I cannot actually believe that it has been over a month since we got back from our honeymoon. We had such a lovely time & I can remember every day in detail which doesn't often happen for me with holidays as I generally find that each day can blur into one blissful mush of swimming, sunbathing & sightseeing. I guess I just made a conscious effort to remember everything this time as I hope it will be my only honeymoon.
I've got a lot to write about & a lot of photographs to share so I've decided to split these posts into sections. Today is all about the hotel (& a little about the airline too).
We stayed at the Marmaris Imperial Hotel which is an all-inclusive Thompson Couples resort so our carrier was, obviously, a Thomson one. We booked 10 nights & flew from Birmingham airport, parking with Airparks. It's quite lucky that we weren't looking for glamour from the onset as the car park was possibly the dingiest airport car park I've seen, but our truck was in one piece when we collected it & the service was cheap enough so I can't really complain.
The airport was nice. It's small but it has everything that you need from an airport & I would have been 100% happy with it if our flight wasn't 5 hours(!) delayed. The only saving grace was that we were comfortably stationed in one of the lounges & therefore had free food & drink, comfortable seats & wifi.
The delay meant that we arrived on Turkish soil in the early hours og the morning & after our transfer we checked in to our rooms at just before 6AM. George went straight to sleep but I went for a mooch & a very early breakfast. (I'll talk about the food properly in another post.)
We chose a "Twin room with limited sea view"which pretty much does what it says on the tin. There was a: double bed, a sofa bed (a little worn), side tables, lamps, mirrors, coffee table, kettle, fridge (with fresh bottles of water daily), a TV, air conditioning, a dressing table, a double shower, a toilet, basin, chest of drawers, wardrobe & safety deposit box facility (worth every penny!).
The limited sea view needs a little more explaining, as on first glance one might think that would be describing a limited number of rooms with a sea view, but what it really means is that you may be able to see the sea if you look very hard through the trees. This isn't very well explained on the website & is the case for all of the twin rooms so just be prepared. I personally didn't mind as I felt like I was sleeping in a tree house (dream house) & there are plenty of other views of the sea in every other area in the complex.
The hotel itself isn't one large building but actually separate buildings arranged around the woodland on the waters edge (see the image of the map bellow). This means that you're sleeping in terracotta coloured building with a maximum of 4 rooms, each with stone fronting enclosing a seperate balcony. The rooms are cleaned regularly but I must admit, they weren't ever spotless but we were treated to a floral display on our bedsheets every now & then so that was sweet.
The main building housed the reception & restaurant. It was also next to the main pool area & had some other facilities such as a bar, stage, first aid room, toilets etc. We only really spent time there when we were eating as we much prefered the "relax pool" or the water side for sunbathing & didn't really participate in the evening entertainment so I can't really comment on those elements but I wanted to mention them as it's clearly a plus having that available.
The "entertainment" that we did participate in were the more active elemets of the complex. We tried our hand at archery, went snorkling at the private beach, went to the gym a few times & paddled out on a two-man canoe several times. There is also the facility to hire bikes or use the tennis court. As well as the hotel location this is what made The Marmaris Imperial most appealing when I was first browsing online. I love the mix of relaxation with the option of doing something energetic without having to spend any more money if you don't wish. Spot on.
If you do go & fancy something more interesting than just canoeing there are an array of other watersport options at a suplement. There is also a spa on site, a barbers & two small shops. On one of the evenings there was a market set up at the hotel which was a really nice touch. One other thing worth mentioning is that there are photographers present to take your couples photograph (at a cost) should you want that service. Again, we didn't do this, but it's a nice idea & none of the photographers are pushy.
The hotel was fully booked throughout our stay but never felt crowded. There was always somewhere to lay your towel when you fancied sunbathing & always a seat during meal times. There was also a good range of places to grab a drink in the evening. You may find yourself sharing your seat with one of the hotel cats though. They're all tame & well looked after, there's even a "cat cafe" which I thought was hillariously adorable.
You couldn't wish for a more beautiful setting & I'm so very pleased that we chose the hotel. We're not endulgent people so this was the right amount of luxuary for us. Sure, there were things I would change but as far as holidays go this has to be up there with my favourites. We would have been hard pressed to find anything nicer for our budget at the time of year we went. I was very happy to call it home for those 10 days.
A few quick-fire facts for if you choose to visit : The guests were mostly British, Russian, Scandinavian or German - there are cicadas & wasps & bees & mosquito's - there are a lot of steps in this complex (but also a buggy service if you want carting around) - there is a local bus stop right at the hotel gates that goes to Marmaris for pennies - there's also a water taxi that will take you directly there a bit slower for quite a bit more - it is a couples resort so there are no children around - it's an all inclusive resport & you could eat constantly morning to evening if you so wished - everything extra is priced in Euro not Lira - the sea provides a nice breeze that means temperatures are lower than in the town & the trees will provide shade if you're not a sun worshipper.
If you do go I hope you have a wonderful time & enjoy it as much as we did. See you soon for my next post. :)
The next post about our honeymoon will be up shortly. You can subscribe to Glitz & Pram here. This is not a sponsored post.
