We have just returned from a week half board in the Mavruka Hotel .The location is perfect near the beach and shops and restaurants though some rooms are noisy choose a pool view this is quieter though balconies are not private at all but you make lots of friends. It is the cleanest hotel we have stayed in spacious room with plenty storage,efficient air conditioning and a modern bathroom with a shower. Plenty loungers around the pool and parasols which are essential it was 35-45C all week. Breakfast was good eggs, fresh bread to toast, jams,meats, yoghurt, cheese and cereal even the tea and coffe was drinkable the only problem were the wasps all over everything the staff just ignored them. Our only complaint was about evening meal they should not be offering this service food was awful. Firstly hot food was cold and cold food was warm we were scared of getting food poisoning. Secondly nothing was labelled and the chef ( I use this term loosely) spoke little English impossible to tell meat from vegetarian dishes and the soup no matter what was vegetable even when it was chicken!! We also felt the amount we ate was being watched by a scary looking man in charge. Lastly Sunday BBQ we were asked if we wanted to pay extra for BBq and 1/2 bottle of wine and belly dancing we refused. On the evening we had the same food but were sat on our own feeling very uncomfortable out of view and the belly dancer was just one woman I am so glad we didn't pay the extra we would have been ripped off.
There are excellent restaurants in resort and Azda is a cheap supermarket, Ali G at the Small house restaurant does a lovely Kebab round the corner this is a much better option.
You have to conceal food and drink bought outside into the hotel but just be discreet it was not a problem.

The first thing that strikes you is that 4* in Turkey doesn't equate to 4* in England. This really was a good/average 3* hotel.

The rooms were clean and spacious with a fridge, hairdryer, safe (15 lira for the week) and completely essential air conditioning. Which thankfully was free! The bathrooms were large and the shower was powerful, however bathrooms could have done with an extractor.
The room was cleaned everyday and kept to a good standard.

The main issue really was the lack of peace and quiet. There was a terrace bar at the front of the hotel and a pool bar at the rear. We were placed in a room next to the noisy terrace bar which started playing obnoxiously loud music at about 6pm and continued till the last person left, or 3am which every came first. Had to complain about the noise on a daily basis. The staff were very quick to act and turn down the noise, but then the same problem occurred each day. With the rooms by the terrace bar it is like staying next to a nightclub. Definitely bring your ear plugs!

The pool area was lovely with very helpful staff. However music is played all day long. We found Olu Deniz to be a very loud resort. Mainly hotels and nightclubs blaring out the worst 'brits abroad' crowd pleasers at high volumes. If you're looking for a 'party' holiday with lots of nightlife than this may not be a problem but the resort is advertised as a place for couples and families looking for a peaceful holiday and therefore the constant noise can start to grate.

The food at the hotel was basic at breakfast but of a good standard. It was a basic turkish breakfast. The lack of variety became quickly apparent. It consisted of toast, boiled and scrambled eggs, salad, olives and cereals. We found the food in the evening to be much more varied and there was a wide variety of different turkish fare. The food was good. However arrive early to breakfast to avoid sharing it with wasps and flies.

The bar and restauarant staff make every effort to make you feel comfortable and welcome. Expect them to be especially attentive if you're a single female under 30.

The pool is large with plenty of sunloungers and beds (expect to mark your territory with your beach towel by 7am though). We didn't spend a great deal of time there as the beach is just a 5 minute walk away. It has beautiful clear waters and seems a shame to waste time lounging by the pool when there is such a beautiful natural resource nearby. However, the facilities by the pool are good. There is table tennis and pool and food available throughout the day. The lunch time snacks are generally english.... everything comes with chips, but they are very tasty.

The hotel is near the main drag of shops and restaurants but is set far enough back for the noise not to be an issue. The peddlers constant nagging is a nuisance. But they can be quickly silenced with a no thank you. Olu Deniz seems to be soley designed for British holiday makers so don't expect it to be cheap! The restaurants have very similar prices to the UK. About 10-12 GBP for a main course. There is a lot of english food on offer and little traditional turkish food which i found a bit of a shame. One place with good turkish food and lots of variety is Sultan Ahmets. It is quite pricey but there are large portions of very good food and the staff are pleasant. We didn't find Azda until the last day.. .but this is defeitely the better of the supermarkets with the cheaper prices.

