It was amazing!!!!!

Olu Deniz is as good as it looks in the brochures. The lagoon is safe and very clean.

If you want to go on trips I recommend the jeep safari and the boat trip.

Also the paragliding. my whole family did it , including my 9 year old brother, and we all loved it.

We booked all our trips with easy riders. Eat out at the Secret Garden, or Captins Hook, and visit the Lagoon and Bobs beach.

The resort itself is OK but it seems fairly boring. I don't like the transfer from the airport, it is long and frightening! I never look out the window!

I have always loved the region especially Ovacik and Hiaranu
This year we decided to actually stay in Olu Deniz
I can not argue that it is not beautiful place to stay, the resteraunte were lovely.There is a but, I have always found the not in your face approach of the Turkish way of life very appealling , however I think it has been lost in Olu Deniz this year.
When we first arrived ,the first couple of days nearly became unbearable outside of the Hotel on the main walk through. Lucky for our party I was used to travel to Turkey and I could fend some of it off in banter .I believe that should my parents have been on their own they would have been completely overwhelmed.
So what was the problem ? You were constantly harrased as you tried to take your time to decide where to eat, resulting in you eventually nearly running down the road to get away from it.This would result in you then missing some of the restaraunts. As for shopping you would never dare look never mind touch as you were subjhected to high level selling .I did speak to one of the managers of a resteraunt we ate in and he said it was also causing them problems as people were rushing down the road to get away from it and they in turn were missing the passing trade!! Come on Olu Deniz get it back in order ,you may find that you end up spoiling it for everybody including your fellow buisness men.

The resort was kept clean and although I didn't see much of the entertainment out of our complex, it looked like there was fun and games in most of the bars.
The beach has a lot of shingle on it so it is a good idea to have beach shoes. The sea also shelves steeply, so you need to be careful with children. There is sometimes an undercurrent too. The lagoon is safer and if you use the hotel free dolmus, it takes you to anice sandy part, wher the sun beds and umbrellas are free, but you have to pay for any food and drink.
All in all we h ad a fantastic holiday and I wouldn't hesitate to book this hotel again.

Finally got around to this report and it seems an age since we were away. Flight to Dalaman was on time and we arrived about 8.30pm – no problems getting through the airport. In fact this was our 3rd time at Dalaman and we have always got through quickly. I have had problems with mosquito bites in the past but I think I set a world record for the quickest bite ever. We were directed down the ramp to the coach and once sat down on the coach I felt a tickle on my arm and within 10 minutes the dreaded red rash appeared – could not believe it. The bite must have occurred in the 45 seconds it took to walk down the ramp to the coach. Fortunately it was my first and last bite of the holiday – the high strength jungle lotion did the trick for the rest of the holiday and in fact the bite I did get did not last too long which I put down to taking a piriton tablet. The transfer took about 1.5 - 2 hrs including the drop offs. I think I would try to have a private transfer next time but as the coach transfer was included in the cost it was not really economical to do it this time.

Arrived at The Montebello in Olu Deniz about 11pm – just time for a quick drink and meal out. Thanks to Chris at Cousins for coming up with something to eat late on. The Montebello was a nice hotel in a good location at the back of the resort by the road to Hisaronu. It was very clean with friendly staff and excellent service ( will give a full review in the hotel section ).

On the coach transfer to Olu Deniz the rep announced we had arrived at the start of a heatwave and warned us to expect extremely high temperatures for the next few days even by Turkey standards. We found out what she meant on the first morning as the gauge by the pool showed 40c at 10.30am rising to 44c later on, which were shade temperatures. This lasted about five days and then the temperature suddenly dropped for a few days – a positively cool 32c. In fact in Hisaronu one evening it was cool enough for my partner to put on a jacket – one extreme to another !! This did not last long though and the heat started building again and that was the only evening it was even remotely cool.

