Prive Hotel Bodrum

The location of the hotel is amazing, beautiful view over the bay towards Bodrum City. The city and Gumbet are both within walking distance...although hilly! The atmosphere within the hotel is relaxed. The staff are amazing and really helpful across all departments. All public areas and rooms are kept meticulously clean. The rooms have everything you need, just a bit dated with some furniture and bathroom upgrades. We paid for a sea view, we got a sea view, but it was interrupted, so try to avoid rooms on the Lobby level. The main restaurant is really good, lots of choice, there is also a bookable a la carte experience included in your booking, I haven't tried that. The gym is functional with static machines, cable machine and free weights. The spa is lovely, I had a Bali massage, a deep massage, which was amazing and inexpensive. Our preference was by the pool, the beach/boardwalk area is fine, plenty of beds and easy access to the sea. The water taxi to Bodrum City is quick and frequent. The lobby terrace is lovely to sit out on, overlooking the bay, as does the main bar area where the entertainment is performed. There have been some amazing performances during our stay, Overall, a fantastic stay and we would return.

There are some genuinely good things about Agaya Bodrum Hotel, but unfortunately they were overshadowed by a few major issues that would make it very difficult for us to recommend it, particularly to non-smokers or anyone who values a peaceful night’s sleep.

The biggest issue by far is smoking. There appear to be zero non-smoking areas outside or on the terraces, and smoking is even allowed in the snack bar area. For a hotel of this supposed standard, we found this absolutely disgusting. You simply cannot sit outside and enjoy a meal, drink or the wonderful views without potentially having somebody smoking next to you. If you are a smoker, you’ll probably love it. If you’re a non-smoker, it can become a nightmare.

The second major problem is noise. The evening entertainment starts quite late, which means music is regularly blasting out until after 11:30pm. This is particularly frustrating if, like us, you have paid extra for a sea-view room, only to discover that the beautiful view comes with a soundtrack you may not actually want.

You can escape to the roof terrace, although there aren't many seats and, once again, it seems to be dominated by smokers. On some evenings we were treated to a cacophony of music coming from three different hotels simultaneously, to the point where none of it was distinguishable from anything else. Then, bizarrely, at around 4am there would be another loud broadcast from somewhere, although we never managed to work out where it was coming from. Peace and quiet is definitely not this hotel's strong point.

As for the hotel itself, it feels a little rough around the edges in places. We would be hard pressed to describe it as genuinely five-star, and equally hard pressed to say that it represents particularly good value for money.

That said, it certainly isn't all bad. The staff were great and deserve credit for that. The food was a solid 7.5/10 – there was always something enjoyable to find – and the views from the hotel overlooking Bodrum are absolutely stunning.

Getting into Bodrum is also very easy. The local water taxi runs approximately every 15–20 minutes and costs €4 per person each way, which is a pleasant and convenient way to travel.

Bodrum itself is well worth exploring, with numerous historical sites including the ancient city walls, Myndos Gate, the Amphitheatre, Bodrum Castle, the Mausoleum and the windmills. One thing worth knowing is that although we saw entrance prices advertised in euros, the sites we visited would only accept Turkish lira or card payments, not euros.

Overall, there are positives here: lovely staff, decent food, spectacular views and a great location for exploring Bodrum. But the combination of constant outdoor smoking, late-night noise and a hotel that doesn't quite live up to its five-star billing or price point significantly detracted from our stay.

We had a wonderful 10 days at Agaya. The location was excellent. A water taxi went from Agaya to Bodrum between 9am - 1am every day on a regular basis for 200 liras. The food was excellent, the drinks were all top quality brands, and the cocktails were the best I have had, all served in a nice glass! The rooms were a little dated but had plenty of storage. We did not use our sun-beds on our balcony, we would have preferred table and chairs, and the sun-bed mattresses were not very clean and stained. All staff worked so hard and we want to give praise to Baris who was the waiter based at the beach bar along with the bar staff who worked extremely hard. We ordered a drink via a barcode and it was by your bed within minutes. The entertainment was a little hit and miss and repetitive, as we were there for 10 days so we watched 3 of the acts twice. The table and chairs that was set out in the evenings, the chairs could have had a cushion on them, we found them a little uncomfortable to sit on for a few hours. All in all, we had a wonderful time and would definitely return in the future, just a few tweaks and this hotel would make a 5 star. Thank you Agaya