Tucked away in an idyllic pine-fringed bay on Turkey’s Aegean coast, Hillside Beach Club has been welcoming generations for 30 years, and has quietly built up a reputation to be family holiday heaven.
Just an hour from Dalaman Airport, the 330 room resort centres around a beautiful Blue Flag Beach covered in tiny white pebbles with shallow waves to splash in as well as active swim lanes.
The Vibe
The combination of this natural beauty and reliable sunny weather alongside West-End level entertainment, a ‘you need to see it to believe it’ buffet and exceptional staff ensures the hotel has an extremely high return guest rate (around 70%) ,which has even been studied at Harvard. With a similarly high staff loyalty rate, there’s a familiarity and cheerfulness to the hotel which adds to its bewitching charm. With countless endorphin boosting activities and wellness experiences for all ages, the real luxury at Hillside is how much fun the whole family are having.
The Rooms
The beautiful Kalemya bay is the focus here with every room neatly nestled into the hill to give a view of the azure Aegean (300 rooms have a full view, 30 have a partial one). There are only three categories of rooms: Double rooms, Double Superior Rooms with private terrace and Superior Family Rooms with private terrace. The latter is the best choice for small families with a spacious double bedroom, a separate children’s room which can sleep 3 snugly (or 2 comfortably) and a small bathroom all opening onto a shady terrace.
Decor is clean and simple, brightened by amenities including a luxurious sleep menu with lavender sleep masks, sleep sprays and 13 types of pillows . Given the warm climate, the rooms have been designed with indoor/outdoor living in mind and so can be a bit breezy in the cooler months. They only have showers, but baby bathtubs as well as sterilizers and baby monitors are available to hire. There are funicular lifts but you may want to ask for a more accessible room if you have a buggy – do note, the lower rooms can be a bit noisy until midnight.
The Entertainment
We didn’t think evening entertainment was our thing but the whole family loved the nightly shows which the hotel is famed for. Following dinner, the children would boogie at the kid’s 8.30pm disco then eagerly await the 9.30pm dance extravaganzas, with different themes each night. We loved their version of Grease, applauded at a camp Parisian production and sang our hearts out to a Tina Turner musical. The wonderful entertainment team also run the daily activity schedule and greet you around the resort (they’ll even clean your sunglasses!). As such, Hillside does have an upmarket holiday camp feel and there is always a party going on. Whether pub games during the day, live bands by the pool at twilight or guest DJs in the early hours, there is fun to be had – evening babysitters and baby monitors for the room are of course available!
The Food + Drink
There are buffets. Then there is the Hillside buffet. For breakfast, lunch and dinner, the restaurant is piled staggeringly high with every salad, dessert and Turkish delicacy you could imagine. It’s Roman in proportion, and presented like a Renaissance painting studded with dried fruits and nuts and dusted with green herbs. Feast on fresh fish grilled to order, slow-cooked kebabs and changing specialities from stone ovens such as Turkish pide or a perfect chocolate soufflé. Kids sprint to the ice cream parlour, and adults linger over the chocolaterie and baklava bar. Highlights included a hot panini stand at breakfast, ceviche and burrata salads whipped up as you watch and details such as a condiments fridge and olive oil bar.
It is all utterly delicious. Of course, fetching your own food can get exhausting on holiday, but there are a few other options. A small breakfast menu is served at beachside restaurant Pasha daily after 10am for the late risers. In the evening this turns into an adult’s only restaurant with Turkish haute-cuisine, and then a buzzy nightclub. At lunchtime, tuck into a BBQ at the beach bar followed by an Italian fine dining experience in their garden as the sun sets. THE spot for lunch though is the unassuming shack on Serenity beach. They only serve salmon or steak, hot off the Green Egg BBQ and it is just stunning in its simplicity. It’s adults only so you’ll have to dispatch the kids, but this could be considered a good thing! Each stay is on a full-board basis but there is food nearly always available, whether a fresh fruit stand by the pool or mini hot-dogs at sunset. Babies are well catered for with plenty of highchairs, sectioned baby plates for fussy eaters and even a baby purée bar. Pick your fruits and vegetables and they will purée it for you!
The Child’s Play
Our children didn’t just ask to go to ‘Kidside’, the hotel’s kid’s club for 4-10 year olds, they wouldn’t leave! What makes it so great? Firstly, there is no booking system, you can drop off and pick up anytime between 9am-6pm and older children can even come and go as they please with your prior permission. Parents and caregivers are also welcome to stay. Secondly, the space is fantastic. Set up like a mini beach club, there’s a big sandpit and 2 shallow swimming pools with rainbow water slides and lifeguards which kids can splash in safely without you there. The multilingual staff keep a watchful eye and care about the kids so much that they even blowdry their hair after swimming!
With games and a bustling activity schedule including candyfloss making and rehearsing for the famed kid’s show, children can easily spend all day very happily here – they can even stay for lunch followed by a movie. Little ones under 4 have their own Baby Park with a tiny pool, sandpit, swings and plenty of toys all under shade. They must be accompanied by an adult but you can also hire a babysitter to look after them at an extra charge. At the other end of the scale, teens will love hanging at the Activity Centre. There’s a hot tub, games console and air-hockey table, and activities such as DJ lessons or a fashion design competition. It’s the perfect place for older kids to make friends and try something adventurous in a safe and supervised setting.
The To Do List
Let your day start with 8.30am yoga below the pine trees at Silent Beach followed by ginger tea and a shoulder rub. After that, the possibilities really are boundless with a jam-packed daily schedule offering hundreds of complimentary activities designed for all ages detailed on the Hillside app. Active types can take part in football or beach volleyball tournaments, spin and dance classes run by the entertainment team, racket sports at the tennis club followed by a round of archery or darts. There are both professional watersports and diving centres where kayaks and sailing boats can be taken out for free, or explore the coast at a more leisurely pace on a sunset Gulet cruise sipping champagne.
For something more mindful, families can sit together at the colourful Artside cafe and try tie-dye or paint fun ceramics to take home as a souvenir. Creativity is encouraged all around the resort, with art stations at both the adults-only Silent and Serenity Beaches where you can paint pebbles or colour in mandalas. The latter is only accessed by a 10-minute coastal walk along a nature trail, or by boat. With a stunning vista and sunbed cocktail service, it really is the perfect spot to unplug. For total tranquility, go that step further and book in time at the Sanda Nature Spa, hidden behind the beach in a forest glade with waterfalls and tropical flowers at your feet. The warm Balinese staff offer deeply restorative massages using acupressure and aromatherapy, as well as hot stones and even heated bamboo sticks. For something more native, the day spa at the centre of resort has a Turkish Bath and Hammam. Should you want to explore beyond the resort, there is a shuttle bus into the nearby port town of Fethiye or hop on an e-bike and ride into the hills.
All images: Hillside Beach Club
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