Guest Comments

On 21st October 2011 Margaret & Kelly wrote:
Well we've been home now for 2 weeks but the memories of Villa Zakkum (& Oleander where we stayed last year), Debbie, Dalyan, Ortaca and our whole holiday experience will go on forever (for the best possible reasons). Home from home? No way, it's far better than that! It's light and airy, beautifully furnished and decorated, has air conditioning, gauze at most windows and French doors to stop the mozzies etc, superb appliances AND the most fabulous gardens and swimming pool. One area of garden has numerous fruit trees in it but we didn't recognise some of the fruits......need to look them up. There is an enormous choice of DVDs & CDs to suit all tastes. Travelling around is so very easy in this region as the dolmas are very frequent & cheap. Everyone is so very friendly & helpful. Boat trips are terrific too and with diving at only £50 with fully qualified instructors what more could you ask. All in all an absolutely fabulous holiday once again Debbie. Thank you so very very much. We're working on when we can visit again. Margaret and Kelly

On 30th August 2011 Nick Hobbs wrote:
Stayed from 12th to 26th August 2011, our first holiday in Turkey. Found the villa to be perfect for the four of us. A nice quiet location and we really enjoyed the pool. We used the Dolmus from the end of the track into Dalyan. Didn't manage to make contact with the bread delivery man, but enjoyed cycling to the local shop each morning to buy bread and other essentials (a bottle of wine!). Loved the choice of restaurants in Dalyan and enjoyed a trip white water rafting and another on the lake / mud baths. Bilal kept the gardens looking wonderful. All in all would recommend to anybody looking for a relaxing break in the sun.

On 24th August 2011 The Bailey Family wrote:
Just back from two lovely weeks at Villa Oleander. Villa, garden and especially pool were perfect, we loved the views and the peace and quiet. Dalyan a great town, very chilled and friendly with lots of great restaurants. Enjoyed visiting Turtle Beach (by car and by water taxi.) The trip to the mud baths via the lake is a great trip, we all emerged looking very beautiful! White Water rafting with Kaunos tours was a brilliant day out which we all really enjoyed. Also Saklikent Gorge and Sarigemi were great days out.Many thanks to Debbie and Bilal for their welcome, help and reccomendations. Everyone we met was very friendly hospitable, we loved the area and will definitely come back. A perfect holiday, shame we had to leave!
Ian, Alison, Tabitha and Eleanor Bailey. Leeds.

On 17th July 2011 pat adcock wrote:
Villa Zakkum:
What a superb villa air conditioned throughout, it has everything that you could wish for and more and is spotlessly clean! The kitchen is very well equiped and the appliances are excellent, the dishwasher was a godsend after an evening BBQ.The bedrooms are light and airy with comfortable beds and pillows, there is ample fitted wardrobe space and most importantly they are air conditioned. Outside the very large virtual pool is fantastic and is cleaned every day, the gardens are a delight and are maintained 2-3 times a week by two charming girls. It is the attention to detail that makes this villa so superb, the furnishings are so well thought out and compliment each room. There is even a very comprehensive cd collection ! It is slightly out of town but with the local dolmuses running every 15 mins at the top of the road and the fare is approx 75p you cannot go wrong, they will even wait for you if you are slowly trudging down the road in the heat !!!!!!!
Debbie is a fantastic host not intrusive at all but is there if needed ( which we didn't) This is a spectacular villa and is even better than the pics. Thank you for an absolutely wonderful holiday, I cannot rate it enough.
If you go look out for the owl that sits on next doors air conditioning unit he's great ! And there is a tame dragonfly that will land on you in the pool ( he doesn't sting or bite)

On 28th June 2011 Lian Trowers wrote:
Villa Zakkum
We had a brilliant time in this lovely villa, one of the nicest we have stayed in. Very well laid out and equipped, with a beautiful garden and great pool area. Debbie was fantastic and made us so welcome. One of the most relaxing holidays we have had and we would very much like to come back to this beautiful part of Turkey and to Villa Zakkum itself again one day. Thank you!



