Hotel review: XO Cape Arnna, Turkey
It's an understatement to say the Turkish coast's fanciest new all-inclusive resort, XO Cape Arnna, opened with a splash. In fact, the weather was so bad when I flew to Dalaman for the opening weekend that our plane got diverted to Bodrum, and much of the time I spent there was set against the backdrop of pouring rain. Its testament to the excellence of this resort, however, that this didn't put a dampener on our experience. In fact the facilities, restaurants and rooms were so good that we hardly noticed the uncharacteristically rubbish weather at all.
Rooms and facilities
The massive hotel is divided into two sections: one side family-friendly (The Resort), the other adults-only (The Club). With a one and a five year old in tow, I was in the kid-focused area of the hotel, and our family room had two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a balcony, plus lots of clever built-in storage. As you'd expect from a brand new hotel, the rooms were exceedingly modern and swish, with huge beds, fancy toiletries and curtains that opened at the press of a button.
The one fact I cannot get over is that the hotel has 37 swimming pools. THIRTY-SEVEN! Including, as we discovered when it was pouring with rain, two indoor heated pools: a shallow one for toddlers, and a full-size pool for kids and adults. There is also a very futuristic kids' club (which opens until 11pm), an outdoor playground, football pitches, watersports facilities and a full-on water park (with enormous slides for big kids and adults, and a smaller zone for littlies).
Food and drink
I have never seen an all-inclusive buffet more extensive than the one at XO Cape Arnna; I'm pretty sure the butter station had around 30 options alone. At breakfast there were fresh juices made to order, omelettes with any filling you could wish for, a lavish salad bar, any type of bread or pastry you could ever dream of – basically a cornucopia of options, and it was the same for every meal.
If you can possibly pull yourself away from the buffet (at Mad Med), there is also an array of restaurants across the resort; tuck into Turkish cuisine at Kafi, pizza at Cucina dei Cugini, sushi at Sun Tzu or steak at adults-only The Duchess. The all-inclusive deal entitles you to one dinner at each restaurant (except the buffet at Mad Med, which is unlimited).
Perhaps most exciting was the on-site patisserie, Clementine. My kids were in their element heading for a post-dinner ice cream at this enticing café, while I was equally excited to visit the chocolate counter for a few slabs from the Willy Wonka-esque selection.
Hotel highlights
As well as the food and pools, the spa area is worth a shout-out. The staff were super-friendly, and there was an authentic hammam, as well as Himalayan salt rooms. The massages here are not to be missed. Should you want to keep up your fitness routine, there's also a gym that would rival most high street workout spaces. Elsewhere you can book in for lessons in yoga, pole dancing, trapeze and padel.
What to do nearby
Okay full confession - we were only at the hotel for a long weekend, so we didn't actually make it away from the resort. However, the town of Fethiye comes very much recommended, and we would have visited had we stayed for longer.
Best for
XO Cape Arnna is an excellent hotel for families with kids - I'd go back!
Rates start from £300 for the adults-only Club and £470 for the Resort. It's open all year round. For more information, visit the website here.
