Well, it was as good (if not better) as I remember it, all the staff from last year were there (except Barrie) and we had a great greeting with hugs and handshakes a plenty as we arrived at around 10:30pm and headed straight for the bar lol. There were a couple of new faces in the staff, namely Esma and John to name a few.

Nani, Robbie, Hassan, Cem (Jem) and Aydin where all there and as friendly as ever and my daughter met some friends from last year.

We all had a great Turkish Bath on the Tuesday at 11:30am (arranged via facebook with Aydin). We wanted one early to avoid being scrubbed on top of sunburn - done that before - ouch!!! A really nice relaxing Turkish bath, face pack, body mud pack followed by a lovely massage - you can choose as soft or as hard as you like.

My wife has had a bad neck for a few months and Aydin arranged 2 medical massages which really helped - £30 per massage but that was over one hour each and you'd pay a lot more over here in the UK...

The exchange rate while we were there was around 2.9TL to the pound - hotel were giving 2.85.
Dolmus into Icmeler was same as last year (1.5TL each) but we walked a few times and it only takes 15 minutes (and that was a slow amble). Pay 2.5TL and you reach Marmaris - to be honest, I'm not a big fan of the place...

My only gripe is that they have signs around the place saying "towels placed on sunbeds before 7:30am will be removed" - a good idea in theory but NO ONE takes any notice. I went out at 6am to beat some of them and still struggled to get 3 together. I mentioned this to Sally and she said she will try and sort it but we'll see. OK if there are 2 of you but if a big family wants to sit together be prepared for a 5:30am dash...

Oh, one other thing, last year we had room 124 which had air con in the lounge area only (not in the bedroom) but this year we had room 223 which has air con in the bedroom - and believe me, you'll need it in June/July/August/September.

Room Tip: We had room 223 - a great view over the pool and air con is in the main bedroom.

Firstly must say this was out best holiday EVER, the hotel, Icmeler itself and lovely, friendly people!

We (myself, my wife and my 15 year old daughter) booked through Thomas Cook back in January and were seriously counting down the days to our 10 days in Icmeler.

We finally arrived at The Grand Aquarium Hotel at 6am and were very tired and bleary eyed. We checked-in and were given 2 wristband watches which we loaded with cash (the only way you can buy drinks and food at the hotel but a good idea in my opinion). We were shown to our room (room 124) which upon entering found to be spotlessly clean - it had a separate double bedroom for me and my wife and a bed/chair for my daughter. Previous reviews said the rooms were really small but we found it alright. We unpacked and made our way down to the restaurant for some breakfast.

I had a full english. My wife had beans on toast and my daughter had scrambled egg on toast. A lovely mug of tea and we were ready for the long day ahead.

We got 3 sun loungers easily enough and had a refreshing swim in the large, deep pool. As we were looking around the hotel getting familiar with it we were approached by Aydin Sari and shown the Turkish bath and gym area (underground). We booked a Turkish bath for the next day which cost £35 each - the cheapest was £20 but we opted for the mud body pack and massage too. Aydin is self employed and does Turkish bath, photo's, hairdresser, tattoos and body piercing (among other things) and he is the only one who takes cash (preferably Sterling).

Anyway our Turkish bath was lovely and relaxing and good fun too - best I've ever had in Turkey as it was just the 3 of us. They don't do loads of people together like some of them.

The staff at the hotel were wonderful and really couldn't do enough for you, we learned all their names and quickly became friends with them. Two of the guys were the mini-disco entertainers and we had so much fun dancing with them for the 'kids' disco.

The pool was huge but only problem was it was very deep, I could just about stand up on my tip-toes so children really need inflatables of some kind if they aren't strong swimmers. The only shallow area was where the water slide exited - this was on twice a day for about 30 minutes at a time and was great fun. They did have a separate small and shallow children's pool for the little ones, and a jacuzzi that was on while the slide was open.

We went into Icmeler a few times, sometimes walked and sometimes Dolmus (1.50 TL to Icmeler and 2.50 TL to Marmaris). The walk was about 20-25 minutes but not too bad even in the 40+ heat, just a slow walk was fine.

We visited the beach just the once but found the waiters really nice and friendly, we paid 3 TL each for sun loungers for the day which I didn't think was bad - we got them right next to the sea as the beach was quite shingly. The sea was lovely to swim in.

