Just back from the Hemera we are a couple ages 33 and 46 and I must admit we found the hotel a bit boring especially at night time because the entertainment was very poor by the animation team. Example Snow White panto in German? Anyway hear goes
Hotel is set in nice gardens with nice cool reception area. Room bit like a travel lodge but kept very very clean as the rest of the hotel was. TV, hair dryer (that was good for once) carpeted as well with a balcony and view of the pool area (just) very comfy bed but hard pillows. Towel changed every day there’s a mini bar but only soft drinks. Air con is a little poor and the TV only has news and MTV but I am being picky there really. Pool fab you can sit next to it or in may grassy shady areas around the complex (better for us as away from the hordes of kids round the pool). That’s if you can get a sun bed 1st week was ok then a lot more people came mostly German! They all reserved sun beds at 7am and came back at 4pm! We just chucked towels off some we got so fed up. Most of the Germans where rude with all of the staff no please or thanks from them at all this got on my nerves after 2 weeks my fella ordered beers in German ha ha. There are 4 bar areas but one was not open at all. The pool bar, beach bar, Lobby bar (boring) Aquarium bar (closed) but had a big screen and it had footy on in German of course.
Food was just about ok in the main buffer restaurant but some of the stuff looked horrid boiled fish and veg ! Not our thing. However the salad was nice and some of the soups ok it was very samey no chips for the kids. The buffet it all meats in stews or grilled fish what we had was edible but very bland and some of it was stone cold. We found the other restaurants much better you can use them as many times as you want in any order you just have to book the day before at reception. The Turkish one was very nice as was the Fish one, the service was also good. They seem to serve rice and grilled veg with your main meal in all of the special restaurants (out of the hotel as well) the best one is the BBQ they have tables outside they bring you your own BBQ and you can get as much fresh chicken, Lamb (goat) steak etc as you wish, you have salad bar that has various things that can be used as a marinade we did this twice. Breakfast I thought was the worst meal of the day we just had boiled egg cereals and toast. There is jam, yogurt fruit cooked meat salad and other weird stuff catered towards internationals like salad, pate, and pancakes on some days you get fried eggs or eggy bread. There’s also salad and scrambled egg salty mushrooms and eggs with veg in it ?? some days there is omelet but we never mad it on time for this as breakfast stops at 10am however restraint open till 11am you just have the leftovers. You won’t get bacon or good sausages here. Also the fresh orange is only out for an hour or so you need to be up soon (7-8am) or you will have the concentrated stuff made with powder and water and by heck it takes the coating off your teeth.
Now the entertainment side! During the day darts and volley ball mini golf etc but most people stay abut the pool as it’s just to hot to be active. The night time is mainly animation team who mime various plays and do some dancing this is poor but they try hard a lot is in German and all is geared towards them big time. They do get at least 2 shows a week brought in very funny group, the singer is a German chap and sings Rock around the Rock (not clock) and lets swished again like we did last summer v funny. They had a dance troop one night and a Fakir show with the bed of nails and fancy sword acts this was ok they need more of it. On a Sunday was beach party this was excellent fire on the beach belly dancer fire eating and a DJ and a cocktail bar good atmos. The entertainment rotates every 2 weeks. The staff are mainly very nice a few moody ones but they do work very long hours. See the bar staff duck down for a swift one when the boss is not looking ha ha. All service very good no ques or anything even though the hotel was full.
The hotel is on the beach it’s clean with plenty of free sun beds but no free pedalos as one person mentioned. You have water sports centre but have to pay for this of course. Water clean but I did get stung a number of times by anenomies no one else seemed to have this problem so I think it must be my reaction. There are a few shops in the hotel selling beach stuff cheap tac and gold but they are expensive compared to the shops outside. Bring your own books and mags as there are very few in English you can get yesterdays paper for £2.00. There is a hairdressers and doctors on site along with internet room. They sell DVDs and CDS all copies CD, s ok but don’t bother with DVD very poor quality as I found when I got home. There are a lot of lizards about the hotel especially in the mornings when it’s hot and sunny it was fun seeing the different ones. There are also some cats knocking about all fair friendly and they do like a bit of chicken etc many took food from the restaurants to feed them. There is a hamman and massage in the hotel very good and reasonable prices so I was told I have had it done before so did not bother this time.
There are some bars over the road I notice not one person has mentioned the prices in these bars only that THEY ARE EXPENSIVE (for Turkey) and I know why they try to rip you off!! In one night we had 2 bars try to charge double, one bar we asked for the bill and 2 more drinks turned up! I was told they where free but guess what they where added to the bill. One bar said half price cocktail the bill came full price and one bar over charged by £1.00 (its not a lot but would you have it in the UK) so please read the menu and check the price of the drinks match your bill we had to do this all holiday. The bars are not that good anyway very very loud dance music that never changed. We could hear this in our room as well even with doors closed also there is a club called Oxyd this can be heard till 4am so get a room near the pool not near reception. The noise did not bother us that much and was turned into a dull thud thud with the windows shut. I was told the club was good and drinks fairly priced.
