When are you going to Flora Suites? We are actually going there june 27th so could let you know if you're after us! Finding it hard to get info on the place though..website looks okay.

My family and I are going to Flora Suites in August, was wondering if you could let me know what it is like as i have read conflicting reviews regarding this hotel and not sure if i have done right, but saying that we got a very good price and do not expect much of the (AI) food.

Thanks

I will do. I keep sending notes to people for info but nobody ever gives me any! I'm finding the same as yourself, conflicting reviews. I will send you a note when we get back detailing the pros and cons. Cheers! I'm away tomorrow!

Hi,

Sorry about delay in responding I've not been on Pc lately (couldn't be bothered to take my turn in the que behind my offspring). Any comments before we leave on the 30th July welcomed.

Thanks.

Bryan

We're back! This will be a bit long winded but hopefully will help anyone going to Flora Suites and nearby. The holiday was all inclusive for two adults and two girls aged 13 and 14.

We flew into Bodrum airport. It's about 2 1/2 hours from Kusadas, (much longer than we had thought it would be). After we picked up our bags we looked for the Hotels4U sign..most people are holding their signs, but this one was on the ground so it took a bit to see it. We ended up on a small minibus with 2 other couples who were going to other hotels. We were given a welcome envelope by the driver to look at later. The Turkish drive a bit crazy..fast..and they don't do seatbelts. I'll admit that I was actually hanging on for the entire transfer! At a halfway point, all transfers seem to stop at this cafe for a 1/2 hour break. They must have a deal going with the owner. It was 14 Turkish lira for 4 cans of iced tea. (about £6). WE arrived at the Flora as the sun was coming up. I definitely recommend taking a travel sickness tablet before the drive. We took backroads which were bumpy and windy! If your airport is Izmir..the transfer is about 20 minutes I think.
First impression of the Flora was fine. They have a lovely entrance to the hotel and the front looks really nice I thought. We just really wanted to get to bed though. The girls were exhausted. We were in room 106. The manager kept our passports, but you can get them back the next day if you want. We left them with the front desk though for the two weeks. The elevator is at the front desk...lol. Once you see it you'll understand why it's funny. Try it..if only for the experience. It can only fit two people at a time if you have smaller bags. We took the stairs, it's faster and not steep.
The bedrooms look just like they do on the internet. You walk into a dinette area and two sofa beds ready for sleeping. The kitchen does not have a kettle or cups or cutlery. We recommend bringing a cheapy picnic set. Although you are allowed to bring things up to your room. We brought up some cutlery from dinnertime. There was no iron. I used my hair straighteners! The aircon is above the sofa beds but had a remote (sliding front). You can change the direction by hitting the SWING button repeatedly. The bathroom was typical and you can flush toilet paper there. Shower is basic but had a shelf for toiletries as did the bathroom sink. Our shower drain wasn't the best, but not really worth complaining about. There is a door to the bedroom which is nice and roomy with a closet with hangers, a couple of nightstands with drawers and a large dressing table with large mirror, drawers and a seat. There are wee cracks here and there, and the paint job is a lazy standard, but again...not a dealbreaker. It's typical for Turkey, but a lower standard than we might expect. We had a good night sleep most nights. If you leave the bedroom door open at night, the aircon easily flows through to give both rooms benefit. Oh..if you pile your towels up on the bathroom floor each day, you'll get clean ones in return. IF you don't do this, you won't get new ones.
Flora is on Long Beach side. Across the main..very busy road, is a place called Kippa. This is a Tesco. You do need to be very careful crossing this road, thankfully you can stop in the middle before making second crossing. Kippa is upstairs and you can buy pretty much anything you like there to bring back. It does not have any medical/chemist items though. We bought two bowls, cereal and milk for the girls because they didn't like what was on offer for breakfast. If you want milk close to semi skimmed from here, you buy the light blue carton called Dogsal Sut, light. It's one lira. You'll find in on the shelf, not in the fridge. We just popped it into our fridge and it was just fine. There is stuff in fridges but apparently that is NOT milk. We also bought large bottles of water there and always kept one in the freezer. In the Kippa building, there is a food court with a Burger King...it was super! We used it twice. There's a toysR-us right close where you can buy a cheap inflatable ring, lilo etc.
You can catch the bus to Kusadasi at the car entrance to the Kippa, just as you cross the second road. There's a cement piece there withe a spraypainted number on it, just stand by it and buses will stop. Buses will honk and/or flash their lights to see if you want them to stop. Just tell them CENTRUM and they will take you to the centre of town, very close to the stores and stalls. This is also where you will find the wednesday market, right at the centrum. The cost for the bus is 2 lira each and it takes about 10 minutes. If you need a chemist, go to the centrum, get off and across the street is an ECZANE, pronounced Eck-za-nee. THis is a chemist and they speak english. We needed to go for a bout of diaorhea. Not to be graphic, but you might need to know. They gave us tablets for the bacteria which were more expensive, but the tablets to stop the diaorhea were very cheap. You need to take them together and they DO work. THis is common for tourists with intense heat, tirednesss and different food. Some people instantly think they've had food poisoning...but it's not usually the case. You can catch the bus at the same place, people are there to help you. Just say hotel FLORA and they'll put you on the right bus.