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
The clampdown 'killing' one of Turkey's most popular holiday towns: How a curfew, ban on dancing and soaring pint prices is 'ruining' Marmaris for Brits
With its picturesque cobblestoned streets and its breath-taking coast with waters a shade of blue you would never spot in the UK, the beautiful resort town of Marmaris grips you within a heartbeat. As one local put it, it is surrounded by 'beaches like Miami, waters like the Maldives and mountains like Canada '. But it is something else entirely that draws in the British en masse… the streets of Armutalan. A strip known for little to do with landscapes and more to do with neon lights, extravagant dance shows, topless barmen and sparklers. According to the 'fun pubs' up and down the main street, more than 90 per cent of their customers are British. One pub owner even went as far as suggesting, '99 per cent British!' Over the years the area became popular for British families and young couples wanting to go out, dance, and let loose on holiday while still being able to have a seated table and look after their children - with many even having dedicated kids play areas. But it also controversially became known for young barmen taking their tops off and dancing on table tops for the 'entertainment' of older women on the hunt for foreign 'boytoys'. To find out exactly what the strip is like once the sun sets, especially as a solo female traveller, I visited the renowned Armutalan at 10pm. Having been to strips across the likes of Ibiza and Malaga, I braced myself for the worst. I arrived there expecting to see drunken Brits breaking out into fist fights, creepy barmen harassing you to come in for 'free drinks' and yobs looking for the perfect opportunity to rob your phone in the busy crowds. But I was taken aback when all I witnessed was a warm welcome at 'fun pubs' where music was booming, families were dancing to British classics, and no-one was coercing you into stepping in. In a refreshing change, I did not find myself constantly looking over my shoulder to check if my drink had been spiked or if I was in any danger. What I did witness, however, was a dying street that was until recently mobbed with people. Venues that would by now in the holiday season be rammed with dancing Brits stood close to empty, with most barmen 'too scared' to dance or encourage customers to get up out their seats for a boogie. The drastic change in atmosphere came after 14 pubs were closed down a few weeks ago over floating restrictions which include a new curfew on music and lights being turned off at the stroke of midnight and bars entirely closed by 12.30am. It adds to bans which came into place following Covid on bar staff dancing topless with customers on tabletops and the use of sparklers, even on birthday cakes. The 'boring' measures came after some locals felt the 'dirty dancing' and 'loud music' was inappropriate, arguing that it made the resort town look 'sleazy' and 'cheap'. But Brits - who flocked to see the dance shows - say the 12am curfew may see them 'never return' to the beloved resort, as pub owners say it is 'killing' the tourism industry. A Brit I met at the street's Parkhead pub, said she had visited just five weeks ago and it had been busy 'as normal', but in the space of a few weeks had 'completely died out'. The street itself was empty of sound and soul, bar the neon lights and music reflecting from inside the pubs. Turkish authorities say the curfew was brought into effect to avoid causing trouble for nearby locals having to listen to booming music into the early hours of the night. There have also, for a few years now, been restrictions on music only being played until 1am for pubs and bars situated along the popular beachfront on Marmaris' Long Beach. But police are cracking down. Venues found to be breaking rules risk being shut for periods of three to ten days, or even permanently as in the case of two venues very recently. As the clocks hit 12.30am, you could see hyped young people flood onto the beach after the music blasting in the beachfront bars was brought to an abrupt end. Critics say the changes are 'fair' as those wanting to party later into the night can still go to Bar Street, the resort's nightclub strip. But the appeal is not there. Those flocking to Armutalan Street are on the lookout for a family-friendly night out that isn't overrun by hormone-filled teens on their first party holiday. And the infamous Bar Street is not known to be the safest of places. Every pub owner along Armutalan Street and the Long Beach beachfront warned against venturing there alone. And Brits who have visited the resort for 20+ years and call Marmaris their second-home told me to steer well clear, telling me that spiking and harassment is all too common there. Just days before I arrived, one person was shot dead in an 'armed conflict' which broke out between two groups on the Bar Street strip. Mahoney, the owner of Parkhead bar, Mahoney said to me: 'They tell you if you want to go out, go to Bar Street, but the English people's culture is pubs. 