This is great place to stay, and value for money is unbelievable, me and my mate just stayed there for one week and im already wanted to go back, its situated just in between bodrum and gumbet so you have the choice on where to go. the hotel is very clean, has great views and was just perfect. there is so much to do we didnt even get to use the hotel facillities but they were there if we wanted. if you your like me and fussy about food dont eat at the hotel as its buffet and not really my thing but there are great restaurants in bodrum and gumbet, ali baba cafe in bodrum is worth a visit which is in the harbour as soon as you get off the taxi boat and the red dragon in gumbet is a must visit, you just jump in a taxi and go to the red dragon and the taxi is paid for. really nice holiday, if you going with just girls you need to stay together and be very wiery as the locals can be a little too friendly but going with family or partner your have a blast

I was very pleased to spend a week at The Salmakis Resort & Spa from 12-19 May 2008. The resort is beautifully located with a spectacular view of Bodrum Bay. It is difficult for me to understand how this hotel could have had some bad ratings. However we were there at the beginning of the season and our room were rated partial sea view - we actually had a fantastic view of Bodrum Bay. We stayed in room 729, which was excellent.

The food was buffet style and changed every day - it was very tasty. One evening we arrived for dinner quite late, but a request to provie addional food met with an immediate repsonse. There is an outside omlet bar for breakfast and a barbecue item at dinner time. Drinks are expensive, particularly wine (and you can’t bring in your own). A 1.5 litre of water was 3.75 TLR and the cheapest bottle of wine worked out (with automatic tip) to 73 TLR. Having said that the management are aware of the high prices and hopefully they will come down.

As the hotel is located on a hillside there are a lot of steps down to the restaurant and the beach (seven levels from Reception - there are rooms on higher floors than that). There are elevators but they do not serve all levels. If you have trouble walking or with a lot of stairs this is NOT the hotel for you. Saying this I have two total knee replacements and managed well (I found the exercise to be very good).

You can use much of the Spa in the hotel for free including the jacuzzi, sauna, pool and Turkish Baths (but no service of course).

Drinks and snacks are available in a small convenience store at the top of the hill just past the taxi rank - the prices are very good and the staff are very friendly. Ice creams are cheaper here than anywhere else.

Booking excursions. There are several good excursions including Ephesus, Dalyan (for mud baths), cruising, Turkish baths etc. As usual don’t book through your tour rep as they overcharge by at least 40%. I booked trips using Toby of Exen Travel [--] in Gumbet (opposite the Green Parrot restaurant) a 12 minute walk from the Salmakis and was very pleased. Pick up and return to the hotel is included. Whatever you do book a trip to the Turkish Baths for the full treatment including the half hour oil massage - only 9 GBP - fantastic value for money.

The Market - unless you are buying clothes stay away from here - you get much better bargains in the stores (after a little haggling).

Turkey generally: amazing value for money, good roads, spotlessly clean everywhere, friendly people, feeling of absolutely safety everywhere, no beggars, good food, great toilets (better than anywhere except perhaps Spain). My first visit I will be going again - everyone makes you feel really welcome in Turkey.

Don’t forget to tip for good service - people in Turkey are not paid a lot and one or two TLR or USD with be received with thanks.