The entertainment team where fantastic and the evening entertainment was pretty good most nights, a couple of nights it wasn't so good but I guess they have to cater for everyone. They also have regular music quizzes and karaoke.

No sign of mozzies during the whole stay but did get a few wasps around the hotel balcony - however a quick squirt of mozzie-spray soon saw them buzzing off.

Firstly must say this was our best holiday EVER, the hotel, Icmeler itself and lovely, friendly people!

We (myself, my wife and my 15 year old daughter) booked through Thomas Cook back in January and were seriously counting down the days to our 10 days in Icmeler.

We arrived at Manchester airport at 6pm for a 9:40pm flight. The check in was fairly quick due to us being fairly early but were told the flight was delayed by 20 minutes - I can cope with that.
Boarding the plane the pilot told us the temperatures in Turkey which we already knew thanks to JT's regular updates

The flight was fine but got no sleep as my daughter was so excited (her first time on a plane or even abroad for that matter). Arrived in Dalaman airport at approx 3:30am on Wednesday morning.

Check-out though Dalaman was pretty quick and within 30 minutes had collected our luggage and were outside the airport and made our way down to the coach area. The transfer was an air conditioned coach and we got a little sleep as it was a good 2 1/2 hours (a lot of stops in Marmaris before we got to our hotel - we were second from last drop).

We finally arrived at The Grand Aquarium Hotel at 6am and were very tired and bleary eyed. We checked-in and were given 2 wristband watches which we loaded with cash (the only way you can buy drinks and food at the hotel but a good idea in my opinion). We were shown to our room (room 124) which upon entering found to be spotlessly clean - it had a separate double bedroom for me and my wife and a bed/chair for my daughter. Previous reviews said the rooms were really small but we found it alright. We unpacked and made our way down to the restaurant for some breakfast.

I had a full English (I normally eat local food on holiday but as I was hungry I wanted a big familiar meal). My wife had beans on toast and my daughter had scrambled egg on toast. A lovely mug of tea and we were ready for the long day ahead.

We got 3 sun loungers easily enough and had a refreshing swim in the large, deep pool. As we were looking around the hotel getting familiar with it we were approached by Aydin Sari and shown the Turkish bath and gym area (underground). We booked a Turkish bath for the next day which cost £35 each - the cheapest was £20 but we opted for the mud body pack and massage too. Aydin is self employed and does Turkish bath, photo's, hairdresser, tattoos and body piercing (among other things) and he is the only one who takes cash (preferably Sterling). He is a really funny guy and had a mass of curly hair.

He would often just come and talk to us as we were sunbathing and he wrote me a list of Turkish welcome phrases with English translations (thank you, hello, good morning, how are you, I'm fine thanks, and you? good evening, good night) and translations to learn for 'homework'. I learned them and next day we had a little Turkish conversation in the morning - this was very helpful during the rest of our stay - I used them when greeting any locals and they seemed to like that.

Anyway our Turkish bath was lovely and relaxing and good fun too - best I've ever had in Turkey as it was just the 3 of us. They don't do loads of people together like some of them.

The staff at the hotel were wonderful and really couldn't do enough for you, we learned all their names and quickly became friends with them. Two of the guys were the mini-disco entertainers and we had so much fun dancing with them for the 'kids' disco. My daughter and I were up every night and although the routine was the same every night, you quickly picked up the dance moves. My daughter even bought one of the 'Follow the Leader - Entertainment Team T-Shirts.

The pool was huge but only problem was it was very deep, I could just about stand up on my tip-toes so children really need inflatables of some kind if they aren't strong swimmers. The only shallow area was where the water slide exited - this was on twice a day for about 30 minutes at a time and was great fun. They did have a separate small and shallow children's pool for the little ones, and a Jacuzzi that was on while the slide was open.

We went into Icmeler a few times, sometimes walked and sometimes Dolmus (1.50 TL to Icmeler and 2.50 TL to Marmaris). The walk was about 20-25 minutes but not too bad even in the 40+ heat, just a slow walk was fine.
We visited the beach just the once but found the waiters really nice and friendly, we paid 3 TL each for sun loungers for the day which I didn't think was bad - we got them right next to the sea as the beach was quite shingly. The sea was lovely to swim in.

