Where to stay with kids in Turkey

Family hotel picks in Turkey

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  Belek / Kadriye€€€Higher-end

  Antalya — large all-inclusive resorts at Belek

  This stretch holds the densest concentration of very large family resorts on the coast, most with their own waterpark, a kids' club running to a timetable and several restaurants inside the gate — which is the entire point when the plan is a week that needs no decisions made.

  • On-site waterparks and separate children's pools
  • Kids' clubs with organised daily programmes
  • Sandy beach backed by pine forest
  • All-inclusive board covering meals and most drinks
  • Around 40 minutes from Antalya airport

  Fitting a family in

  Family rooms sleeping four are standard and two-room family suites are widely available; interconnecting rooms are common at the larger properties.

  Watch out. There is essentially nothing outside the hotel gates, so a week here is a week inside one resort. Waterslides carry height minimums that can exclude younger children from the headline attraction, and the properties are large enough that the walk from a far room to the beach is a real one.

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• 

  Lara / Kundu€€Mid-range

  Antalya — all-inclusive resorts on the Lara strip

  The shortest transfer on the coast, at twenty to thirty minutes, on a long sandy beach — which with small children after an early flight is worth more than any single facility. The city, the aquarium and the waterfalls are a short drive rather than an excursion.

  • 20–30 minutes from Antalya airport
  • Long sandy beach with resort sun-bed sections
  • Waterparks and kids' clubs at the larger hotels
  • Close enough to the city for a half-day out

  Fitting a family in

  Family rooms sleeping four are the norm, and several of the larger themed hotels also offer two-bedroom suites.

  Watch out. The strip lies under the approach to Antalya airport, so aircraft noise is part of the deal, and the beach shelves more steeply here than at Belek. Some of the themed properties are enormous, with long internal walks to the sea.

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• 

  Side / Çolaklı / Kızılağa瀀Mid-range

  Antalya — family hotels and apartments around Side

  The one part of the coast where a resort beach and a small ancient town sit side by side, so the evening can be a walk through a Roman gate to a harbour instead of another night inside the hotel.

  • Ancient site, temple and harbour walkable from the old town
  • Resort beaches with shallow entry east of the ruins
  • All-inclusive hotels and self-catering apartments side by side
  • Restaurants and shops outside the hotel gate

  Fitting a family in

  Family rooms sleeping four at the resorts, and two-bedroom apartments around a shared pool in the villages behind the beach.

  Watch out. It is an hour or more from Antalya airport, which is a long transfer with tired children, and Side's old town is dense with day-trippers and market stalls in the evening. Much of the strip closes down outside the summer season.

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• 

  Sultanahmet / Cankurtaran€€Mid-range

  Istanbul — apartments and small hotels in Sultanahmet

  With children in a city this large, being able to walk back to the room in fifteen minutes from any of the main sights is worth more than anything else a district can offer, and restored townhouses here let four sleep in one room or one flat.

  • Walk to Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapı and the cistern
  • T1 tram through the district to the bazaar and the ferry piers
  • Rooftop breakfast terraces overlooking the domes
  • Quiet streets once the day-trippers have left

  Fitting a family in

  Family rooms sleeping four are common in restored townhouse hotels, and two-bedroom apartments are available a few streets back towards Kumkapı.

  Watch out. Restored houses frequently have steep, narrow staircases and no lift, the district retains little ordinary life or shopping, restaurants nearest the sights are priced for visitors, and several mosques call to prayer from before dawn.

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• 

  Beşiktaş / Ortaköy€€Mid-range

  Istanbul — hotels and flats by the Beşiktaş piers

  A neighbourhood that still works as a neighbourhood: ferries from the door to both shores and to the old city, a produce market, waterfront parks to run in, and food that is not aimed at visitors.

  • Ferry piers within walking distance
  • Waterfront parks and promenade
  • Produce market and everyday restaurants
  • Tram and Marmaray links to the historic core

  Fitting a family in

  Apartment rentals sleeping four to five are plentiful; hotel family rooms are scarcer here than in Sultanahmet.

