Hilton Dalaman – Holiday review

Hey everyone, so here is a full and complete review of the Hilton Dalaman hotel and resort, which I visited just last week.   Here’s a video review of the hotel where I take you around the hotel and show  you everything you need to know about the Hilton Dalaman.

 Hilton Dalaman – First Impressions

So as you can see from the video the Hilton Dalaman is a beautiful hotel from the moment you arrive you’ll see just how well everything is laid out and the details to which they’ve gone to make a good first impression.  I’ve had this view that if a hotel isn’t impressive on the first impression than it’s not going to be that great from inside.

the Hilton Dalaman doesn’t disspoint – you can see here just how impressive it is from the moment you pull up to the lobby.

 

The staff I would say were excellent, they speak a variety of languages, getting around in English is just fine.  They were very helpful, attentive and knowledgable about the hotel and the activities.

 

Hilton Dalaman – Pools Aplenty

Walking around the outside there’s so many pools, I counted seven on my stay, from indoor to outdoor, shallow kids pools, to huge waterslides – pool wise you won’t be disappointed, I swam everyday while I was out there.

Whichever side of the hotel you are on – essentially there’s two wings either side of the main hotel building where your rooms will be – there is a pool right infront of your building – ours had a lovely little island in the centre (there’s a mini bridge to take you there) and was pretty huge – of course there’s deckchairs all around.

The pools were really clean and there’s so many deck chairs around – I went in high season and always managed to get some seats together – ironically enough my favourite pool was the indoor one

When you check in they will give you towel cards, just swap your card for a towel from any of the towel stations around the pools.  When you return your towel they give you back the towel card.

 

Hilton Dalaman – Kid’s activities

There were so many kid’s activities at the hotel, it has the best Kid’s Club that I’ve seen at any hotel I’ve stayed at (and I’ve been on a fair few) – the club runs three sessions, a morning session, an afternoon session and an evening session.  We never made it for the morning session – we went for the pool activities in the morning and Kid’s Club post lunch – they have a whole rosta of afternoon acitivies, it’s not a case of the kids have to entertain themselves – the staff (who by the way are excellent) put on activities for the kids, while we were there, there was

• kid’s archery lessons (my three year old was able to partake)
• a kart ride around the hotel
• kid’s football match
• a water party (they have these fantastic fountains that fire water upwards in jets – the kids love running in and out of those – make sure you take their swimwear that day)
• a 3D cinema (it’s a really nice room with cushions and space chairs playing 3D movies off a projector) which they put on at the end of the day to let the children unwind
• there’s a mini amphi-theatre too
• they have breakout sessions so your child can do his/her own thing – there’s a fantastic wooden train set that has so many links and lines
• Lego building area
• really nice outdoor play area
• sleep area for younger children who may need a nap

There’s snack and fruit time built in to the day – they make sure the kids have some food and drink.

The Kid’s Club is fully air conditioned so does really make a nice break for them if the sun is getting really intense.  The toilets were really clean, with low toilets and sinks so the kids can clean up easily.

You can either drop your child of there, you have to sign them in and out, the child gets a lanyard with their name, which you’ll have to sign out against the same number – it’s all very secure.  Or if you prefer you can stay in the club with them.

 

Hilton Dalaman – Kid’s Club Disco

In the evening they have a kid’s disco party which is great fun – after dinner we went to the disco pretty much every night (I think it starts at 8.30), all the kids have great fun – you can join in too.

After the disco there’s another 3D cinema again if you have any energy left.

Outside of Kid’s Club, there is a place called the Breeze Bar, where they have

• table football (fussball)
• table tennis (ping pong)
• a giant chess set
• air hockey
• mini golf
• as well as loads of green areas to play whatever sport/frisbee/game you choose

 

Grown up activities

There’s loads of activities for grown ups too – I managed to do a few while I was out there too – well it’s your holiday too.

• They have archery every morning, you get instructions from the archery teacher then three rounds of three shots each
• Bike ride from the beach into Sarigerme town centre and back
• Football at 6 pm – just as the sun is getting less intense
• Tennis courts – they have a coach who can give you private lessons if you wish (it was 30 Euros an hour when I was there – so pretty good value)
• Basketball courts
• Aerobics – both regular and water based
• Yoga and Pilates
• and a whole lot more that I never got close to doing – I may need a second trip there

 

Evening Shows

I know when you go on some holidays the evening entertainment can sometimes be a selection of staff prancing around to some pre-recorded music but at the Hilton Dalaman it’s not the case.

The shows here were actually brilliant!

Like there were properly professional shows, I don’t know if there’s touring companies that put on the shows, but there is proper entertainment here.

While I was there they had

• an Ice Age kids spectacular show
• Some kind of Moulin Rouge show – stories, music and dance – which was amazing
• A Mongolian Acrobatic Show – #wow
• Latino Dance Show

It was all very impressive

Here’s a sampe of the second and third shows on the list

 

Private Beach

If you keep going to the end of the hotel, it has it’s own private beach.  Loads of deck chairs laid out very neatly.  The beach was very clean, the staff do a good job of tidying it up.  There’s mini bin pots all around so there’s no real excuse for anyone to litter (there’s no real excuse for anyone to litter even if there are no bins around anyway).

The sand on the beach itself was very nice, as you get closer to the water it becomes a bit pebbly – but that’s the case with most beaches.

The water was nice and cool, it was really good for cooling down in.

There’s a life guard around and a rope barrier to the mark where not to swim past.

There were plenty of beach activities around – I didn’t get a chance to do them all – that’s actually a common theme of the resort is that there’s just so much to do you won’t get a chance to do everything.

 

Food, drink and ice cream all around

There’s several restaurants that you can go to.  There’s dedicated

• A Turkish restaurant
• An Indian restaurant
• A Chinese restaurant
• The Main dining hall
• Food at all the bars

The food was just outstanding – truly the best food I’ve had anywhere.

There is free water, soft drinks and juices dotted around the pools, outside and around the beach areas so you can easily get hydrated wherever you are.

There is a wonderful coffee shop/bar/ice cream hut right in the centre of the pool area – pretty much after Kid’s Club we’d go in there to chill out before going to play games at the Breeze bar.

 

Rooms

The rooms were brilliant too, very clean, spacious, the finish was a very high standard, the beds were very comfortable.  The bathrooms were very large and well laid out – really everything you’d expect for a Hilton.

Wifi is good all around the hotel, not that you want to be on your devices – just saying

 

Location

The Hilton Dalaman hotel is situated in Sarigerme which is about a 20km taxi ride from the airport – the ride took about half and hour and cost 30 euros, which is 75 Turkish Lira at the time we went.

If you are interested on the drive back to the airport, I made a little night movie of our drive back – night time driving movies are actually great at helping kids to sleep I’ve found (alhtough look out for the dog crossing the road at 5 mins in the video)

All in all, I throughly recommend the Hilton Dalaman hotel and resort, it certianly won me over, it was probably the best hotel I’ve stayed at, and I’ve stayed at quite a few.

Have you been, are you going?  Let me know in the comments section below and tell me about your stay.

Have a look around the site while you’re here too, let me know if you like the posts and what kind of content you’d like to see more of.

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Okay enjoy your stay.

Thanks

Farhan