Arden Apartments Reviews

Accomodation ok, clean but very basic, classed as high standard to some in Turkey.Everything you need though - 2 ring hob, fridge, electric kettle, basic crockery etc- Maid was a lovely lady and the reception staff were friendly and helpful with limited english. Air conditioning was £4 a day but you needed it - the rooms were so hot!Safe deposit was £7 a week so for a 2 week holiday your talking £70 for both. My worse fear was cocroaches - but there WASN'T ANY!! AT ALL! Only saw one the whole two weeks on the wall in a bar! Phew!

Altinkum itself is a nice place - plenty of shops and bars but be prepared for loads n loads of hassle to get you into bars and shops - the resort revolves around one long stretch of bars, restaurants and shops and there are hundreds of them, but each one wants you to go in and have a meal and a drink! they start off asking your name, where you are from, then ask if you will come for a drink or meal. Ok, you go in, but the hassle doesnt stop there! Even when you have wined or dined there they still hassle you the whole of your holiday to go in! They're not aggressive with it - just a polite no thankyou suffices but at the end of your holiday you've had enough - it is actually illegal to hassle but they still do it when the police ar'nt around!

Had some good meals - try big bens -lovely food,try the onion rings for a starter - yummy! and the steak tornado main course - also yummy! very relaxed, no ";thump thump"; music and on the sea front, Mona Lisa on the front, family door restaurant and Altinkum restaurant who do a great pizza. Got a good english brekkie at Barneys but its one of those bars you have to stumble accross on your travels!The bars around dolphin square we found to be a bit pricey for drinks but cheers Bar do proper chips! If you walk right up the sea front to the other end you will find Harry Ramsdens chippy for proper fish chips n mushy peas!The paradise bar is cheap for drinks but food is a bit pricey compared to others but the lads who work there are great -very friendly, and once they get to know you they dont hassle you just say things like ";see you tonight";, the bar next door - Romeos - again, great lads but continually hassle you whatever time of the day to go in for drinks, even though we went in most nights for a drink, they still hassled us all day to go in - understandable I suppose really, cos all the waiters in the bars work on comission only -the more customers they get the more money they earn - they get 10%, and work 14 hours a day for about £8 on an average day.

Boat trips - good if you like swimming in the sea, but buy your tickets from AdaVegas travel or paradise bar next door - costs £6 - its £10 on the boat! Hello to Hamit and Yllip in AdaVegas - lovely lads - very friendly,and go on the jeep safari - costs £14 and great day out including a very nice turkish lunch near the sea.

Was a bit hacked off with the shops n bars though - they had 2 price scales - one for turkish and a higher one for english - no prices on items and paused before telling you the price! the turkish even admit that they think the english are rich so charge 30 - 50% more than they should! If you walk up dolphin square and up the main road towards didm there are a couple of larger supermarkets where the prices are a lot cheaper.

GO to didm market on saturday which costs 1YTL on the Dolmus (40p), good atmoshphere but be prepared to be hassled the whole time! Went to Soke market but found that to be a waste of time - mainly fruit and veg and took 1 hour to get there, dont bother going! Lots of young beggars there who hassle you from the minute you get off the bus asking for money and very cheeky!

All in all, had a good holiday, very hot but with a nice breeze, probably wouldn't go again because of the unfair pricing policy, have been to Marmaris and Icmiller before and it didn't happen there. But go, and have fun, dont forget to barter!!

2nd time to Turkey (certainly not our last) We had a fantastic time. the aprts were very clean and spacious however on arrival we were given a room without a balcony something we hav never had a holiday without.
I felt very cloustrophobic we asked the staff on duty if we could be moved they stated that the was no other rooms available. so we asked to speak to the manager who was a polite and professional guy,he stated that we could have a room with a balcony within two hours and sure enough too his word we were moved .

However i must admit the balconys are very narrow and your legs can become cramped especially when your both 6ft but at least we had one.

The staff were very freindly and the made is a star she works own her own everyday as the rooms are cleand everyday and the towels and sheets every three days.

At night altinkum becomes alive and becouse we were situated on the promenade the boats became very noisey there was a bar below us called the ali bar and the hada live band on each night ( i must admit the wernt to bad)open until 2 pm . Many other bars are open till mutch later than this the noise did not bother us to much.

The pool is very small as are most in turkey the kids enjoied them selves, beware at the ajoining hotel who shares the pool the guests can be quite rude taking my childrens snorkels, lilos and balls without permission refusing to give back the items and pretending that they cannot understand you as if you are from another planet.

The in altinkum vary in quality, cleanness and price The restarounts alongside our apartments were unclean expensive and hassled to eat every time we passed we eventually said we would have a drink however on getting the bill (of which you must check everytime) we were ripped off , hence we did not return. the restraunts and bars to bewere of are paradise restraount , Altinkum restrount and the long island pub (apparantly british?)The ladey who severed us was very nice her boss/husband was very aggressive towards her as they did not have the drinks in stock what we orderd , we said that it didnt matter however she returned to the bar and the man had a tantrum and it wasnt a very nice scene .

the bars we recommend are the dolunay restraunt, the big ben on the promenade, you may pay a little bit more but however the food quality was spot on our favourate restarount was the family door and the managers brother lives near us !!

Also the funfair lunar Park is not safe at all as the was a few accidents there as one oof the childrens rides de-railed the paramedics came and the next day we walked passed and the ride was working again all they did was put it back on the rails and started taking money again :s

But overall our stay was great even with the earthquakes in the night and we have booked to go to icmeler next year at the same time as last so now you have been warned
goodbye