'They don't want clubs, only the young people want to go to clubs. Most people that come to this street doesn't want to go to Bar Street. They are older people with families. 'Bar Street is quiet now, people don't go there. It's expensive and it's too much trouble. 'Three or four days ago, someone was shot and killed there. It's so much more dangerous. 'And if I sell a drink here for 150 lira (£2.74), on Bar Street it is three times more expensive. 'But 90 per cent of the people here are British. In this area, on this street, it's mostly British. 'We were the first many years ago to start having kids play area. 'In Marmaris you can ask any tourists about the pubs and the restaurants, everyone loves us. Most our customers they come here over 10 years, 15 years. We are like family with them. 'But now after 12am they close the lights and tell customers "go home". Which is really bad. 'If we ignore it the police come and give big fines, last year I had two fines which cost 400,000 lira (£7,300) each. 'Some of the dance maybe it was too much, dirty things, but the things we done was because they like it, it was not sexual, it was just for a laugh. 'We did it because that's what they like. But okay, we said "okay no dance, no fireworks, no hassle". We accepted it. But why a curfew? 'Now our regular customers say if it is like this we won't come back.' And the threat of losing decades-long loyal customers is very real. In fact, it is clear it has already started to happen from the emptiness on the main street. And bar owners say they have had 'too many' regular British visitors message them to say they will be holidaying elsewhere this year due to the curfew. Speaking to me in the noisy Chuckle Brothers bar Bedirhan Saritac told me: 'It's not fair. Let's be honest, it's not fair. 'By midnight people are just starting to get drunk, start enjoying it, and bang it's all closed. 'What are they supposed to do? Go and buy a bottle and go to their room? That's not what they came here for. 'It's only British people that come here, this street our customers are all from the UK. 90 per cent. 'The Brits are mad about it. Most our customers are like our friends now because they come every year, some come four or five times a year. So we are like family with them now. 'It's already stopping people from coming. 'People have already texted us saying they cancelled their flights. 'We're losing customers. They say they are going to Greece now. 'They're killing Marmaris.' Admitting the topless dancing may have been 'over the top', he said: 'Look, yes we have some fault. On some things we're wrong too as bars, we accept that. 'Some people may not like the taking tops off. We done it but that worked, but we see the point and we're not doing that no more. 'But the thing is this was one of the busiest bars in Marmaris, busy every night, if I was doing something wrong why would I be busy all the time? 'People come because they like that. I'm not doing it for myself, people like it. 'But some people don't, so we see the point, we don't allow it anymore. 'We say "we're sorry, we won't do it again". I don't know what the problem is with sparklers, but they say "don't do it" and we say "fine". 'But why are you closing the bar at 12, why are you turning the music off at 12, it's not fair. We weren't taking our tops off after 12, it was happening before.' Bedirhan Saritac continued to tell me how the effects have already been seen in the few weeks since the clampdown. He reckons he loses £2,000 a day (110,000 lira) during peak season due to the new measures. At the next pub down, staff member Adar from Mad Boys repeats the same as Mr Saritac: 'Our tourism season only six months, that has to last us the year. 'After seeing some boys' dances at some bars, like some dirty dances, the government say Turkish people are not this and want to stop it. 'We were very angry but then we saw some of the videos of kids dancing on the tables and it's not good at all. 'But it's not all, just a few doing that. 'Now they don't allow even normal dance, normal cha cha dance, the customers want to dance but they don't allow it. 'We are really hoping it gets better and they change it to at least 1am. 'All customers are saying "if we have to go to the hotel at 12am why we are on holiday? We might as well stay at home." 