We ate out a few times too at Tommy's Bar and the Tandoori Sizzler and another I can't remember the name of and all meals were delicious and reasonably priced (most expensive was the Sizzler at around £40 for 3 of us with drinks - not bad eh?)


We spent a lot of time at the Hotel and my daughter made friends with some other guests of a similar age (14-17ish) and she had a great time with them. She would often leave my wife and I to go play pool or 'moonbathe' on an evening. I felt It was a safe enough environment to let her do this. She would often be out till 1-2am and a couple of times my wife and I went to our room and just left the door ajar for her - it really was THAT safe.

The entertainment team where fantastic and the evening entertainment was pretty good most nights, a couple of nights it wasn't so good but I guess they have to cater for everyone. They also have regular music quizzes and karaoke - I sung about 6-7 times on the karaoke nights as they would insist.

Weather-wise it was glorious sunshine with no clouds in sight most of the time, it was quite humid on a night as the air-con in our room was only in the lounge area and not in the bedroom, we slept ok and also kept the window open. We had a major thunderstorm and rain on Thursday 2nd Aug but this was quite nice and refreshing, made sleeping easier that night as it wasn't so humid. No sign of mozzies during the whole stay but did get a few wasps around the hotel balcony - however a quick squirt of mozzie-spray soon saw them buzzing off. My daughter got stung on her thumb on the last night as she swiped her hand through her hair and there was a wasp in her hair.

We did a couple of trips all booked through ICR, these were Atlantis Water Park (small but fun), Jeep Safari - excellent wet fun but a bit disappointed we had to 'hire' the water pistols at 20 TL each - I thought we had bought them until halfway through they took them of us - Mine didn't work most of the time either so ended up throwing buckets of water at the other Jeep. Also, lunch was included but you had to pay extra for chips!

Coming home was sad and my daughter had a few tears when we had to go, we got waved off by all the staff and began our long journey home.
All in all - a fantastic holiday, fantastic hotel, fantastic weather and fantastic location. We are definitely going back to the same hotel next year with another one in tow - my stepdaughter wants to come too, so only around 360 sleeps to go!

Stayed at the Grand Aquarium from 27th August to 7th September, the self-catering facilities are a two ring stove, microwave, kettle, toaster and a fridge with no ice making compartment.
Smallest rooms I have ever seen and in my opinion is no good for 2 adults and 2 teenagers(very cramped) and one wardrobe to share. The air con was terrible not very powerful at all. The hotel cleanliness was ok. Beds changed once in our stay, clean towels every day and one loo roll a day.

Food in the snack bar was ok 5lira for a full English but found drinks to be pricey. Grand Aquarium is a bit out of the way as after a few days you get fed up of walking the 20 to 25 mins walk so need a taxi which you can get right outside for between 5 and 10lira.
The dolmus bus runs regular and you can get on it anywhere on the main road for 1 and half lira each.

Most of the staff were friendly. I enjoyed my stay but would not stop in the same hotel again would like to be further into Icemler town. Icemler town is lovely, lots of nice bars and places to eat.

We didn’t see any of the evening entertainment so cannot really comment. We paid £15 to keep our room on as we had a late night flight; I expected clean towels that we didn’t get.

We went on the 15 July for 2 weeks, the temp reached about 51 degrees on somedays. Hotel was very nice but had to pay £60 for air-con which was only in the livingroom not in the bedrooms were needed, could not sleep in the heat and the rooms the smallest i ever stayed but cleaned everday. Hotel to faraway from centre but had everything needed in it. Had the best massage ever. The staff were great and all worked very hard ensuring all holidays makers were happy. Food in Hotel good but ate out alot.