One thing I liked about Olu Deniz was it was very compact but lots of hotels, bars, restaurants, shops etc. to keep you occupied. Even though we were at the back of the resort the beach and everywhere else was within a 10min walk. The Montebello is also very convenient for the dolmus to Hisaronu, just walk out of the hotel stand by the road and within 5 mins a dolmus will turn up and stop for you. It was 1.5m lira to Hisaronu and 2m lira to Fetyhie.

The exchange rates did not change much whilst we were there, we always got 2.65m lira to the pound. I am so pleased from next year the currency is changing and 6 zeros are being taken off the notes, it should simplify things a lot. The exchange rate was much better than last year in Icmeler when we got about 2.1m lira to the pound but this was cancelled out to a certain extent by the higher prices we found this year. I do not know if this is a resort thing or whether the local bars/restaurants just put their prices up when the exchanges rates go up. I think this was reflected in the price for a large Efes – about 3 – 3.5m lira on average where last year it was about 2.5m lira. Not to complain though, it is still cheap and great value too. One word of warning though, most of the change bureaux advertise no commission and in most cases that is true. On the first day I went to change £100 in travellers cheques at the “Banco” opposite The North To Defend Bar. I was given the money but it seemed a lot short ( I’m glad I checked ) and the man said the shortfall was commission – 10% !!!! When I said there was supposed to be no commission he said that applied to cash only, I promptly took my cheques back and returned his money. 10% out of 2 weeks holiday money is a large amount to lose ! I went a couple of doors up to a jewellers who gave me the same rate without deducting commission. He said a lot of people have had problems with that place and was very uncomplimentary about the man in charge there. In fact this jeweller offered the same rate all through the holiday and it was always the highest I saw so we went back there for the rest of the holiday. The lesson is make sure that when changing money commission is not charged and try and work out the amount of lira to expect before you go in.

We went to two of the private beaches ( which are sandy ) – Bob’s Beach & Suhara Beach. They were both on the lagoon and both provided free taxis to and from the beach and your hotel. They both charged 8m lira for a shade and 2 sunbeds. For Suhara we just went to The Chill Out Restaurant who organised the taxis for us and for Bob’s we just rang a number the rep gave us , The Montebello did reception would not ring for these taxis – they want you to stay around the pool and spend money in the hotel. I would say Bob’s beach was slightly better, it was more tranquil and quieter whilst Suhara was much busier although the beach restaurant there was of a higher standard. We also went on the main Belcekiz beach ( 9m lira for 2 beds and shade ) which was nice too but if you want to go in the water take some sandals with you as it is extremely painful walking on the shingly beach barefoot.

For quite a few days I was plucking up courage to do the paragliding and eventually booked it through Sky Sports. The Manos rep said they do not recommend guests do it as they have seen so many accidents ( & 2 fatalities this year ) and they insist you are not insured by the company you go through. Sky Sports were adamant that I would be insured but it left me feeling it would have been better to arrange separate cover before we went away ( your standard travel insurance will not cover this). I was due to do it on the Saturday morning and it was the night before the hotel had its one and only power cut which cut out my alarm ( honest !! ) and so I slept in that morning and missed my time slot. I took that as an omen I should not do it and did not rearrange the booking – but next time in Olu , definitely !! I think I would still go through Sky Sports as they seemed very professional and had the latest technology – live video and audio links to the ground and a DVD of your jump if you wanted.

There are lots nice places to eat and drink in Olu Deniz ( & Hisaronu ). This is a summary of some of the places we went to :

Cousins Bar - on the far side of the resort where the dolmus runs. Best English breakfast in the resort and evening meals are very good too. It deserves to be much busier.

Crusoe’s & Buzz Bar – two excellent outdoor chill out bars for an early evening drink. Crusoe’s gets lively later on.

Plaza Bar at Belcekiz Beach – a lively bar, usually some kind of entertainment on. Disco on later.

North To Defend – new bar on the main street. Good place to watch the world go by.

