Duja Didim

Just left Duja Didim after 8 nights 3 adults 3 children. Hotel room - we got given two village rooms, they are very small . One of our rooms we found four dead cockroaches under a bed so we asked for a room change immediately. The restaurant is so busy, big ques for food … the restaurant is very stressful to say the least. There is always something to pick food wise but it’s nothing special. There is no air con in the restaurant area, there is a couple of portable machines but they don’t seem to do anything it’s gets very warm in there. The big pool it’s hard to get beds unless you get up very early to put towels out. There is hardly any room to walk between the sun beds, not much room at all. There is lots of loose tiles and edges to the pool which is dangerous, could do with a refurb round the main pool. The splash park my two children age 5 and 6 was allowed on the two big slides that land in shallow water on the first day and then told by other lifeguards on subsequent days they couldn’t go on them, resulting in two very upset children. I can understand them not being allowed on the slides that entered the deep water for safety reasons but what harm landing in 15cm of water. All depends what life guard is on , there are two very nice life guards. The pool toilets are absolutely filthy, no toilet roll restocked, feces on the toilet floor! Avoid these toilets and just use the toilets in your room it’s not a far walk, they are disgusting! There was one nice man working in the bar areas, he was called Umut he was great with my kids and very friendly. Finally the WiFi is terrible, so do not rely on this for internet … we stayed in Turkey last year at Eftalia Blue and this was a far superior hotel.

Firstly I’d say this hotel is more of a 3* than a 4. Although it has some nice features. There are far too many that let it down.

We had a garden view villa room which was clean tidy and well decorated. The maid did a lovely job daily on our cleans. The room itself is a nice size for 2 people but for a 3rd it would feel cramped.

The main pool area is a disaster. Sun beds packed in so closely together you don’t have any space to move. It also hasn’t been thought about in the design as majority of the beds end up in the shade for the whole day. We wrote this off on our first day as it definitely doesn’t give a good experience. We ventured round the smaller pools and found them to also be busy surrounded by dead grass and dirty looking buildings with what looks like wasp nests all over the tops. They would be better putting down tiles and maybes putting some gravel down around the villas to get rid of all the dead grass as it is not pleasant to look at. The main grounds of the hotel are pretty with some lovely views of the sea, it’s just the attention to detail that could do with fine tuning.

We did however find the beach, what a lovely safe haven this is. We spent most our days down here relaxing and enjoying the sun. Just make sure you have sea shoes as it’s all stones to get in and out! The staff at the sea bar were always very kind and helpful also.

The restaurant is awful!! It’s loud and extremely busy. We found ourselves trying to get a table outside just to try have a more calmer dinner experience. I can only describe it as chaotic. Plenty of food choices but I must say a lot of food is over cooked. We experienced several variations of dry chicken and constant long queues. You are not told on check in about the Al a Catre restaurants we found out about these ourselves. We booked the Italian. It was ok. Food is served very quickly as it’s all pre cooked and just waiting to be dished up…. Again not a 4* experience. Me and my boyfriend after this meal then spend days in bed with food poisoning. We did find down by the beach / entertainment area they do waffles, kebabs, wrap and Turkish pancakes. So we ate lunch there most days to avoid the restaurant.

Some of the staff are lovely, others just don’t care. We found a lot of guests and staff rather rude. If you are walking on a narrow path and certain people and staff come towards you, it is the expectation that you move out their way off the path onto the grass. And then you don’t even get a smile or a thank you.

Our neighbour's were a nightmare also. On the day we had food poising and trying to rest they were constantly up and down to their room slamming the door very loudly. I ended up having to put a note under the door to kindly ask them to close the door quietly….. that was ignored.

Starbucks is a great addition to the hotel, the girl who served was amazing and fast. She definitely needs some recognition and maybes some help as there was always a long queue of people waiting.

Entertainment is good, just your standard hotel environment. We seen a live band one night that was amazing. The girl singer was brilliant. They did a mix of Turkish and English songs to please everyone.

Overall, sadly I would not return to this hotel. We did have an overall pleasant time. It just took us a few days to figure out where to go and what to eat for a better experience.