although we did find a little cafe/bar in front of the Lycian Dreams hotel doing large efes for 2ytl which became our local! Generally, local spirits and mixer were around 5-7 ytl, imported spirits 9-12 ytl

Out and about and trips

Had a turksih bath on our 2nd day-only £5 each at The Dorian Hotel.

We went to the private beach on the Lagoon, Sugar Beach, which was nice.

Had a night out in Hisaranou on the festival night-£4 for a raffle ticket for a free holiday which also entitled you to free drinks all night from the various drinks stalls set up along the road and Boney M as the headline act-great fun!

We went on a boat trip on Falcon 4.Cost £6 including lunch from the guys on the beach-drinks were a bit expensive on board but it was a relaxing day out and the water slide and 'death jump' platform were good.

We visited Kayakoy (Ghost Village) on the Dolmus and on recommendation from other HT users went to Cin Bal restaurant where you choose and barbeque your own food and it was excellent-well worth a visit as is Kayakoy itself.

Did a jeep safari with 'Bloody Gorgeous' tours- £14 including lunch and entrance to Saklikent, also stopped at Yaka Park, mud baths, Tlos and Calis Beach- a long, wet, dusty but enjoyable day, although we could have done without the unadvertised one hour visit to the carpet factory!

We decided to visit Dalyan and have a look around with a view to maybe holidaying there some time as we had read good reports about the place. Took the Dolmus to Fethiye, then mini coach to Ortaka, then onto the local dolmus to Dalyan. Whole trip took about 2 and a half hours and cost about £6 each.
From the few hours we spent there, Dalyan seemed more laid back and friendlier than Olu and prices generally seemed cheaper. The river area was very nice. I could spend a week there I think although Mrs Sc didn't seem so keen and preferred Olu.

Went to Fethiye on our last night to have a meal at the Duckpond resturant and cheer on Turkey against Czech Republic with the locals-another great night helped by the final score!

Oh yes and Mrs Sc leapt 6,500 feet off a mountain with Sky Sports-not my idea of holiday fun but she absolutely loved it and would recommend going for it if you are thinking about having a go at paragliding!

In conclusion

Olu was a little livelier and noisier at night than we had expected (mainly due to the racket coming from the Belcheziz Beach hotel along the front and there was a little more hassle than we thought there would be.

Having said that we had one of our best Turkey holidays ever! The weather was perfect, the beach was fabulous, we met some very nice people, ate and drank too much as usual, and we can't wait to go back.

If you have chosen Olu Deniz for your holiday this year, you've made a great choice!!