Sadly, we had not realised that the hotel would have only just re-opened for the summer season. We were supposedly given one of the upgraded rooms at the top of the main hotel but it was at the end of the hotel and had a claustrophobic feel to it because of the dark blue & green colours. When we spoke to our Rep, having failed to get another room, he managed to get the hotel to change us to a brighter room in the middle of the hotel in the '800' nos. We had booked the Olympic Gold upgrades and should have had fresh fruit and wine in our room. Twice we advised that we had not received this and finally a bowl of very bruised fruit arrived but no wine. The next day we did get new fruit and half a bottle of wine. Worth taking this extra since you get private transfers to and from the airport as well.
Having booked a reasonable upgrade to Half Board we had our 1st evening meal. As we normally do on holiday we decided to have a bottle of wine - wrong move - the wine ranged from 50 to 85 Turkish Lira (TLY) ours came to almost £26! As a one off we thought ok particularly since the food was meant to be so good here.The food consisted of 2 x soups, 2 counters dedicated entirely to salads in all different guises (none featured any sort of meat or fish accompaniment). 3 non descript casseroles (no label to advise contents) with rice or chips. Outside chicken pieces were being cooked on the barbecue and there was a pasta dish. Desserts consisted of the normal Turkish Delights and some eye catching gateaux and specialist desserts.
All very basic so we gave the evening meal a miss for several nights and ate at some very good local restaurants (made easier since we hired a car for a few days).
Thought we would try the evening meal again - dinner is meant to be served from 7.30 to 9.30pm, we went down at 8.30. The containers for the fresh cooked meat were now empty, the chips had not been replenished and as was the norm, all the speciality desserts/gateaux had all gone leaving only the normal Turkish desserts which people obviously felt inclined to avoid. There was not evidence of replacements being brought out. We walked out but were then told that we could have something from the A la Carte menu, this appeared to be Chicken Kebabs, Pasta etc but would all be charged for in addition to having paid for Half Board. We declined and left to find a restaurant elsewhere. We did not bother with the evening meal again.
On the 4th day, the entertainment appeared to be finally starting at the hotel. There was not information displayed to advise what would be happening each night until the final night of our stay. Due to the fact we had now decided to eat out each night, we normally missed the entertainment. (Wine at most restaurants half price of that at the hotel, the same applied to beer, water etc).
Renovations & maintenance was very much in evidence during our stay - hotel appeared totally uprepared for the arrive of guests from the beginning of May.
Recommend the water taxis that leave from the end of the wooden walkway, turn right from the bottom of the hotel steps & walk to the end. There is also a good bar there with sensible priced drinks. We paid 2 Euros each to get across to Bodrum and normally the same coming back, depending on the boat you get coming back you might be asked for TLY, then it should be 4TLY each (8TLY). Boats go about every 10 mins up to about 10pm. Didn't use the local bus from top of hotel but did walk into Bodrum, once up the top of the hill from hotel, the walk was all downhill to Bodrum Harbour. Got the boat back.
A word of warning - Ephesus - we drove there and back ourselves - visit Kusadasi on the way back if you have a car - found great restaurant call the Blue Fish - highly recommend it! At Ephesus you get charge 4TYL to park your car. We were then pounced on by a Turkish gentleman supposedly representing trade for the Turkish Government offering us a free escort to the correct entrance to the Ephesus sights. We accepted and then were told that because of the initiative, we had to spend 10 minutes visiting either a leather making, carpet making or jewellry making establishment. Then we could be taken to the correct entrance where we could walk through the sights to the bottom. It's a CON, when we got to the bottom of the site and walked out of the exit, we HAD parked in the correct place but all it would have meant was the we would have walked up to the top of the sights and then back down again without being given this rediculous run around!
Be cautious about the complimentary drinks offered after your meals, their reference is normally only to tea or coffee so if you have a Rake or Brandy you will often find they have been added to your bill, non priced Meze as starters can also really push the bill up. We had 2 totally different experience at Gumusluk (do visit if you can, it's lovely). Our 1st experience of eating here was wonderful, food, wine, service excellent and competitively priced. Genuine hand of friendship extended to us and finished of with wonderful chocolate fondue and fresh fruit and a drink on the house! Our 2nd experience was very different being the 1st one mentioned.
If paying by credit card (Important - we had phoned the bank before we left to advise we would be in Turkey for a week), generally accepted anywhere with not problems but if you really need to pay this way and maybe do not have enough cash to back up the bill, carefully check that they can take UK credit cards, on our last night, having confirmed that they accepted credit cards, we tried twice to get their machine to accept our card and were told that it had been declined and we had to contact our bank. Luckily we just had enough cash to cover the 80TLY bill. Rather unnerved, we returned to our hotel and asked to settle our hotel bill to check that our card would indeed be accepted - hey presto - it went through with no problem!
Car hire - no problem with car hire but diesel/petrol is about double that of the price in the UK (3.21TL per litre about £1.44 per litre). So made travelling any distance expensive. So would say Tours at about £20 - £20 per head are actually good value.
Book to see 'The Dream Girls' show if you can - highlight of our holiday!
Finally, the nightclubs on the other side of the water, in Bodrum. When we first arrived they weren't but then the famous Halikarnas Disco opened again! They go on until 4 in the morning and the level of decibels they are allowed to generate boom across the water to what used to be the quiet haven of Bordakci. This loud music could be clearly heard each night even with the double glazed doors shut. Would suggest that anyone booking a hotel in Bodrum would check its proximity to the nightclubs. Apologies to all the younger visitors, who will not be bothered by the discos continuing well past 4am, as they will spend the day catching up on much needed sleep.

I have just returned from the Salmakis after a week there with my husband and toddler. This was a beautiful hotel so our first impressions were great. Unfortunately, there were a few problems along the way.
Being a picky eater myself (i'm pregnant and my nausea has been very particular about what it will allow!), and of course travelling with a toddler, I didn't think much of the selection. My husband enjoyed the food very much and ate like a pig the entire time but my daughter and I were a little more limited. They don't cater to feed picky children and didn't even have chips or something similar to keep us going, it was entirely Turkish food. Which is great if you like Turkish food. The waiters were very friendly but there weren't enough of them so your drinks often arrived as you were almost finished eating.
We were given a 'payment card' to use for any bar purchases within the hotel (the final bill to be paid on check-out), but only issued one card. Likewise with the room key. Prices were never really given for drinks unless requested so we spent more than intended as we didn't realise we were being charged so much. There were signs in our room asking us not to bring in food and drink from outside the hotel as 'the hot weather can cause insect problems' but it was clearly so you would buy within the hotel. The mini bar was extortionate and sat on the floor where our daughter could easily help herself to chocolate and soft drinks as she often did when we weren't looking. The room was basic, but the sheets were scratchy and uncomfortable. I requested extra pillows but had to ask 3 times before they arrived. The sheets seemed to be changed every day except a few days into our stay, my daughter had left a small chocolate (mini-bar chocolate) stain on the bed sheet which managed to move by the time our room was cleaned. I uncovered the stain underneath our pillows - the sheet had been removed, then put back in a different position to make it look like it had been replaced with a clean sheet!
The pool area was well maintained and pleasant to sit in. The pool itself was very cold, but we did come at the start of May so we can't expect too much! There was no entertainment at all during our stay so were bored most evenings, but I suppose they only put on entertainment in the main season. The beach was AWFUL. We never spent any time there, which was dissapointing as we were looking forward to our daughter's first time on a beach. It was very stony and rather dirty. There were pawprints all over from stray dogs so I had to assume it wasn't just their prints being left behind. Also, this hotel is very tricky if you have a buggy with you as there are many sets of stairs. One couple told us they'd counted 72 steps between their room (which wasn't on the higher floors) and the restaurant. Great fun when you're pregnant(!)
All in all, we tried to make the best of our holiday and keep a positive attitude, so it wasn't the worst, but it was far from the best. I wouldn't return and I wouldn't recommend it.