'All our customers, 99 per cent are British. We don't have any others tourist, just British in this area.' As it hit 11pm, I had expected the strip may become busier. But still it was a stretch to say it was even 'dotted' with people. Some bars were busier than others, but none of them looked how they should coming to the end of June. Speaking to one Scottish family at Chuckle Brothers through the loud music, Claire Quinn, 43, Fiona Muir, 41 and Shannon Luff, 25 said: 'The energy is down, it's a lot quieter than normal. It's terrible to see. 'When you come on holiday you don't want to go home at 12am. 'That's not what I came here for to be told to go home. 'In other destinations you have to go to clubs. The difference is when you come to Turkey and you can sit out here and it still take in the entertainment. 'The tourism has heavily gone down. 'When you've little kids or even teens, when you've got sparklers it keeps them entertained because they can't go out. 'It couldn't have been more family orientated. 'It's put a big damper on it. This is the quieter than I've seen it.' Ms Muir added: 'I've been coming here for 27, 28 years. My kids have been coming since really small. We've all been really shocked. It's a real shame.' Meanwhile, Ms Quinn said this may be her last visit. She said: 'I will not be back. If it stays this way. We come here for the atmosphere and the family entertainment and it's gone. 'I've been coming here twice a year for five years, but this will be my last time here unless it changes. 'You used to get the men dancing on the tables with sparklers, all that entertainment, but you don't get any of it anymore. 'Just look around outside too, it's completely empty. 'It's terrible, really terrible.' Further down the strip Lee Potter, 33, was visiting the bars with his family, Harriet Walker 29, Janine Potter 29, and kids Thomas and Tallulah. He said: 'The first year we came here it was absolutely booming. It was mental. 'We've been coming for four went to Jacob's they were dancing on the tables. 'It was also so cheap. You could get a pint for 80p, now it's about the same as London prices.' On the dancing they said: 'It is was a bit like entertainment, but it was a bit crude. It's not for when your with family. But before you couldn't walk down this street. Now it's dead.' Diane Harvey was here just five weeks ago. She told me: 'Everything was normal. Now it's dead. 'I've been coming to Marmaris for 20 years, it was never any trouble, any problem. 'It was mobbed five weeks ago with tourists, families with babies. 'The boys were all dancing, no trouble, no nothing. 'I came back here on Saturday, and I'll tell you it's the worst I've seen it. 'They can't come up to dance with customers anymore. I would normally be up there dancing with all these boys. 'I'm coming back here in October with friends and it's not going to be the same. They've ruined it, ruined Marmaris. 'Next year I'm not coming here, I'll be going to morocco. 'On all the Marmaris groups on Facebook, they're all boycotting it. They're going to Spain, Portugal. 'I don't know if I'll come here next year, I'm going to Morocco next June instead. Further down by the beachfront, where music has to be turned off by 12.30am, Lauren Bennington, 31, Lea Binns, 24 and Keeley Whitehurst, 20, told me 'it's not the same'. The trio, who had all met back here on the beach many years ago, said: 'We would usually be here till like 5am but now it's half 12 and everyone floods onto the beach. 'We've been coming for eight years. It was packed even last year but now it's so much quieter. 'And the problem is you don't want to go to Bar Street because it's quite rowdy there. 'They used to do the sparklers and the dance shows and the guys dancing, and they say it's bad cos they're doing it in a sexual way but they're not. 'They're just entertaining. And the thing is the sparklers and stuff, the kids love it too it keeps them entertained It's definitely not the same.' Nearby Emma Boriss, 46, and Emily Boden, 24, from Blackpool, warned me against going to Bar Street. They said: 'This beachfront, it's a home away from home. 'But Bar Street, it's dinghy, it's like a back street. 'Someone was shot there a few days ago. 'We've been once with a chap from the Manchester bar before, but we wouldn't ever go back. It's dangerous. 'It's a shame that they've ruined these bits. We'll probably still come, but not if it weren't for the people we know well now. 'I could see how first time goers wouldn't come. They'd go somewhere like Portugal instead.' Almost everyone I encountered walking down the strips at Armutalan Street and the beachfront had been regular visitors who had made Marmaris their yearly trip over years. And the new curfews risked changing this for them. For James Roberts, 28, and Jade Bingham, 27, Jamie Bone, 20, and Dylan Cox, 21, it was their first time visiting. They said: To be fair it's out of respect for the hotels and locals isn't it. 'But we have to say it is a bit of a let down for tourists.'
