Korumar Ephesus Beach and Spa Resort

We've just returned from a 9 day stay, and it was amazing. The hotel is big, but doesn't feel it. It's absolutely impeccably clean (the rooms, the common areas, the gardens etc), and the staff seem to take pride in maintaining that clean appearance.

We arrived late (1.00am) on the 1st day, but we were happy that there was a small buffet on through the night, so we could get a small bite to eat (having not eaten for about 8 hours). Check in was super easy.

We had a family room for our family of 4 - there was a super king sized bed for me and my wife, and 2 sofa beds in a separate room for the kids. Plenty of wardrobe space so the luggage could be out of the way, and 2 bathrooms, each with shower, sink and WC. Minibar was re-stacked each days with some soft drinks too, and room was cleaned on a daily basis.

We ate in the main restaurant every night and for breakfast, and the food was amazing. So much choice at every meal. There were obviously staples of the buffet that repeated, but there was always a good choice on the mains and I honestly can't recall having the same thing twice. There were a couple of theme nights which offered a bit of variation too. We didn't really do lunch every day - when we did, it was generally at the Snack bar by the pool. Less choice than the restaurant of course, and more suited to the kids appetite (burgers, chips, the very popular waffles!). There is also a patisserie open between 2 and 6, which serves a fabulous selection of cakes and ice-cream. There were a good selection of drinks available at the pool bar - the bar staff certainly know how to make a good cocktail. There was a girl on roller blades who would take drink orders from your sun lounger which was a nice touch.

The pool is enormous - one of the largest I have seen. There was PLENTY of room for everyone, including people with inflatables and people throwing balls between them. Never got in anyone's way. There were also plenty of sun loungers - the first couple of days, we just rocked up, quite late (11.00am) and still managed to get 4 loungers together. As the week went on, I did go and reserve some loungers in a certain area with towels, but even then, it was still only between 8.15 and 8.30, so no real sign of sun lounger wars here.

The water slides were good fun. The 2 with rafts were the most popular, but that meant the other slides were generally free. Most of the time, we got straight on a slide. The most time we ever had to wait was about 10 mins, but that was the exception rather than the norm. There is a big kids splash park with mini slides and tipping bucket, although my kids didn't use that.

The hotel is right on the beach - the beach is very nice, but the sand does get VERY hot, so sandals are a must. The sea is great for swimming, with waves just big enough to entertain the kids with jumping and body boarding. We did notice quite a bit of litter in the sea on occasion though. We did 2 x double parasails from the watersports centre, which was very good (kids loved it as it was their first time), although all the watersports seemed a bit pricey. The hotel and beach face West, so the Sunsets are stunning.

The entertainment was first class. During the day, there are various activities in and around the pool (games, water polo, aqua Aerobics) and the Animation team were all good. We watched 3 of the evening shows, and they were brilliant.

My wife treated herself to the Spa - she had 3 massages and a facial, and said it was very good.

There are some shops on site, although depending on what you are after, things can be a bit pricey. There is a Games Centre, which my son enjoyed - there is free pool (3 tables) and Table Tennis, as well as arcade games and air hockey. My son wanted to go every night to play Table Tennis.

Lastly, I wanted to give a big shout out to Mario and JJ, These guys are the on site photographers, and are 2 of the nicest guys you could possibly meet. My kids had some photos taken around the pool - both with a parrot, and my son with Spiderman. Both were very good with the kids making them feel at ease. We booked a Sunset photo session with them, and the photos we got are stunning. Very reasonable price too, and we were absolutely delighted with the work they created. Fabulous family memories from an amazing holiday. My son insisted that we had to say goodbye to them before we checked out!

So in summary, we had an AMAZING holiday here. The hotel blew us away, the facilities are fabulous, and every member of staff we encountered, whether at reception, in the restaurants, the bars, Animation team, the cleaning teams - and obviously Mario and JJ - where smiley, happy, engaging and were a credit to the hotel. We are so pleased we chose to stay here, and would definitely recommend it.

We returned to this place and could hardly fault the last trip but somehow this time was better. The pools are massive and kids loved the slides and kids pool. You are allowed inflatables just make sure you purchase them before coming as the shop is expensive. I had a medical issue which lead to the hotel manager going to the pharmacy and getting my meds putting me at ease for the rest of my trip. Had a deep tissue massage and felt brand new after every knot had been sorted. I normally get battered from the mosquitos and this year was nowhere near as bad as the last. Beach is amazing the kids enjoyed the parasale. Entrainment reps remembered us from the year before Onur was brilliant as always always going out his way to make sure everyone was having a good time. Ozzy was new to us as he wasn’t there the year before and again makes sure everyone is happy and creates a competitive environment with water polo darts etc. Will go back next year!