This was our third time in Icmeler, but the first time at the Grand Aquarium which we booked directly with them and found them to be very prompt and helpful in their replies and information. We arrived at 4am and were greeted by Mr Ali the night manager who was very informative and helpful and got one of the night staff to take our luggage to our room. They are not the biggest of rooms, but we comfortably managed to sleep 4 in the apt. You get 6 hurs per day free air con, but you are better paying for it for the entire duration of the stay as it gets hot and stuffy at nights. Staff were always helpful and chatty and the entertainment team did a great job, in keeping people amused without being too pushy, and the Turkish Night I would recommend to anyone. Same goes for a Turkish bath at the Grand Aquarium, which was reasonably priced and they did not try to sell you extra oils, etc, which you tend to get a lot of the other places. There were enough sunbeds for everyone, and although you are not supposed to put towels down before 7.30, people often did, and every so often the staf would remove them and put them in the left towels basket. The location is good and not so good - good in that it is at the edge of the old village surrounded by the pine clad hillsides, but not so good that you need a taxi or dolmus to get into the centre, as it takes a good 25-30 mins to walk there(no good in heat)
I would recommend it for families and even older people as it isn't too noisy either and would consider going back there again

Stayed at the Grand Aquarium end of June beginning of July for 2 weeks. On arrival staff were pleasant however when we got to our room the floors were filthy never cleaned the whole fortnight we were there. We have people above us shouting banging doors to say the least and next afraid to say there were Scottish same as ourselves. They were accosted by another Scottish family felt like we were in a war zone. Then to top it all we went out for the evening that night and came back to people signing sectarian songs again Scottish I wish I wasnt on that holiday. Would not recommend this place if looking for a quiet relaxing holiday

Just back after a lovely week at the Grand Aquarium.

We were initially given a one bed roomed apartment at the rear of the block, this apartment was absolutley spotless & although relatively small it was perfect for just the three of us.

We had actually requested a pool view & although content with what we had we asked the Rep if there was a possibility of moving to a vacant pool view room, the Rep told us she would have an answer by 5pm that night & true to her word we were moved to a superb room with pool view without any fuss.

As was expected it was very hot & the air conditioning was welcoming after a day sweltering by the pool. The bedroom was sizeable (2 beds) & the living area decent sized too with a single fold down bed come seat. A small kitchen which was well equipped with utilities such as Microwave, toaster, fridge etc.

Food on site was excellent, fresh & well presented & although perhaps a Lira or two more expensive than you would pay in the centre of town it was still well worth it.

We liked the location, although we seemed to be a bit out of the way it didnt deter us from visiting the town centre which we done mostly by taxi at very little cost for a 10 minute journey.

Hotel staff were kind & friendly & always willing to assist, the complex Manager whom has had a bit of a bashing on here was a lovely friendly & approachable man as was the owner, both went out their way to make us & others welcome.

Waiting/bar staff - Great bunch of guys, always up for a bit of banter & a laugh, nothing was too much bother for them, take a bow Robbie & Co.

Entertainment was plentiful, throughout the day Ozzy, Fi Fi & Kiki kept the kids & adults amused with their pool party games & there was never a dull moment. Ok a few of the games were silly but who cares, its all fun.

Night time entertainment by the same guys who never ever seem to stop, always energetic & getting the crowds going, mini disco, quizzes, horse racing, bingo, karaoke, magic shows..you name it they done it .

Overall - Enjoyable holiday, fantastic staff, excellent food & immaculate facilities.

We stayed here and loved it the kids enjoyed the slide although it maybe could have been on a little more through the day
the staff were really friendly and couldnt do more for us.

we ate here several times for breakfast/lunch and was ok value for money.
the location is out a bit from town centre but we got taxis from outside the hotel cheap. there is a bus stop near by too.
A supermarket is close by across the road.

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i cant really comment on the entertainment at night as we liked to go out at night shopping and for meal. But from what i saw there was a karaoke night, a turkish night and i think bingo most night probably a lot more was on. During the day there was dancing in the pool and little games goin on.
we would stay here again

the hotel's cleanliness was imaculate. cannot be faulted, every day religiously the lovely cleaning lady rang our door bell (which was the sound of a bird tweeting which i thought was a clever, interesting touch.)

I am 15 therefore could appreciate both the kids entertainment and adult, whichever i wished and both were put together well and efficiently.

At 10 o clock every morning doris days 'good morning' plays. As a teenager i must say that was not appreciated as the hot climate and sea air does leave you tired. However i am grateful as i would regret sleeping away my week in turkey which is a fabulous place which i cannot wait to visit again next year.

The entertainment was good. Every night at half 9 there are different shows, somw i watched include, break dancing, fire eater, snake show and michael jackson impersonator. There is something for everybody to see.

Overall, the hotel is what you expect it to be, clean and presentable. A perfect place to come back to after a day in the sun with the friendly turks. 10/10