With so many agents now joining PTS, we have made the decision to begin reviewing as many resorts as possible from our portfolio. This helps our team get to know each location better, allowing us to better support our members, and to imparting some additional expert advice where necessary. It also helps us to shine a light on some of our fantastic resort options, whilst providing our members with an open and honest review to better inform them of each location. For our first review, we will be taking a look at Club and Hotel Letoonia in Turkey.

Booking The Holiday, Flights and Transfers

This past week one of the PTS team took a family trip to the Club and Hotel Letoonia. This trip was organised through Teldar Travel, and we would like to start by saying a huge thank you to Mike from Teldar for all of his support in organising late check-ins, checkouts and private transfers. Everything went extremely smoothly and we are grateful to both Mike, and the rest of the Teldar team, for their excellent support.

We had two primary reasons for choosing Turkey as our initial review destination. Firstly, Turkey is extremely popular with UK consumers, making it one of the. Secondly, we wanted to investigate whether there was truth to the claims that you get more for your money in Turkey. After much research, we chose to visit the Dalaman region. We booked our stay at the Letoonia resort, which offered something for both the parents, and our two children, aged seven and twelve.

Club Letoonia is conveniently located within easy reach of Dalaman airport. The UK offers numerous flights to Dalaman from all parts of the country, with many major and local airports offering it as a destination. For our trip, we chose to fly with Easyjet from Luton Airport. Club and Hotel Letoonia is only a 55-minute transfer journey from Dalaman airport, and a private transfer was just £34 each way, as arranged for the four of us through Teldar.

Club and Hotel Letoonia

The Club and Hotel Letoonia is situated on a private peninsula with three private beaches and three large swimming pool areas. The resort is beautiful and has a colonial feel throughout. The bungalows and buildings scattered across the stunning and expertly maintained gardens are shaded by huge pine trees and bright Bougainvillea.

Our room was a premium bungalow and it was delightful. All rooms and bungalows are scattered throughout the large grounds, and we were fortunate enough to be situated at a high point of the peninsula, which offered beautiful panoramic views of the sea and Fethiye from our balcony. The resort also features two lifts based on either side of the hill, so we had easy access to all areas without having to climb up and down from our room each time.

We spoke to many families whilst we were there, and we would advise that you do qualify with your clients whether they are expecting a room with a balcony or not. We were quite astonished to see quite how many families hadn’t realised they wouldn’t have a balcony when booking their stay. It is certainly not a given and there is a supplement. We appreciate that this is something your client should also check upon confirmation, but as many of the images show bungalows with balcony views, there is often an assumption made by the consumer. There seemed to be a large split between the rooms with balconies and the rooms without, and there is also a choice between different standards of rooms and bungalows. Regardless, all of the rooms are of a high standard and are comfortable, containing fridges, bathrooms and modern décor.

Restaurants and Dining at Hotel Letoonia

There were three different restaurants scattered throughout the resort itself. Of these, the moonlight restaurant at the pinnacle of the resort was by far our favourite. It was located at the peak of the peninsular, and if you arrived for 19:30, you could see the most beautiful sunsets and moonrise. As the restaurant is outdoors there is more of an open grill feel. It is a buffet-style restaurant, and there are also areas where the chefs are cooking fresh fish and meats, which are available to eat straight from the grill. Drinks are all served at the tables by the friendly waiters.

There is another excellent restaurant on the resort called the Panorama. This too was beautiful and offered exquisite views. One slight concern was that this restaurant covered quite a small area. Whilst I will admit that this added to its charm, it could also lead to it being slightly difficult to gain access to. With that said, the food was excellent and it is definitely worth the wait for this restaurant.

There are also three à la carte restaurants offered, which are respectively, the kebab restaurant, the sushi restaurant, and the seafood restaurant. We booked both the kebab and seafood restaurant during our stay. In our opinion, the sushi restaurant seemed more like a Chinese restaurant, and as we were only staying for a week, we wanted to take the opportunity to experience the local cuisine. There is a small supplement of ten euros per adult for each restaurant, though children can eat for free.

The kebab restaurant was meat-based and was delicious. If you are a vegetarian then this is certainly not the restaurant for you to choose, but if you like red meat and are a fan of tapas style dips and salads, this is an absolute gem! The seafood restaurant is based at the Dolphin Beach area of the resort, and was our favourite of the two. Our table was beside the sea and we loved watching the local sea-life swimming around in the wild beside our table. The octopus was the star of the evening, and all of the fish was fresh, delicious and cooked to order. All of the à la carte restaurants have a waiter service, which is great when you no longer fancy the self-service offered at the main restaurants.

The food throughout our stay was delicious. If we are being truly honest, I wouldn’t say that it is five star level – at least not from a UK point of view. However, there was a huge amount of choice and all dietary requirements are met. The resort offers everything you could want, from salads to meats, and from local to international. Both adults and children are fully catered for and it met a general standard you would expect from many all-inclusive holidays. The only thing I would be wary of when speaking with a client is to discuss their expectations. This is one area you would need to qualify as the food is very much five star standard from a local point of view.