Back to the hotel. The main pool is lovely and clean. THe guy was cleaning it every morning bright and early. The temp is lovely. Be careful though as the tiles get very slippery and we did see quite a few hard falls. There is no anti-slip around the pool. With water and sunscreen it gets quite slick. There are 50 sunbeds and only 19 umbrellas. If you want a sunbed, you will have to come down around 7:30am to get one. By 8 they were mostly taken. The waterslide pool is nice and there is a schedule of when the water is running there. THe blue one is a slow slide and the rainbow is quite fast. The grass is not even close to as lush as it looks on the website unfortunately, but ah well. It made it look tatty, but not a big deal as I'm not a landscaper either.
All meals are mainly cold salads which change very little from day to day. At the end of the buffet line, they will give you another plate of hot food, usually 4 choices with do change each meal. There is soup there too. Breakfast was lacking. But you do need to try the watermelon. It's gorgeous, but it goes fast. We had the girls get drinks and a basket of bread to put on the table while we were in line. They also filled a plate with watermelon and put it on the table so we got some! Most things aren't replenished so get in quick. Snacks were mainly the same with a few changes. There was pizza and some tortilla style things..filled with potatoe etc...lovely. sometimes it was spaghetti, and it is cake in the evening. I have to say, the tomatoes were really good and found myself making tomatoes sandwiches for lunch often.
There is entertainment, but I thought it was lacking. There wasn't something on each night so some nights really lacked atmosphere. We went out a few nights anyway. At 11:30, the disco starts at the bottom of the garden. Eddie is the dj..and the barman...and a server...and he's lovely. He usually works along side Hussain, both great young men who made us laugh and they kept our girls fully entertained with the banter. Eddie speaks pretty good english. Alex is a server as well, always helpful, good english and a great guy. As much as the girls were excited to get home to their msn, bebo, facebook and friends, they were both in tears saying goodbye to the boys.
The first week, we were the only english speaking guest at the hotel. Thank goodess the girld had each other! There are loads of Bulgarians, Romanians and Turkish guests. The second week another Scottish couple were there so we introduced ourselves right away! At the end of the second week, two more english speaking couples came so we introduced them to each other. If you don't go out of your way to do this, you could feel quite isolated. But, perhaps as the england school holidays start, there will be more.
The market in Kusadasi. THe quality is better if you buy right in the town centre. I'd go to the market for the experience, just to see..but don't buy there. You get a better deal in the town, much better quality.
Great places to eat: San Marco..you'll see it when you go down the main street to the shops. We had lunch there which wasn't fantastic, but if you go for an evening meal...fabulous..and what a laugh! They will pick you up from your hotel! We just took the bus back. Right beside SanMarco is Murphys. It was pretty good, but not AS good. Right across from the middle of the two is a small alleyway. Down the alleyway on the right, is a place called Golden Boys. This is such a good place to eat. THEy picked us up for an evening meal and it was SOOOOO good. They guy from Murphys will visit you at the hotel anyway..his name is Mike. He is a nice guy, but will try endlessly to get you to come to his restaurant. It's how things are done though so don't be upset or offended. Casablanca was lovely too..ask for "sexy Robbie".
Book your day trips with English money. But, I would use Lira while you are in turkey. You tend to get a better rate right in turkey for your exchange but we brought lira with us anyway. If you book the trips with lira, they charge you a rate to exchange it...the rate suits them..not you. THey did this to me with booking trips on my mastercard....Book with english money and you'll be better off. Prices were better from the rep at the hotel rather than in town. Unusual, but true. We booked the lazy day boat trip, scuba diving (brilliant, but pricey), Adaland aquapark..fab, jeep safari..not bad but would probably recommend the quads instead. I have prices if you want.
Long beach is a walk, but it takes about 10-15 minutes. You can take the hotel shuttle, but we didn't bother. it's a nice walk. You just go down the path beside the houses that are getting built and go left, then right with the first turn. STraight on. You will come to a T junction with a doctors office on one side, and a restaurant on the other. You're nearly at the beach there. The flora suites beds were next to a rubbish pile that stunk..we went on to the right and bought beds at Bathim resort. It's very near the stall that sells parasailing etc. We did a parasail...the girls went together and were up for 15 minutes, cost 100 lira I think. They loved it and to be honest..not too bad for 15 minutes. I've seen some that are only up for 2.5 minutes for the same price on previous holidays.
The only other things I can think of.....bring your camera to absolutely everything. OH...we used 5 bottles of sunblock for 2 weeks for four people. Use a decent factor..we used 50 for face, 30 for body and had to reapply throughout the day. I used pizbuin 30 allday block...and got burnt! But it was good if you reapplied two or three times. We were unable to keep our room late, but others were. I think we waited too long to ask. Another couple let us use their room for showers on the last day. Pop over to the kippa for cold drinks before you get picked up for transfer to the airport. You can bring drinks through there! If you buy your drinks at the airport you'll end up paying 5 euros for a can of coke.
Sorry so long, but tried to be thorough. Any questions, just ask.

