Repost- Hillside beach club

We are still looking back, and today's post comes from a post I wrote in May 2013. If you're thinking about booking holiday for a young family, this is a great contender. 

Nat x

View from the pool, just after dinner.

Well we've just come back from a two week holiday in Turkey at Hillside. The reason I thought I'd post about it, is not to gloat, although that is an unfortunate side effect. But because many of our readers are parents, I thought you may find it useful as Hillside is all about the kids.

The main selling point is the kids club. It's fantastic. The staff are wonderful and they are very easy-going with what you want to do. You can stay in the kids club with the kids or leave them there, you just have to tell them. There are two pools, one shaded baby pool, and one bigger kids pool with 4 great slides. It feel very safe and you see the staff interacting positively with the children. They have loads of quality activities to keep them entertained. They take children from 4 years old, although this is not strictly enforced. And when they were not busy they looked after our 6 month for an hour  for 10 euros, whilst we had a massage. Lovely.

Playing the the sand at kidside.

Dad playing at kidside. I think he enjoyed the slides more than the kids.

Kidside

In the evening there is a mini disco and usually some sort of entertainment show after, which the kids love. A word of warning, if you go to these every night it ends up being a lots of consecutive late nights and the kids get very tired and ratty, as we found out!

A show in amphitheatre

The place is well looked after and the staff are very helpful and friendly. The setting and the views are absolutely stunning as you can see. Many of the holidaymakers we spoke to are return customers, so that speaks volumes. We even spoke to people who have been there 10 times!

View from our balcony

Pasha restaurant

The food, consists of a huge buffet in the main restaurant, and the quality and variety of food make it a true feast. The dessert and pastry section are delicious and plentiful, so expect to come back a few pounds heavier. There is an adults only restaurant called Pasha, we got a babysitter one night and went here.

Date night

For those who want to get away from the kids and goings on, there are two beaches, one is the Silent beach, no phones etc and the 2nd is Serenity beach, an adults only idle. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to experience these.

A couple of downsides - it's set in the hills so there are lots of steps, although there is an outdoor lift service, you will still have some steps to deal with. As time goes by you get used to it, even with a buggy.

The other is that it is a fairly big resort, I think it takes up to about 1000 people. We went in term time, but at the end of our holiday more people started arriving due to impending half term. I would prefer not to go during the school holidays personally.

Holidays these days are not what they used to be however, no matter how good the kids club is. Two kids does not lead to rest and relaxation, we look forward to that time again when they are older, probably when we're grey and wrinkly!

Do you have any holidays recommendations with kids? Or have you been to Hillside and want to add something?

Nat x