Side itself is very busy hot and full of hassle however it is quite a good place to look around lots to see but the shop and bar owners are a pest I am not rude but had to ignore them in the end or you will never get about some are nice other cheeky some rude and pushy. Again watch your money they seem to try and confuse the euro lira thing all the time. We did a bit of haggling but this got on my nerves as well. If you like that type of thing you will love it lots of shops but they all sell the same rubbish even the touts say hey nice lady let me show you my rubbish (funny at the time) let me show you how to spend your money. I would not advise any lone woman to go to Side town at all I was in a shop with my fella buying a watch my fella decided to go outside while I bartered. I got the right price and stuck a deal but as soon as my partner walked out the man started to say how sexy I was and pretty I was even though he knew I was attached he then grabbed my brest !! Yes that right!! My jaw hit the floor I told him where to stick his watch fled. I did mot tell my fella until we where safely back in the hotel as I feared if he thumped the man then 20 Turkish shop owners would have beat him to a pulp. Even one kid in the hotel (he was a cheeky 15 yes old) got jumped by some of the lads in the bars over the road luckily he just got a bruised eye and a bruised ego but it could have been worse so be careful as you would anywhere. I am quite sure this was just a one of incident but after I insisted I was not alone in any shop or bar again. I did not let the creep spoil my holiday and though there was no point reporting it to the police.

There are some bars over looking the sea they are nice and we only paid about £20.00 fro lunch for 2 with salad 4 beers and 2 main meals this was dear for Turkey though. I can recommend Moonlight restaurant just past the little beach its fab with views over the sea and no hassle. We had Fillet minion with mushrooms etc a starter and 4 beers it came to £18.00 wow. We also went to Sound waves upon recommendation from this site I would say don’t bother the food was no better than that in the hotel and I have un upset tummy for 5 days after, it may not have been this meal but this is the only thing I can think of.
If you like to snorkel as we do go off the jetty in side we swam with a turtle very lucky this is where they hang about. Also saw a big octopus there. Near the hotel there is a pier if you go there is millions of fish in the sea and there a load of cushions you can lie on and metal ladder to the sea. This is a good chill zone nobody in our hotel knew about. Must see the temple of Apollo and the ruins fantastic not a patch on effus (a roman city other end of island)
Trips
Plenty to do we did the Aqua land one it was fab and only £12.00 each however we got taken to a gold factory on the way back for an hour and a half . One couple refused to get off and was told if they did not go in that the driver would lave them and they would have to make their own way back I was disgusted and complained to the tour company Solvent tours at the bottom of the bars. Best one I think is the one opposite the hotel. We did rafting and lunch for £10.00 each but ask because we had no helmets every other company had them apart from us, we where not aware of this before we booked so keep this in mind if you have kids. The scenery was magical and lunch was ok as well. It did go on a bit travel wise and very hot (100 degrees) take t-shirt you will get soaked and other boats will splash you to bits what fun. We also did the Alyna boat trip this was more or less a full day with 2 hours in town (mucho hassly and expensive) the boat stops for swimming and lunch again good value £15.00 each. There where 20 brits in hotel 1st week then about 60 in the second and we met quite a few people so had a beer in the evening with them Hi Rob & Roy, this lightened the boredom a bit. All the brits seemed to stick together as so few of us. There where some Dutch & Russians in the hotel as well but not many. There are plenty of steps so if you can’t walk far you may struggle.
We went to Kumkoy for look don’t bother its just a few streets full of really tacky shops selling the same fake stuff did get some copy Puma flip flops for £3.30 and a puma bag for £6.00 do haggle if you can be bothered and have a price in your head that you are prepared to pay and stick to it. I saw a nice copy bag it looked leather it wasn’t but the chap in the shop tried it on said it was and tried to charge me 95 euro then 75 I laughed then he said 35 euro ! I still said no and that I would give 15 euro no more and walked off, he came after me and I paid him the 15 euro! So do watch it because they do try it on.
I would say take lira for the bars and restaurants and euro for shops you will get a better price if in euro when shopping. All the bars we went to had the price in Lira. The do try it on with the lira v euro thing some times its dearer in one currency than the other make a little chart and keep it in your purse what 1 lira is in euro and what it is in pounds so you know at a glace if being taken for a ride. Mostly if you don’t like hassle don’t go or it will
All in all we had a very nice relaxing holiday I would consider going back with the knowledge I now have but I would go with a group of people or a family. Kids seem to be catered for well (apart from food). I think the place is geared towards families and more mature customers and Germans. I can’t find to much wrong with this hotel at all it just was a bit boring for us at night time, if you like to sit about the pool all day and eat and drink a lot and have a low key night time then this is the one for you. Shame the hotel is not in a hassle free resort enjoy I am sure you will.