As we had paid all inclusive found that there were no ice creams in with this package. Mini bar in room which you pay for (check your bill and ask for receipts) As for the hotel, clean enough, pool good size but same depth all round. Kids pool good with slides which worked at certain times of the day.

Food was ok, stayed 1 week so not too much of a problem, had upset tummy within 2 days of being there.

Location was not so bad, plenty buses to take you into Dolphin square which was 5 minutes’ drive away. Where we went to Didium market. Nightmare. Lots rude pushy traders!

Hotel staff as in the reception staff were rude, non-helpful and tried to squeeze every last lira out of you. Al a carte was available which you had to book 24 hours before, tried to book at reception on the Saturday was told no cannot do. Bar staff were snotty at times, didn’t like you ordering more than two drinks at a time and no trays available.

Entertainment was a shambles, bar closed at 11pm and then if you were lucky some sort of entertainment started. Nightclub at hotel, free entry but had to pay for drinks.

I would not recommend this hotel as it has so many rules including not allowing to take drinks up to your room but can ring room service for a charge. Security guards checking bags to make sure you hadn’t bought anything from the market shop ( which was cheaper than the hotel shop ).
Shocked that First Choice has taken on this hotel as have been on All inclusive with them before and had great holidays.

Will be doing my research before booking the holiday for next year.

we just got home from the garden of sun. i was dreading this hotel after all the bad reports. but this hotel was lovely and clean to a very high standard fresh towels daily rooms cleaned daily.

staff brilliant.

there's entertainment for the kids in the hotel.

the pool is brilliant and cleaned out every nite.

the food is good a mix of salads or hot foods there was alot of Turkish food as Turkish people stay at this hotel but its all fresh and cooked well.

the beaches are about 15mins walk away or by bus that stops outside hotel.

the drinks and snacks were plenty and you can have as many as you want not like someone put on these reviews you could only have one at a time.

all in fairness this hotel is a good hotel we had a brill and safe family holiday in a lovely hotel so if you are going here don't be put off by some of these reports of moaning folk.

just back from garden of sun great holiday not bad location hotel was clean and pool great kids loved it but big let down was restaurant never got clean table full of dirty dishes and glasses and when asked staff to clear they were not very keen to do so by the time you found a vacant table food was frozen food was absolutely disgusting kids never ate a thing had to eat out most nights it was like a cattle market with everyone pushing and shoving to get in first drinks were awful wine was very vinegary would not recommend this hotel to anyone altinkum lovely would go back to resort but definately not garden of sun

We stayed here from May 20th for 1 week, travelling with with First Choice and here is our experience which of course, is not shared by everyone, but unfortunately, was the general consensus of many people at the GoS hotel while we were there. All ok until we arrived at Bodrum airport. Minibus journey took 2 hours, in the dark with one headlamp out and a driver who thought he was taking part in the Turkish Grand Prix - we were all nervous wrecks when we arrived, at 11.30pm.
Checked in, then went across road to get some water (only water available was in the mini bar at

Food. If you like chicken you can try it in 100 different dishes 99 of them are awfull

Drink.Beer about as strong as a Dayla shandy, Spirits about the same proof as wine gums.If you want to taste alchol go to Moonshine bar across the road.

Entertainment. ?????????

Staff.Generaly polite

Location. A bit out of the way but you can catch a dolmi bus just outside the gates,only 1.5lr & only about 5mins from town.

Here is the epic tale of our stay at the Garden of Sun........

12 of us stayed for 14 nights from 10th August 2009. 8 Adults (21 to 49), 1 teenager, and 3 and 4 year olds.

Arrived at around 5am - cookies and juice in reception for us - not fantastic but better than nothing. Checked in without
any problems then headed for the lobby bar (24 hours) to await the rest of our party who had booked the transfer with
Sunwings and that called at a number of hotels first. Handy Tip - You can get a transfer from

We booked the holiday last minute - 6 weeks before departure with holidaygems.co.uk and due to a ticket name change, a few calls had to be made to holidaygem.co.uk and they were fantastic. I wish I could say the same for the hotel. I would rate it is a 3* hotel as the accomodation needed updating and the food was warm and repetitive. We went for 7 nights and experienced a turkish night which had traditional turkish food being served outside which was great along with a few turkish market stalls selling over priced fake t shirts, jeans etc and a camel ride around the swimming pool if you would want to pay for it!They had twice put on extra chefs cooking ommlettes out side for breakfast but apart from that the food was very repetitive.The head chef took a particular fancy to my sister in law even though she was pregnant and keep asking her to go out that evening with him. This caused quite an atmosphere after the first day as he was present in the restaurant during breakfast, lunch and dinner every day and always came sliding over to chat her up!! The hotel location was near a couple of bars at the rear of the hotel and to the front of the hotel was a main road, with a large all inclusive hotel on the opposite side of the road. The hotel's beach was a good 10 min walk down the road and then down to the beach.The road is so dirty and dusty after walking back from the beach to the hotel you will need to shower as you will be covered in dust and your feet will be black! There are 2 cafe/ bars there and they charged around