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Somerset couple chase bucket list dreams amid health scares
A married couple say two major health scares gave them the push they needed to "live life to the fullest" and tick off every bucket list bloggers Hannah Bird and Charlie Camper, from Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset, have explored more than 50 countries together over the past six years. Mr Camper wears an implanted defibrillator after suffering a cardiac arrest at the age of 15, while Ms Bird was diagnosed with stage 4 blood cancer in 25-year-olds have amassed an online following of more than 450,000 people, and use their platform to share travel tips and raise awareness of symptoms. For six months, doctors told Ms Bird her persistent cough, night sweats, constant exhaustion and unexplained bruising were nothing to worry about. But a week after the couple's engagement, she was officially diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis - an aggressive cancer that affects white blood cells. Throughout 18 gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, the couple sat together in hospital and planned their adventures. "Every appointment we'd sit there and think 'where do we want to go? What do we want to see?' It was the one thing really pushing us through," said Ms Bird. With doctors so "unsure about what the future was going to hold", the couple took a chance and booked a last-minute flight to Cappadocia in day after they returned from their spontaneous trip, a PET scan revealed there were no more cancer cells left in Ms Bird's body. "We gained quite a good following off the back of that trip," the couple said."People were asking us how we do it, saying we were quite inspirational, which made us blush a lot. "We started blogging more and it kind of escalated from there." Their passports are now adorned with stamps from across the world - including Tokyo, Australia, Singapore, Greece, Switzerland, Budapest, Egypt, Kenya, Dubai, Iceland, and Norway. "We've got a big bucket list on a bit of paper in our bedroom, but it seems to constantly get longer and longer," Ms Bird laughed."I don't think its ever going to stop if I'm honest, we see new inspiration pretty much every day."The couple have now been shortlisted for the ITV Travel Creator of the Year award in recognition of their engaging content and inspiring stories.
Times
14 hours ago
- Times
Sometimes an easy family ‘fly and flop' is just what you need
For ages I've been wanting to take my four small grandchildren away, partly for the fun of it and partly to give my daughters a break. So where do you go that is going to please children who are aged between two and six as well as my grown-up daughters and partner, who are very 'foodie', and me, who is less foodie, more, er, 'cocktailie'. While I do a lot of solo travelling and dragged my own kids all over the world when they were small (India, Cambodia, Egypt, for starters) I remember them begging, 'Please, Mum, can we have a normal holiday with no artefacts?' So I knew for this trip we needed something as easy as possible. This is where a good all-inclusive comes in and the snobbery around them is silly. A break from shopping and cooking is a boon to parents of little ones. A place where everyone can eat and drink what they like without having to think about bills is relaxing. My experience is you get what you pay for, because I have done cheap all-inclusives where the food was inedible except for the roast dinners people had around the swimming pool alongside huge rum and coke floats at 11am. Yes, really. • More great all-inclusives in Mallorca The Iberostar Selection Albufera Park resort in northeast of Mallorca appealed to us because the flight is short. We were all excited. One of my grandsons told his mum, 'Tell Grand Suzanne not to take weapons to the airport.' Smart advice. One imagines the perfect family holiday but families are complicated and life happens. Or, worse, it stops. A couple of days before we were due to go my son-in-law's mother died suddenly. She was an amazing woman and integral to my grandchildren's life. We were all in shock. Do you go on holiday while grieving? What is the right thing to do? The little ones didn't understand, of course. It was obvious my son-in-law could not come, but could he join us halfway through the week? Everyone was brilliant. The hotel staff were understanding and I changed his flight with easyJet. I was amazed to get through on the phone and talk to a guy who was sympathetic to our plight. • Best beaches in Mallorca We arrived determined to make the best of it despite the sadness. Small children keep you in the present and my grandsons, who are five and six years old, were excited we were picked up by a minibus. The reception at the hotel is genius as there is a large slide for tired and fractious kids (keep that as a surprise). It's brilliant because it makes check-in fun. The resort had upgraded my room, but we wanted to be together as that was the point of the holiday. As it was, our 'family premium' room was big enough. A bunk bed arrangement in one