Litore Resort Hotel & Spa - All Inclusive

Turkey - love holidays This hotel definitely did its best to please all guests. We arrived late one evening and were told we had an upgrade, however the upgrade did not include a jucuzzi. We had to wait until the morning to be moved so we were unable to unpack and settle in. The following morning, we were given a room with a jacuzzi and then, the very helpful ladies ( I have misplaced their names! 🙄) in charge of the al la carte restaurant bookings gave us 2 meals in these instead of just one allotted for a week’s stay so we felt much happier and continued with our holiday. The ‘love holidays’ rep was jovial and pleasant as he told us of trips available, gently pointing us in the direction of his favourites. We chose the city tour. This was a nice day out with rather a lot of coach time, a visit to a jewellery store that I didn’t think needed to be on that particular trip, an hour in town with the chance to buy good fake designer clothes from the tour organisers favourite shops amongst others. The included lunch was on the river, with the option to sit on cushions to enjoy the traditional turkish culture or to sit at a table. Drinks and desserts were expensive but nice. Although a cave, beach and cable car to the castle were mentioned, you only got to do one. We chose the cable car, ended up in the fast track queue by accident but received a water and coffee in with the price and we may not have seen a lot if we’d had to wait in the rather long queue. The fridge magnets, purses and holiday memorabilia were very reasonably priced up there, sold by local ladies. Finally we had a boat trip on a rather tacky pirate ship where we were totally ripped of for a rum & coke. Sadly this left a very sour taste in our mouths and could’ve ruined the day. It was the low point for sure. Parrots, ice creams and drinks were offered with vigour without the extortionate prices being mentioned. I certainly will not be recommending ‘Gulbasch’ (meaning rose garden-absolutely nothing rosy about it in the slightest!) as a boat trip to anyone. Our guide saved the day with lots of interesting information about Turkey and, being last on the bus, we got to chat about her family’s trials and tribulations to get to where she was today. Very interesting and informative. As for the rest of our holiday it mostly consisted of lying around the spotless pool areas, with plenty of beds, activities if you wanted to join them, quieter music in between and fridges with bottled water all around. There were various levels with beds with covers in children’s areas and beds by the water slides. If you wanted a drink or icecream there were no queues at the bar or the coffee/patisserie counter. The jacuzzi on our terrace ran warm water so was ideal for a late afternoon chill. The steam room, sauna and turkish bath were also great places to relax and all included. The al la carte meals were extremely plentiful with the chefs making the most of the budget allowed. After a week, I was looking for a little more flavour and umami but fully appreciate that as a caterer/chef I am a little spoilt with meals at home and hard to impress. The main buffet restaurant had ooodles of fresh salads including herbs, fish, chicken in sauces, rice, pasta, all types of breads and tonnes of desserts. The baklava was immense. 😋Meal time were short, however this meant that everything was fresh and looked good until the last guest ate. Wines and drinks were served to your table by happy, helpful staff. Omer was one of our favourites who looked after us very well. There are tip pots on the bars, in the restaurant and for the kitchen but no pressure if you’re not that way inclined. The evening entertainment definitely improved as the week went on. The Mr litori and Miss litore shows were definitely lower end, however the head of entertainment does his best in many languages to entertain the crowd. The Turkish night was great and the acrobatic night extremely impressive. On Sundays, the entertainment staff are off but a band played and they were very good. There were also many other activities from shooting and archery to water aerobics, yoga and even musical chairs. In the afternoons, not only was afternoon tea with mini sandwiches and scones available but a pianist played in the plush foyer with huge chairs where there is a constant selection of turkish delight, squash, macarons and biscuits. The mini bar had efes beer, water, sparkling water, coke, sprite and Diet Coke A tractor pulled a trailer to take you to the beach - a short but steep trip- this was entertaining on its own and ran every 5 minutes. The beach beds were very close together but, again you had no problem finding one to use. Drinks were available at the beach bar as well as burgers, chips etc. There is a small hut with a lovely lady making gozlemes- flatbreads with cheese & spinach plus meat if you wanted it. I thought this was lovely and reminded you that you were in Turkey. The lounge bar was open 24 hours and served sparkling wine - in their words - ‘champagne’. The pool bar served this too. It was easily drinkable as was the rose wine, budget considered. The lounge bar and pool bar had the only televisions which was a wonderful treat in a world where many bars are blaring all sorts at you from every wall. There were sofas by the pool, huge sofas in the lounge bar, stools at the bars and, as much as I’m not a tv lover, it was very cute when the staff put it on to see part of the Eurovision Song Contest one night! There were trails going off from the beach for walking/running. Not miles but definitely enough to stretch your legs and get some photos from higher points. One thing I have to mention is the amount of mirrors in the hotel. Every toilet door had a mirror on the back of it and your room had loads so getting ready was easy! The hairdryer worked well and there was a chair and mirror dressing table area, all helpful for us ladies. The lighting in the rooms was dim but cosy. There a small club that we popped our heads in and, although it wasn’t our scene, I’d feel safe leaving my teenagers in there with hotel staff on watch and because they’d be safety still inside the hotel. There is a lovely onsite photographer, Murat, capturing your holiday moments and you can buy these from him who with a deal of buying a few. The only downside for us was the huge amount of smokers in the hotel and, to cater for these, bins by the beach beds that were definitely not pleasant to look at or have near you as non smokers. The pots by the pool beds looked better but there were ashtrays on all tables and it was difficult to eat lunch outside without having to tolerate someone’s filthy habit! A separate area for eating and sunbathing would have been nice. If you like a thicker loo roll you may want to pack some too. All in all, I’d say this hotel is incredible value for money. You get a lot more than you’d expect for the price you’re paying. It was a lovely break.