This hotel could be excellent but is let down in many ways, which is such a shame. The hotel itself is clean and looked after, the pool area is spacious with tons of sun beds with mattress's. The rooms are spacious with a good sized balcony, and are cleaned (although quite late in the day some days) very thoroughly.
We loved the food, there was a good variety with salads to die for,and some really good desserts.
The food did have a foreign feel to it, which might not appeal to a pie and chips man, but we loved it, and thought there was a good variety, to satisfy most people.On the down side the bar and serving staff in the restaurant could do better, some of them are just downright lazy,although not all, some were very nice. After a table was used the staff cleared the dishes but rarely cleaned the table or put fresh cutlery out. I lost count of the number of times we had to ask for spoons etc.On the whole with few exceptions the waiting staff were dreadful. The chefs however were very nice and kept coming out to check on things, smiling to everyone, unusually they were friendlier than the waiters. The entertainment was poor, maybe it was the time of year, but loud rap music was left on all afternoon round the pool, which drove us all mad.We had to beg for it to be lowered or changed, but it still managed to come back on a short time later.
On the whole we enjoyed th holiday, and got excellent value for what we paid but the hotel needs to supervise it's staff more, they get away with murder. Unfortunately despite the hotel appearing clean, a tummy bug did the rounds with some people really ill, It may have not been the hotel itself, but I think the staff should be better trained, we had tap water served one day when we asked for drinking water, so be
very careful. My biggest praise goes to the pool man HASSAN,he was wonderful, and walked round smiling all day, keeping himself busy looking after everyone. What a treasure.

This hotel is almost a 5 in all respects but lets itself down at the last minute, but, with more visual management would I'm sure acheive this score. We had a very enjoyable holiday here.
I felt that the food was generally excellent. The meat choice was rather limited, Chicken, Turkey, Liver, Steak one day and of course various Kebab style meats. The salads were excellent and so were the other dishes which often featured familiar veg etc., but served in new ways, again very tasty if you had a little courage to try.
Saff were variable, some seemed quite miserable but the rest seemed ok. A little more training on resetting a table would be time well spent.
Others were quite happy and worked hard although anyone visiting this hotel is sure to remember Hassan who put out the beds round the very nice pool area. I never saw him without a smile and was always VERY helpful.
The entertainment was rather poor , perhaps time of the year? The pool music was at times lovely with a good volume but at times, especially the second week, was Rap and very loud. Turned down on request but did tend to creep up again.
Cleanliness generally was good although the tables around the pool area were not wiped well enough. Rooms and the rest of the hotel seemed fine, again referring back to table setting they did come round clearing crumbs but not always after each person.
Drinks were ok but they had no tonic, anything non local was very expensive, evidently alcohol is one of the things taxed extremely highly.
All in all we had a lovely time and the problems above did not spoil it.

We would definately return to Altinkum but not to this hotel. The layout of the hotel and grounds is fine, but the biggest let down was the food and lack of alcohol. Fourteen days on the same menu did become mind blowing. The salad choices was very good, but the meat was limited to chicken and occasionally liver appeared. Chicken every lunch and dinner time was not good. Breakfast mainly consisted of many ways to cook eggs, but the fruit and cheese/ham platters made up for it.

The other frustrating element was the only way to taste alcohol was to buy it at the hotel, which we refused to do, or venture into the shopping centre and visit one of the many bars. Don't buy the hotel drinks, although they are the genuine brands they cost a fortune and are simply not worth it. The bar rule of two drinks per person did cause problems. You had to get two drinks sit down and then return to the queue and ask for two more drinks. Silly - but this is hotel policy!

Overall we did have a good holiday. The sun shined permantely and we met some lovely people. Our children thoroughly loved the swimming pools and my son loved the daily football games. We did not watch any of the entertainment. You had to leave the bar area to cross the complex to go to a theatre which we simply did not want to do. We enjoyed other people's company and our own and every evening was fun.

I do recommend that you visit the shopping area and harbour at night, that is when the place comes alive! It is well worth planning a meal out. We visited a restraunt overlooking the harbour and we were entertained with Turkish belly dancers - a brillant evening.

With regard to the staff, we found the bar staff slow and simply not interested in serving, the reception staff were okay but unless you were Turkish their response to queries was non existant. Be prepared to get up early to get your sunbeds, from 7.00am you'll get what you want.