Activities and Entertainment at Hotel Letoonia

In the evenings there is a lot going on at the main bar in the central area of the peninsular. There is a huge amount of seating, and both a waiter service and a bar service are available. Shows are offered every evening at 9pm and 10pm. If you have small children then the shows will be a good fit, but if you have teenagers, they may not find the entertainment very absorbing. Many of the families present during our stay had children aged thirteen and under, and Letoonia was was certainly a great resort with plenty of evening entertainment for small children. We spent most of our evenings dining and spending time with other families that we had met at the resort. I would also hasten to add that the entertainment team was kind-hearted and fun throughout the days and evenings. They worked incredibly hard to ensure that all of the guests were happy.

Throughout the day there were many activities available, including aqua classes, yoga, fishing and dancing, just to name a few. I took part in some of the fitness classes, which I found to be great fun. Many of the dance activities are hosted by the main pool, so if you want a quiet, relaxing day, we would advise not to sit here. However, we did end up here for a couple of days as the children loved it!

Beaches and Water Sports

The sandy beaches were clean and offered both sun loungers and hammocks. The Dolphin Beach area was the main beach which featured all of the water slides. There are a number of lifeguards manning the slides, so we felt safe and secure at all times, and they were brilliant with the children. There is also a restaurant situated beside this beach, allowing easy access to food and drinks throughout the day, so I would advise that this was definitely the beach most fitting for families.

Water sports are also available at this beach, and windsurfing, kayaking, pedalos, and stand-up paddle-boarding are all offered for free throughout the day. We took full advantage of this and we thoroughly enjoyed the free water sports! The motorised sports do have to be paid for separately, and we found these to be a bit on the expensive side. However, there was a wide range offered for you to enjoy if you should you choose to partake.

The Fethiye area did suffer from an algae issue this year, but the hotel area was absolutely fine to swim in and enjoy. If you wanted to visit another beach nearby, you could take a cab to Help Beach for just thirty Turkish Lira. This was well worth the visit and I would suggest going from around 2pm onward as we did. They have a great beach restaurant and feature live bands in the early evening.

Day Trips and Excursions

For a couple of days, we decided to go on some excursions. As we had booked our trip at the last minute, we booked both of our day trips through the representative at the hotel. For our first trip, we booked the Evergreen 4×4 Exploring Day, which went to Saklikent Canyon, Tlos and the mud baths. This trip was very affordable, costing only £23 per adult and £12 per child, including lunch. It was an incredible day that the entire family absolutely loved!

The 4×4 drivers and team were great fun and our first stop was at Tlos. Tlos is an incredible historical site and is one of the oldest and largest Lycian settlements. We only had a brief stop here but it was truly a sight to behold. Our next stop would be at Saklikent Canyon, where zip lining and rafting are also offered. For a fee of £50 for four people, the whole family could raft down the gentle rapids. It was incredibly fun and a real highlight of our trip. If your client didn’t want to take part in the extra activities, just exploring the canyon and the waterfalls is a wonderful experience on its own. You can buy something to eat or grab a drink and just relax at one of the rustic riverside restaurants too. The last stop on our trip was at the mud baths, which wasn’t what we expected. In fairness, I’m finding it difficult to identify exactly what we did expect, and it was still great fun. Our skin was soft and shiny for days afterwards too!

Our second excursion was a private boat tour to explore the twelve islands and the Dalaman Coast. In short – wow, what a day! The captain was a joy and he took us to secluded coves where the whole family could snorkel. They had line fishing equipment on board, which was an instant hit with the children. You can also book group boat trips, which is something that many families at Letoonia seemed to do. A private boat trip was anywhere between £180 and £300, which included a lunch which was fresh and barbecued on the boat. It was simply a wonderful day and has absolutely inspired us to book a gulet holiday in the future.

Resort Facilities at Hotel Letoonia

The resort featured a fitness suite, which contained a good range of equipment which all guests had access to. In addition, every morning you would see many joggers going about the peninsular, as the views offered a wonderful setting for a morning jog. The luxury spa offered an array of treatments and the hammam was spectacular. This is a wonderful treat and a true sanctuary for any guest. I would strongly advise booking a hammam whilst staying at Letoonia!

Resort Summary

Letoonia was a fantastic resort for families with young children looking for an affordable holiday. The resort was beautiful and I would say that it offered incredibly good value. With this in mind, would I say it was five star? It is described as a local five star standard, and this is a fair description, but it is certainly not a UK five star resort, though the low prices do reflect this. There is a huge amount on offer, the service and staff are friendly and helpful, and the resort is absolutely beautiful!

To conclude, we went on this trip to understand why Turkey is so popular and to find out if you really do get more bang for your buck. The answer is yes, but it depends on what you’re looking for. The weather was glorious and sunshine is practically guaranteed in summer months. The people are incredibly friendly and welcoming. The country is full of culture and the views are just spectacular. Obviously, every area of the Turkish coastline is incredibly different and where we stayed was definitely a quiet nature reserve area.

So, would we recommend Letoonia Resorts? Absolutely. If you are looking for an affordable option for clients with small children, then we would recommend this resort in a heartbeat. But, if you are looking for a more vibrant, party feel, there are many more appropriate alternatives along the coast.

To find out more about our travel supplier partnerships, please visit our travel suppliers page. If you would like to speak to a member of our team, please call 0207 190 9988, or send an email to ask@protectedtrustservices.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

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