part of the room with a sliding door and a big bed on the other side gave us what amounted to two bedrooms. We overlooked the main pool with its water slides and ladybird-style showers. Then there was the breakfast buffet, which is my middle daughter's favourite thing in the world. My eldest is not so keen on buffets and I don't get up for breakfast if there is coffee in the room, but the children adored it, ladling chocolate sauce on to potato waffles. Indeed, the food was pretty great all round. It was fresh and there was a huge variety, much of it cooked in front of you. Our favourite was the lunch beach grill restaurant, Tamarindos. Steak, chicken and fabulous sausages were barbecued there, and they offered beautiful salads too. The kids were happy with very good pizza and burgers, while the adults had lobster and paella. • What to do in Mallorca There are restaurants to book and it's nice to be served. The grown-ups tried the Greek (Kyknos) and Spanish (Martinete) restaurants but the food was not any better than the buffet. Apart from the main kids' pool, there are six other pools, which are calmer, and a superb beach. We all did different things at different times. My favourite was the rooftop pool, where you could help yourself to drinks and look out over the bay and Playa de Muro beach. It was peaceful and feels five-star luxe. As for booze, they knew how to do a proper margarita so I coped, put it that way. Much is designed around kids, especially small kids. There are trampolines and all kinds of activities. The swimming pool carpet was a hit, as were the giant Transformers appearing at dinner. Ours were too little for the kids' club stuff and I think kids' clubs require children who are extroverted. However, our lot were entranced by the shows. I know it's illegal, but I don't like Abba, never mind Abba imitators. Still, the children loved the acrobats and the 'I love the Nineties' night. • Mallorca's top family hotels We barely left the resort, but we did go up the road for pony rides. A Shetland pony is heaven if you're a three-year-old girl. And the Albufera Nature Reserve is nearby with the Balearics' largest wetlands. Oh, and we went on a boat trip from Muro beach into the bay and around the caves of Cap de Formentor with an hour's stop at Formentor beach — easy, as you can sit inside if the sun is too hot and there is a bar and snacks on board. But really you can do as little or as much as you like. My son-in-law eventually arrived and while sun and sea are not a cure for bereavement it was good to be together. • Read our full guide to the Balearics I had a terrific facial and a massage at the spa (treatments from £70), though the indoor pool is a bit underwhelming, but that's a niggle. The other niggle was the loudness of the shows. If your room is near the stage it's impossible to settle little ones to sleep as it's so noisy. It also seemed a bit much to have to have to pay for beach sunloungers (£18 a day for two), but these are, as I say, niggles. In our circumstances we could not have the perfect family holiday and we are far from a perfect family anyway, but it gave us some time out. The holiday fantasy is everyone gets on and no exhausted child has a temper tantrum. It's unreal, but the fact that each of us relaxed and had a few perfect moments at such a difficult time says everything about what Iberostar provides. The children even asked me if they could live there, so there you go … my grandparenting job was done. For Moore was a guest of Iberostar ( which has all-inclusive family rooms at Albufera Park from £246. Fly to Palma This article contains affiliate links that can earn us revenue By Siobhan Grogan Spread over low-rise buildings in a peaceful bay in the southwest of Kos, this all-inclusive hotel is directly on the beach in Lambi, with five pools, a mini-waterpark and a spa. There are seven restaurants including a gelateria and Greek taverna, plus swim-up rooms and suites with private pools for extra Seven nights' all-inclusive from £871pp, including flights, checked luggage and coach transfers A 20-minute seaplane ride west of Malé, Kuramathi was one of the first resorts to open on its own island in the Maldives's Rasdhoo Atoll in 1975 and has honed a winning fly-and-flop formula since. Waft between a mile-long sandbank lapped by the Indian Ocean, a beachside spa, a champagne bar, nine à la carte restaurants and a house reef, where the snorkelling is excellent. Details Seven nights' full board from £1,659pp, including flights ( Choose between seven outdoor pools or Portugal's longest golden sand beach at this five-star property at Praia da Falesia in the Algarve. There's no need to leave if you'd rather not, because this sprawling resort has 12 restaurants, a huge kids' club, a clifftop golf course, an impressive spa and rooms decorated in traditional Portuguese style with hand-painted tiled headboards and terracotta floors. However, the coastal town of Olhos d'Agua, with its waterpark, beach promenade and boat tours, is about a ten-minute walk. Details Seven nights' B&B from £626pp, including flights and checked luggage (
