Kusadesi harbour Photo: CORBIS
Guide to hotels and villas in Turkey: holiday planner 2011
Our complete guide to booking a villa, cottage or hotel in Turkey, including luxury options and cheaper accommodation.
By Sophie Butler
Turkey specialists
Our selection
Anatolian Sky Holidays (0844 571 9128; www.anatoliansky.co.uk) This company is expanding its programme length by six weeks this year, with packages available from April until the end of October. It has begun selling holidays in the fishing village of Gumusluk, by the Bodrum Peninsula, where a week at the 36-room Gumusluk Hotel costs from £509 per person with breakfast, flights and transfers. It has added Cesme to its programe and has more self-catering properties in Kalkan. It’s the only British tour operator to feature the small beachside town of Alacati. It also offers gulet cruises, escorted tours and tailor-made trips.
Cachet Travel (020 8847 8700; www.cachet-travel.co.uk) Additions for 2011 include villas with private pools in Kas, Akyaka and Turunc; and the Olive Farm, a retreat of 10 luxurious guest rooms and suites on a working farm near Datca. Seven nights’ half board there, including flights and car hire, costs from £711 per person.
Elixir Holidays (020 7722 2288; www.elixirholidays.com) Luxury, tailor-made specialist offering private gulet charters, escorted tours and mini-cruises. Additions to the portfolio include the Elixir Art Hotel in Datca and Kempinski Barbaros Bay in Bodrum. New for 2011 is an 18-room hotel on the Kas Peninsula, the Kas Peninsula Gardens.
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Exclusive Escapes (020 8605 3500; www.exclusiveescapes.co.uk) A selection of boutique hotels, private villas with pools, gulet cruising, trekking and sea kayaking and Method Putkisto (yoga) breaks on the Lycian Coast. It also offers Istanbul, Cappadocia and tailor-made tours to more remote regions. New for 2011 is the Mehmet Ali Aga Mansion, a boutique hotel on the Datça Peninsula – from £750 per person for seven nights’ b & b including flights.
Ilios Travel (0845 675 2601; www.iliostravel.com) Expanding its portfolio of properties in the Bodrum Peninsula, with apartments and villas including Sakina Konak in Gokcebel, a large house sleeping eight, with infinity pool and air-conditioned bedrooms –from £1,640 per week, rent only. Karma Apartment in Geris, near Yalikavak’s restaurants, costs from £455 per week, for four people.
Journey Anatolia (020 7617 7875; www.journeyanatolia.com) Founded by Serkan Cetin, who aims to offer a programme away from the mainstream, including small beach hotels, villas (including Ottoman mansions) and escorted tours. Music festival packages to SunSplash Antalya, staying in the Hillside Su Hotel: three nights’ half board costs £290 per person with tickets, but not flights. A two-week Eastern Turkey photographic tour in October to Lake Van costs from £1,500pp, with breakfast, some meals and transfers, but not flights.
Tulip Holidays (020 8211 0001; www.tulipholidays.com) A specialist in Turkey, organising a range of tailor-made packages, from shopping trips in Istanbul to beach holidays.
Other options
Alternative Travel & Holidays (020 7249 9800; www.alternativeturkey.com) Eight five-star hotels in Antalya – some with golf and spas on site.
Artemis Travel (01909 478946; www.artemistravel.co.uk) Selection of modern apartments and villas on the Aegean coast. Thanks to flexible arrival days and duration, you can tie rentals in with cheap flights. A four-bedroom, three-bathroom villa costs from £60 a night.
Crusader Travel (020 8744 0474; www.crusadertravel.com) Hotel packages in the popular resorts of Bodrum, Datca, Fethiye, Oludeniz and Kalkan. Also budget adventure holidays, under canvas, such as sea kayaking in Gocek Bay, from £195 (depending on the group size) including airport transfers, most meals, guide and equipment. Flights are extra. Cultural tours to the Black Sea, eastern Turkey and throughout the country also available.
Elysian Holidays (01580 766599; www.elysianholidays.co.uk) Three luxury five-bedroom villas – one with a tennis court. Villa Cennet costs from £850 a week and is close to the beach resort of Gokova.