  Watch out. The streets climb steeply away from the water, the area around the market stays noisy late, and every trip to the historic sights is a ferry or a tram ride rather than a walk.

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• 

  Kadıköy / Moda€Budget

  Istanbul — apartments on the Asian side

  Considerably cheaper than the European shore for the same floor space, flat along the seafront, and the daily commute to the sights is a twenty-minute ferry crossing that children treat as an outing in itself.

  • Two-bedroom flats well below European-side prices
  • Flat shore promenade and parks at Moda
  • Ferries to Eminönü, Karaköy and Beşiktaş
  • Food market and ordinary restaurants on the doorstep

  Fitting a family in

  Two-bedroom flats sleeping four to five are the standard rental here, usually in residential blocks with a lift.

  Watch out. Every sightseeing day begins and ends with a ferry, sailings stop in the evening, and the alternative after that is a long taxi around through traffic. Almost none of the historic core is on this side.

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• 

  Göreme€€Mid-range

  Cappadocia — cave rooms in and around Göreme

  The rock-cut room is the reason to stay in this region rather than pass through it, and Göreme puts the open-air museum, the minibus stop, the restaurants and two valley trailheads within a walk of the door.

  • Rooms cut into the rock, cool without air conditioning
  • Terraces facing the dawn balloon launch
  • Walking distance to the museum, restaurants and trailheads
  • Breakfast terraces over the valleys

  Fitting a family in

  Family suites formed of two connected chambers are widely available; a genuine two-bedroom cave unit with its own door is scarcer and goes early.

  Watch out. Cave rooms are dark and many have no window at all. Steps between levels, uneven floors and hillside properties where bags are carried up by hand are all normal, so a ground-level room is worth requesting with a toddler or a pushchair. Göreme is also the busiest village in the region.

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• 

  Ürgüp€€Mid-range

  Cappadocia — larger hotels in Ürgüp

  Ürgüp is a functioning town rather than a tourist village, which buys bigger rooms, a pool, shops and restaurants that are not a hotel terrace — the difference between two comfortable nights and two picturesque ones.

  • Pools, which are rare in the cave hotels
  • Shops, restaurants and a pharmacy outside the hotel
  • On the Ürgüp–Göreme–Avanos minibus route
  • Larger and more conventional room layouts

  Fitting a family in

  Family rooms and suites sleeping four are standard, and many properties combine a conventional wing with a handful of cave rooms.

  Watch out. It is around twenty minutes from Göreme, so tour and balloon pickups come earlier and the valley trailheads need a car or a taxi. The town is built on a slope, and the walk back uphill after dinner is a real climb.

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• 

  Ölüdeniz / Belcekız€€Mid-range

  Fethiye — low-rise hotels a walk from the lagoon

  Being able to walk to still, shallow water and back to a pool is the whole case for this area with young children, and the jetty for the valley and bay boats is at the same end of the beach.

  • Walk to the lagoon and the open Belcekız beach
  • Pools, which matter once the shingle is too hot
  • Boat jetty for Butterfly Valley and the bays
  • Restaurants and shops on foot

  Fitting a family in

  Family rooms sleeping four are standard, and apartments with kitchenettes are common a street or two back from the front.

  Watch out. Every transfer and excursion begins by climbing a long series of steep hairpins out of the resort, which is hard on anyone prone to travel sickness. The shore is coarse shingle in stretches, the strip is very busy in July and August, and much of it shuts from November.

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• 

  Çalış / Foça€Budget

  Fethiye — apartments behind Çalış Beach

  Flat ground, a long promenade a pushchair can actually use, a water taxi into Fethiye instead of a drive, and self-catering prices well below Ölüdeniz.

  • Level ground and a continuous seafront promenade
  • Kitchens for breakfasts and early dinners
  • Water taxi across to Fethiye harbour
  • Dolmuş to Ölüdeniz for the lagoon

  Fitting a family in

  One- and two-bedroom apartments around a shared pool are the standard product, with family rooms at the small hotels along the front.

  Watch out. The beach is grey shingle rather than sand and the front catches the afternoon wind. Wetland behind the resort means mosquitoes on summer evenings, and the lagoon is a minibus ride away rather than a walk.

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