Cherry Chow – same as NTD

Oba Restaurant – excellent garden setting, great service and great food. Like a lot of places its superb value for money.

Help Bar/ Sugar Shack - Excellent value burgers/steaks etc. It is a restaurant that transforms into a disco about 11pm. Reminds me of a Planet Hollywood /Hard Rock Cafe type of place. Great beach front location.

Buzz Bar Takeaway ( kebabs ) - on the beachfront. If you like kebabs don’t miss it !

Shine Indian Restaurant ( Hisaronu ) – Simply wonderful.

Rainbow Indian Restaurant ( Hisaronu ) – great value buffet on Sundays and Wednesdays ( I think ? )

Dominoes ( Hisaronu ) – good quality meals at reasonable prices.

Moonlight Restaurant - good English breakfasts but not the cheapest. Their Sunday roasts were supposed to be very good but did not have one myself.

Robin Hood ( Hisaronu ) – Try the Turkish lamb - superb meal.

At nearly all the restaurants you get the Turkish pitta bread as a free starter and it sometimes comes as big as a football. The only problem is that it is so filling that by the time your meal arrives you feel so full. It is so tasty that its almost impossible to resist – so be warned !!

We did not go on trips as such, just mainly getting out and about by dolmus. We went to Fetyihe one day which had a nice harbour area but I thought there would be more to it than there was. From what I could see apart from the harbour and a small area of shops there did not appear to be much else to see. Is this really the case ? or is it that we just did not come across other places of interest there – I’m not sure !!

One thing we did notice about Olu Deniz and Hisaronu is that I have never seen such a lot of estate agents in such a small area. I know there is a bit of a building boom going on at the moment, especially in Ovacik where there are villas going up everywhere, but how do they all make a living ? An estate agent showed us a few detached villas with private pool. They were around £90000 to £125000 and really good value compared to what you get for your money in the UK. A 3 bed room villa would often have en suite facilities for each bedroom and the other rooms would be very spacious. There are also great views of the surrounding countryside and mountains – something to consider as a great value holiday home.

After going to the Marmaris/Icmeler area for the last 2 years I was wandering how Olu Deniz would compare. All I can say is that I will return to both areas but it is difficult to say which is preferable as I cannot say I enjoyed one more than the other. I suppose its going to be the toss of a coin next time we go.

There were no problems going back, the airport was fairly quiet on the Friday evening and our 9.30pm flight was right on time. We got seats in the departure lounge easily unlike last year when we had to sit on the floor for an hour or two. We found out the aircraft had to be changed at the last minute from a 757 to an A330 airbus which meant it was half empty. We also got seated in the premiair cabin with the extra leg room and seat back screens showing a choice of videos and films. We are not often this lucky but it meant a more comfortable journey home.

Brian

Cleanliness - we were very impressed with the cleanliness of the resort and much improvement had been done since last year. Entertainment - each restaurant/bar made every effort to attract customers with live bands, traditional turkish evenings, karoke and much more. Beach - great improvement from last year with cafe and bars and daily boat trips now sailing from Olu Deniz. Resort - this resort offers good restaurants, to good shopping areas and very hospitable people. If you are looking at going to Turkey for the first time, you will not be disappointed with Olu Deniz.

We found the resort clean and there were many bars and restaurants to choose from. There were many stalls and shops with goods on sale all day to the early hours with reasonably priced, good quality fake designer jewellery and clothing. Only bad point is that the young girls get a lot of attention from the men. My 17 year old daughter was harrassed wherever she went even when I(her mum)was with her. By the end of 2 weeks it was exasperating!
The Beach was quiet; the sea breakers were powerful (good fun!)but became treacherously deep quickly.

Resort cleaniness was excellent but not as good as it could have been.

Resort entertainment was poor and needed to be improved.

Beach "Blue lagoon was highly overrated", but the waves at one beach were excellent.