Interhome (020 8246 4100; www.interhome.co.uk) Apartments and villas in the main holiday resorts from about £340 a week for a one-bedroom apartment in Side.
James Villa Holidays (0870 050 5058; www.jamesvillas.co.uk) More than 50 modern villas with private pools and up to six bedrooms. A two-bedroom, family-sized villa in Ortakent costs from £369, rent only.
Simply Travel (0871 231 4050; www.simplytravel.com) Small portfolio of off-the-beaten-track hotels and villas in Bitez, Gokcebel, Mazi and Ortakent.
Simpson Travel (020 8392 5858; www.simpsontravel.com) Choice of about 45 hotels and villas in Kalkan, Akyaka, Bozburun peninsula, Dalyan, Islamlar and Fethiye. New for 2011 are the Korsan Suites in Kalkan, from £475 per person (based on four staying in a two-bedroom property) including flights, car hire and transfers.
SJ Villas (020 7801 4010; www.sjvillas.co.uk) Continues to offer Villa Kargi, a striking hillside property sleeping up to 12, on the Datca peninsula, with pool and tennis court, from £3,900 per week.
Travelzest’s Tapestry Collection (0800 171 2155; www.tapestryholidays.com) Varied holiday suggestions for families, adult-only, multi-centre, villa and spa holidays. Also a gulet cruise along the south-west coast on the Tersane, a 105ft, 14-berth, crewed gulet, at £720 per person with flights and full board.
Vintage Travel (01954 261431; www.vintagetravel.co.uk) Features the Kulube Hotel on the Kalkan peninsula – from £160 per person per week in May, with breakfast (rising to £270 peak). Flights are extra. It also offers four three-bedroom houses with private pools around Kalkan.
Direct bookings with owners
Villarenters.com (www.villarenters.com) Has a selection of villas in Turkey, including a 12-person villa near Dalaman from £677 per week. Try also HomeAway Holiday Rentals (www.holiday-rentals.co.uk); www.holidaylettings.co.uk and www.dreamvillarentals.com.
Hotel holidays
The big sun-and-sand tour operators
Monarch Holidays (0871 423 8642; www.monarch.co.uk) Offers good-value hotel and self-catering holidays to the Mediterranean, and the Turquoise and Aegean coasts, with prices starting at £185 per person. Its affiliated online hotel arm is www.somewhere2stay.com, specialising in low-priced apartments, villas and hotels.
Olympic Holidays (0844 576 2386; www.olympicholidays.com) Has built on its programme for 2011 with additional hotels – mostly mid-range, all-inclusive properties – within easy reach of the areas served by its three airports: Antalya, Bodrum and Dalaman. Newcomers include the Belcehan Beach in Marcan and Montebello hotels (for b & b packages). All-inclusives include the Bahar in Fethiye (from £399 per person for seven nights), Club Acacia in Bodrum and Club Hotel Rama in Kemer. Seven nights’ b & b in May at the four-star Azka Hotel on Bardakci Bay just outside Bodrum costs from £369 per person, twin share.
Thomas Cook (0844 412 5970; www.thomascook.com) Has added properties to its Style Collection (www.thomascookstyle.com), which includes Thomas Cook Style (affordable mid-range hotels), Thomas Cook Ultimate Style (five-star hotels), Thomas Cook Villas with Style and MyStyle (affordable seaside luxury). Its Thomas Cook FamilyWORLD has a new, exclusive resort, the four-star Marti Myra Hotel in Tekirova, near Kemer, and its Aquamania programme (water-themed holidays) has expanded to 11 properties. Also gulet sailing holidays as well as an eight-day tour of Istanbul. Thomas Cook’s summer-sun brand, Airtours (www.airtours.co.uk), has 12 new properties in Turkey (four of which are exclusive) plus a new dedicated Families brochure including Sunsplash and Sunstar resorts; the latter offers children’s activities with a new “Street Beat” programme designed for teenagers.
