Quick Tips

One major recommendation for this hotel is to take maximum advantage of the gorgeous swimming pool. Beaches to the main Bodrum town can be small and pebbly, with rooms fit to burst at the height of the season, so the hotel’s pool is a real ‘hidden oasis’, quiet and calm, perfect to escape from Midday heat, catch up on a book or just revive after a busy morning sightseeing. This is highly unusual for a property right in the middle, and quite often its guests have sole use of what seems to be their private villa.

Best is to embrace its proximity to the Bodrum Otogar (bus station). This is your entrance to the whole peninsula. A ‘smart travel hack’ as he calls it: skip the expensive organized tours and use the local ‘dolmuş‘ network. It’s just a 20-30 minutes ride of a few Lira to an attractive marina at Yalikavak or a beautiful quaint fishing village at Gümüşlük, which of course are both famous for their seafront fish restaurants. It’s authentic, easy and very cheap.

Ask the very friendly hotel staff for their recommendations - they can steer you away from the main tourist-trap restaurants on the waterfront and direct you to more authentic, family-run ‘meyhanes’ tucked away in the backstreets of the Old Town. These are the best places for food and atmosphere, and prices. For a simple, delicious, and highly iconically Bodrum meal, find a stall selling ‘Kumru’ late at night.

When you go to Bodrum Castle, be sure you have at least 2-3 hours. It’s quite a huge and interesting complex; not at all just an ordinary fortress. The real treasure is the Museum of Underwater Archaeology, one of the best in the world. A good tip is to go in the morning so you miss the worst of the heat and make sure you find the Uluburun Shipwreck exhibit, a truly world-class display of a 3000-year-old shipwreck.

Finally, you can not leave Bodrum without taking a day boat trip ‘günübirlik tekne turu’. It’s a short walk to the main harbor where all boats leave from the hotel. It is possible to walk down in the morning to the various boats and negotiate a price for the full-day trip since traveling all day and cruising mostly includes into the most fantastic bays for swimming in crystal-clear turquoise water is an almost certain lovely lunch. It’s a classic Bodrum experience, with an incredible value.