Lian, Pete, Trish and Daniel

June 2011

On 18th June 2011 Lesley wrote:
Villa Oleander was the perfect retreat for our recent holiday. Dalyan town is overflowing with restaurants so spoilt for choice. Rowing boat over to Kaunos is fun and the ancient site is worth the long walk! A wonderful holiday in a fabulous setting. Thanks to Debbie and Bilal for their care and attention and helpful advice on places to go.

On 24th May 2011 Zoe Jones wrote:
We returned from our stay in Villa Oleander in the early hours of this morning with very heavy hearts. You see we all had such an amazing stay that none of us wanted to come home (except Katie who missed her dolls house!). I'll be honest, when the taxi left us at the villa I wondered what we'd done, as it felt like we'd been dropped off in the middle on no where, but as anyone who's stayed here will tell you, this quickly becomes part of this villa's amazing charm. It sits on a corner plot in its own piece of paradise, surrounded by peaceful mountain views and citrus trees, not to mention the daily sightings of stalks. On our first night Debbie was there to greet us and kindly took us on a quick tour of Dalyan and to the local mini market to pick up supplies. She visited again the following day to see that we were ok and to offer loads of helpful tips and advice. Throughout our stay she was on hand to answer any questions and help with the odd prob (e.g. tempremental turkish electricity supplies). Bilal visited us most days to maintain the pool and other bits and bobs and soon became a firm friend too, alas without the famous Ugly (we prefer Snuggly too Debbie) and Freddie until the last day of our stay. The villa was just what we needed being a party of 6, with ages ranging from 60+ down to 2. It's very modern and we had everything we needed and found the villa to be very clean and well maintained. The pool was a god send on the hottest days of our stay and our eldest daughter (4) would have been in there all day if we'd let her. Our trips on the Dolmus (local bus service) became second nature, as did the public water taxi to Turtle Beach. We found all of the locals to be very friendly and the girls especially enjoyed waving and shouting "Merhaba" to the passing farm workers and locals. We also took max advantage of the fresh bread delivery each morning. All the food we sampled locally was gorgeous and they catered for small children in all of the resturants, so nothing to worry about if you're travelling with little ones. All in all I can honestly say that we have found our little piece of turkish delight (sorry) and we are already putting plans in place to visit again, one way or another (!!!) Huge thanks once again to Debbie and Bilal for a wonderful villa, experience and holiday, best wishes Mark, Zoe, Katie & Grace (PS Bilal - Peter's walking stick made it to the UK in one piece).

On 6th May 2011 Mr Rashid wrote:
Great Holiday.

We booked Oleander Villa for 4 nights. It was a great place to stay with great views all around. Pool was always clean and service from Bilal and Debbie was excellent.

Will definetly return next year

On 11th November 2010 lucy james gracie and Flo wrote:
We had an absolutely lovely stay at Oleander in May. Our children of 4 and 2 years adored it and the villa was a model of good value and comfort. The best thing was probably the sense of rural peace and quiet in the surrounds. Looking out of the window and not having anything to blight the lovely view was amazing. Debbie and Bilal couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. Overall a fab holiday thoroughly reccommended.

On 9th October 2010 Margaret and Kelly wrote:
Best holiday EVER!
Idyllic and peaceful location, waking up to mountain views and birdsong every morning. Cheap and regular buses go into Dalyan and Ortaca. Ortaca market a must see but be prepared for very little English to be spoken as Ortaca is mainly untouched by tourism.
Did lots of boat trips (shop around for best deals). The 12 Island boat trip with Kardac is a must on a real sailing boat with an attentive crew and excellent lunch on board. We saw plenty of wildlife during our stay and could go on for hours about it. Suffice to say superb scenery, excellent restaurants, friendly locals and the villa was exactly as described and spotlessly clean. Debbie and Balil are the perfect hosts, available when needed but not intrusive. Debbie took us on a tour of Dalyan to familiarise ourselves on our first night and to get an idea of where everything is. If you want peace and relaxation interspersed with good food and great people if desired Villa Oleander is the place for you! Thank you so so much Debbie and Balil, looking forward to seeing you next year!