Thank you for review were you AI, it sounded much as i expected, but i think you have to make the most of what you have got or you will not have a good holiday, what was the tempature like it sounded very hot.

Thanks again

Sally

Yes, we were all inclusive. Temperature when we left was around 40 degrees. As you say..it's what you make of it. We alternated each day pretty much..one day at the poolside, one day out on a trip, beach, shopping etc. I meant to say..an evening meal out costs about 16-28 lira each..depending on what you order. The four of us ordered evening meals, 8 drinks, and 2 starters and it translated to about £70 for the meal including the tip. Not bad really!
Go to Flora expecting a fairly basic stay, but give it a chance. Just ask Alex if there is anyone else who speaks english at the hotel and he'll hook you up! ps..bring mosquito spray for the evening.....and some immodium! lol
My daughter was asked today if she would go back to the same hotel. She said she would rather stay somewhere else only down to the food, but that she'd definitely want to come back and see the staff though. : )

Hi,

Many thanks for the very detailed account of your stay which is really informative as we are off to the FS on the 30th. I have a few questions if that's ok?

What drinks did they have at the FS for kids during the day?

Was there ice cream?

How much was the entry to the water park?

Where would you suggest for buying fakes?

How much was the AC and safe box?

Thanks in anticipation.

Bryan

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Many thanks
David

I think they have diluted juice during the day available although I never actually ordered any. They typically have on hand pepsi, seven up and orange fanta, tea and coffee, and water. Fresh orange juice is available for 3 lira..I watched them make one..one large glass contains four oranges and it looked great..just a bit expensive I thought. THere are cans of iced tea available..ice cold...3 lira. But you can buy a 6 pack of the same for about 3 lira at the Kippa.
There is ice cream available right beside the bar, but you have to pay. The prices weren't too bad, but we generally bought one when we were walking back to the hotel from the beach where you can buy a full size magnum ice cream for 2.25 lira which I thought was quite cheap.
There is a waterpark near the beach called Aqua Fantasy...I think that's what it was called. It was 80 lira for two adults and two teenagers. They don't want you to bring outside food in, but trust me...the system to get food there is a bit crazy so we had food in our bags. They don't let you out and back in either. There is a wild orange waterslide there....fun..but the girls ended up very bruised so be aware.
The Adaland Aqua park is the huge one..and well worth it. We paid £18 each for entry which I thought was alright. Again..food isn't allowed but we did have water in our bags. Throw a large bottle in the F/Suites freezer and it'll be nice by lunchtime when you really want it. There is a dolphin show you can see, but you have to pay extra for that. You can swim with the dolphins as well, but it was about £70 per person and I never found out how long you were actually in the water with them. If you book from the hotel, they pick you up at the end of the road..usually late, lol...in a large airconditioned bus. We were picked up at 9:45ish, and our leaving time from Adaland was 6:30. Once you pay, you buy an adaland food card. It costs 5 lira to get the card but you get that 5 lira back when you return it. For four of us to have cheeseburger, drink and fries each, it cost 44 lira. WE put 50 on the card and it was fine. Use cash, as you won't get the extra back if you use a credit card. We got the remainder and deposit back.

I would recommend the town centre for your shopping. THe market stuff was a very low quality. Much lower than the shops in the main town.

The aircon didn't cost any extra, it's included. The safe boxes are 10 £ I think...might be wrong on that. But to be honest they don't look that safe! We kept everything in our room except the passports (kept behind the counter in our pigeon hole). I meant to mention also that if you can keep your room..it's usually til midnight and they charged another couple 60 euros for that.

Enjoy your holiday!

Hi all,

We returned from the Flora on the 14th August. Once again big thanks to Jcanadian as your post was a real help and saved us a lot of time when we got there.

The Flora was much as we had expected it to be taking account of what we paid. The room was basic, but clean, with towels changed daily etc.

The food was as described, my kids didn't enjoy every meal but didn't stave either. On the few occasions where they didn't eat in the Flora they went to the Kippa food court where there was loads of choice at reasonable prices.

The staff were all polite and helpful, especially those behind the bar and reception who all spoke good English. The people serving the food were also nice. Alex the rep was helpful and, like others, we found his excursions slightly cheaper than those been sold in Kusadasi.

We met lots of really nice people both Brits and other nationalities though there were some problems with towels going missing and the usual sun-bed issues.

We went to Murphy's one night (the lad from the restaurant comes to the Flora each day to arrange to pick you up) but thought the food was uninspiring, over priced and the staff pushy. On the other hand, we had a car in the second week and went to some smaller places off the beaten track, where the food was excellent and very cheap with one meal for 4 costing 42 TL though we only had soft drinks.

In conclusion if, like us, you got a canny deal then I wouldn't put people off the Flora Suites on a cheap and cheerful basis. We will be going to Turkey again but not to the Flora or Kusadasi.