The blue lagoon is advertised as being 80m away but it is more like a 25min walk. This can be very taxing in the scorching heat. You pay a small amount to get in to the National park for entry into the Blue lagoon. I don't know if our expectations were too high or if it was due to the time of year .... but the Blue lagoon was a bit dissappointing really. The place was rammed with people, the water was more grey than blue and the pebbly beach was fair inferior to the free one up the road. I think to get the best view of it paragliding is the way to go.

The best thing about Olu Deniz defintely has to be the beach. There are bars on the beach at night which offer lovely cocktails on bean bags by candlelight. Definitely worth a look.

If you're looking for a traditional piece of turkey, this probably isn't for you. The resort is pretty soul-less and is centred around package holidays for Brits. Before the hoilday we spent time researching and reading reviews. On arrival we didn't feel that this research prepared us for the type of resort. So although it is just our personal opinion hopefully this will give you a better idea of what to expect.

Just got back from a week in the Mavruka with my dad and my son and had a wonderful time. The hotel was so clean and well run. We stayed as B&B and it worked out fine as we just about made it for the buffet breakfast (served 8-10), then enjoyed the freedom of trying out the fab restaurants of an evening.

The hotel is so close to everything, set one hotel back from the main (car free) road to the beach with all it's shops, restaurants and supermarkets.

Our room was lovely, we had a twin with a sofa bed. whilst the twin beds were firm but comfortable, the sofa bed was a bit hard, so we all took it in turns to sleep on it. I did however manage to pinch a matress protector one morning from the maid to put between the sofa and the bottom sheet which helped.

The bedding was also a bit weird - bottom sheet then a bedspread type sheet which you slept under. We all found that a bit rough, so I asked for 3 cotton sheets the second day, which we did eventually get on day 3 and then kept for the rest of the holiday - which was much more comfortable.

Bringing in food is a bug bear of the hotel, so as long as you fill your beach bag up with your supermarket stuff rather then flaunt a supermarket bag in front of them as you enter, they don't pull you up. They provide a small fridge in the room, so you can keep your drinks and food cold which was a god send. Just don't let them see you eating or drinking your own stuff - keep it in your room.

The pool area is bigger than it seems in the pictures, but then that may be because there are never that many people around it. It was like a bath by 6pm and always very clean - my boy lived in it!

The TV in the room could only receive CNN and BBC World News, but at least we had 2 English speaking channels and went home very educated on news issues.

The hotel offers transfers from the airport (which saves the round robin of a coach). They will sort it for you at about the same price as the tour operators offer, so it's a good deal. Ours was about £45 each way for the 3 of us - it's about an hours drive so it was nice to get directly there.

One of the nearest restaurants is "Josephs" which we returned to on many occasion - very friendly and good food too. None of us suffered from an upset tummy, but we did watch what we ate, drank plenty of water and kept out of the sun as much as we could.

The little minibus's are also good value, they will take you up the hill for 2.50 lira (one way) - which is a bigger resort (takes about 10 mins coz it's all uphill). Coming back is quicker!

I would definately recommend this hotel for everyone except clubbers - it's a nice quiet hotel/resort with enough around it to satisfy all tastes.

We visited the Mavruka as part of a Thomas Cook "package" from the UK. It is situated about sixty metres to the south of Olu Deniz's main drag and ninety metres east of the beach - so a pleasantly peaceful yet convenient location.

The room was spacious and clean with a good reliable working shower and air-conditioning included in the holiday price - this isn't always the case in Turkey.

The pool is a decent size but it doesn't really have a shallow end and could be a bit off-putting for smaller children. The tiled perimeter of the pool can be rather slippery so running is ill-advised. Next to the pool is the large open-sided bar-restaurant area. Snack lunches and drinks are competitively priced and the bar staff are attentive and pleasant. We had no problem with the signature bills - no cash allowed - as you could always check your running total at the bottom of each bill. The hotel also has a nightime bar adjacent to the road at the front of the hotel.

Olu Deniz is a world famous paragliding centre. Tandem paragliders are coming down off the mountain all the time and it is certainly a thrilling experience if you fancy it. Personally I would avoid the over-priced and pushy Sky Sports and opt for the more reasonable and more popular Focus or Reaction for your once-in-a-lifetime thrill.

Eating out in Olu Deniz is not dirt cheap and we struggled to find a restaurant that could compare in quality, value and service to the fine restaurants we frequented in Kalkan two years ago.