Mark Warner Phokaia Beach Resort

Phokaia Beach offers a wonderful family holiday destination with lots to do and great food, set within a spacious and stylish resort hotel. The Mark Warner team are enthusiastically helpful and proactive in ensuring you have a great time. Getting to and from the resort We travelled from Gatwick on British Airways – it is a charter flight for Mark Warner, so not quite to the standard I would normally expect with BA; the plane was quite old, and you are only served a small complimentary snack. There is a paid trolley service, but they ran out of pretty much everything, even cups. One stewardess admitted this was a regular issue with this specific flight. My advice would be to get a decent breakfast at Gatwick on the way out. You will find a Burger King, Popeyes and a sandwich bar airside at Izmir on the way back, but you don’t have a great deal of time between transfer and boarding, so best to give it one final binge at the resort buffet before setting off home. The coaches leave the resort at 2:30pm to catch the 6:20pm flight home. The transfer to the resort was not great. Rush hour traffic escaping Izmir slowed things down and the coach aircon only kicked in above 50mph, so by the time we got to the resort, there were some tired and thirsty kids. You are offered a welcome drink the moment you enter reception though before being ushered to the buffet. The return transfer was a much nicer coach, and they took the motorway, so my experience on the way there may have been a blip. Room We stayed in two superior double rooms in the main building. The rooms are not massive, but as it is just a place to sleep, that’s not a big issue. The beds and pillows could be better quality. There is a sensible traffic light switch by the door to inform housekeeping if they can come in or if you don’t wish to be disturbed. They clean the room meticulously every day and provide fresh towels. The aircon in the rooms is good, but you do have to remember to switch it back on if you open the balcony door. I did like the look of the garden rooms which open out onto the manicured lawns in front of the beach. The villas also looked very nice. Activities The waterfront is superb, offering sailing, windsurfing, kayaking and paddleboarding. The kids get to experience these as part of the kids’ club programmes, but they can also do proper lessons such as the RYA Sailing course as a paid extra. The resort is in a naturally formed bay, protected from the sea by a deserted island and spit – therefore the whole sailing area enjoys tranquil waters, but plenty of wind. Pickleball offers a less strenuous alternative to tennis and is good fun. There are three tennis courts and three pickleball courts. I never saw all of them occupied, but then it was 35ºC + for our entire break! The kids’ clubs offer a huge variety for all ages. My two are a bit older, but that didn’t stop them making friends and getting involved in all sorts of stuff. The bikes are really good and I went

We have visited the resort on many occasions since Mark Warner took over the resort a number of years ago and have always had a great experience. Great site with lots of activities and normally fantastic variety of food, even for a vegan/vegetarian. We had visited Phokaia in June this year and had a five star experience as always but this time the food did not live up to previous experiences. The quality and variety of the food had deteriorated on this visit since the last visit. Unfortunately on this visit the staff didn't seem to understand what vegan/vegetarianism is and thought meat was suitable for vegans/vegetarians on more than one meal sitting. After many happy and relaxing visits the resort definitely deserves a second chance.

The resort is nice with good facilities. Staff are friendly food is ok. Rooms are fine and cleaned well. Main problem is that they have corporate events at the hotel which go on til very late- there were people singing in the pool at 2 am. Also bar prices are ridiculously high.