After booking this holiday very last minute we were delighted with the quality of accomodation. Very basic as we had already been informed via trip advisor, but clean, friendly and most importantly brilliant location. Although the standard of finish in the hotel was awful, carpets hadn't been fitted properly, there were big gaps under the doors etc. we only really needed to sleep and shower in the room and it was clean and comfortable and very cheap!
Not having been to Kusadasi before we didn't realise that Ladies Beach, where this hotel is, wasn't Kusadasi town itself. From what I could see there is no real beach in Kusadasi only man made beaches that belong to hotels. Therefore Ladies Beach is a better place for those wanting to spend the day on the beach and Kusadasi is only a 10 minute dolmus ride away. I would definitely reccommend going there in the evenings and looking around for a decent restaurant as lots of them are catering for a foreign market and strangely all have very similar menus with very little Turkish food, but serving Italian, Indian and Mexican food which we found very strange! Most of the resaurants in Ladies Beach are quite pricey for what you actually get but we had a couple of enjoyable meals in Suphis Place.
In Kusadasi on our last few nights we discovered about four very basic fish places right by the harbour that were packed all night. The fish was all fresh and mainly fried served with salad and bread. It was very tasty, very reasonable and all of the restaurants were full of Turks which is always a good sign. We also found a couple of places selling Turkish food and one place that served a mixed kebab actually on a mini barbeque that was delicious. Again I would reccommend exploring a bit to find these better places as a lot have the standard menu of every nationality!!
Ladies Beach did get quite crowded but the sunbeds are supplied by the local council so atleast you know that money is going to the town. The beds cost 5tl each and if you want an umbrella it is another 5. Not cheap but if you go I would reccommend trying to get there early and get beds in the front row. It seemed to be hotter any where further back and felt a bit claustrophobic. We actually discovered a beach about 40mins away that we reached by getting a dolmus to Kusadasi then another one that goes to love beach and long beach. Although we didn't go to either of these specific beaches they are on the same stretch and it is much more spacious. Worth a visit.
- Minay Hotel Kusadasi