Direct Holidays (0844 879 8191; www.directholidays.co.uk) Offers eight resorts on the Aegean coast (Kusadasi, Cesme, Ozdere, Altinkum, Turgutreis, Bodrum, Gumbet and Torba), five resorts on the Lycian coast (Icmeler, Marmaris, Fethiye, Hisaronu and Oludeniz) and five resorts on the Mediterranean coast (Lara Beach, Belek, Colakli, Side, Konakli), with more than 130 properties to choose from in total. New for 2011 is the five-star Paloma Pasha in the company’s “Deluxe Direct” range.
Thomson (0871 230 2555; www.thomson.co.uk) The company offers more choice in its families programme, with two all-inclusive resorts added: the 4T Hotel Bodrum Imperial, in Bodrum, and the Pegasos Royal Hotel, in Antalya.
In the Thomson Couples programme (for adults only), there’s the 4T Hotel Flora Garden, also in Antalya. Thomson’s sister company, First Choice (0871 200 4455; www.firstchoice.co.uk), has been expanding its Splash range for summer 2011 by adding the new Eftalia Aqua Resort in Konakli, Antalya, which has eight waterslides.
Other summer-sun operators
Holidaymate (0844 856 1921; www.holidaymate.com) Hotel packages to the top resorts, from self-catering to all-inclusive. Also a range of holidays for single people, including activity options.
Jewel in the Crown Holidays (01293 533338; www.jewelholidays.com) Big range of hotels in popular resorts. A “single room” section on the website indicates periods when no supplements are charged for single occupancy.
Just Sunshine (0844 756 0056; www.justsunshine.com) Good-value beach holidays to all the main holiday resorts, including Bodrum, Marmaris, Icmeler, Oludeniz and Fethiye. Package holidays as well as flights and accommodation-only.
Metak Holidays (020 8290 9292; www.metakholidays.co.uk) Large choice of popular resorts, two-centre breaks, all-inclusive and tailor-made holidays.
Sunwings (0845 408 2681; www.sunwings.co.uk) All-inclusive specialist offering a range of beach holidays for families and couples. Plenty of resorts, hotel types and regional departure points available.
Luxury hotel operators
Our selection
Classic Collection Holidays (0800 008 7288; www.classic-collection.co.uk) New to the 2011 programme is the boutique hotel Divan Bodrum on the Bodrum Peninsula, priced from £825 per person, per week, with breakfast, flights and transfers. The company also has four more upmarket hotels in Antalya, including the five-star Hillside Su, and three hotels in Side. Also new are cabin charters on standard gulets, with cabins from £544 for a week’s cruise from Bodrum.
Other options
The Discovery Collection (01371 859733; www.thediscoverycollection.com) Offers a range of quality holiday options, including two-centre trips, to destinations including Istanbul, Cappadocia, Antalya, Bodrum, Cirali and Cesme. Also a wedding-planning service.
Kirker Holidays (020 7593 2283; www.kirkerholidays.com) Short breaks and tailor-made itineraries to Istanbul and Bodrum, plus a five-night escorted cultural tour, “A Weekend in Istanbul”, featuring the Pera Palace and Ottoman Imperial hotels. For 2011 the company has added to its programme accommodation on the Gallipoli peninsula.
Mosaic Holidays (020 8574 4000; www.mosaicholidays.co.uk) Big selection of four-star and five-star hotels, mostly along the Turquoise Coast, in Istanbul and Antalya.
Prestige Holidays (01425 480400; www.prestigeholidays.co.uk) Luxury hotels on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. New for 2011 is the Gloria Serenity Resort in Belek, near Antalya, with beach, spa, tennis courts, three golf courses and a choice of water sports. Prices for 2011 start at £716 per person with flights, private transfers and half board.
Sovereign Luxury Travel (0844 415 1936; www.sovereign.com) Upmarket hotels such as the Susesi Deluxe Resort & Spa in Belek from £935 per person and Xanadu Island in Turgutreis from £795 per person. These are based on May departures, all-inclusive, with flights and transfers.
Turkey holiday planner 2011
Ten reasons to visit Turkey
Turkey transport guide
Guide to hotels and villas in Turkey
Cultural and activity holidays
Read: telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/turkey/8315993/Guide-to-hotels-and-villas-in-Turkey-holiday-planner-2011.html
