Airtours.se offers Serhan Hotel as a charter hotel in Gümbet/Bodrum in Turkey. This means a chartered direct SAS flight from Arlanda, Stockholm, Sweden to Milas airport, which is quite convenient. Gümbet is one and a half hours transfer from the airport. When driving yourself it takes 45 minutes.
Pda stays here one week in July, paying approximately 475 EUR, including flight ticket to Airtours. He likes it so much that he extends his stay with one and a half week. I arrive after ten days, so we get one week at Serhan Hotel together. This payment is made directly to the hotel manager instead of Airtours. For 10 nights we pay 345 EUR, hotel only. I find that one week at this hotel is enough, but Pda simply loves it.
Our room is a small one at the top floor in one of the four buildings that surround the large swimming pool in the middle. The room is too small for two people, but we still manage to get along for one week. A longer stay than that, who can tell. The double bed is quite hard, yet surprisingly comfortable. There is enough storage, but one would wish for more hangers than two in the wardrobe. Also, where to put two large suitcases when unpacked? To be able to pass one another, you either need to step out on the balcony or in to the hallway.
The shower must be the tiniest I’ve ever seen. You can hardly close the glass door unless you take a deep breath. Once inside, it’s ok though. But there should be more than one cup in a double room and please could this one in yellowed plastic be replaced?
We have a lovely balcony overlooking the swimming pool with lush, colorful bougainvillea flowers, giving us shade during the day. The balcony has two old plastic chairs in different design and, strangely, enough no table, although there is room for one. Watch out for the wooden beams or you might get a headache!
A breakfast buffet is included, but could very much be improved. It consist of boiled eggs, on rare occasions even scrambled eggs, some warm dish such as sausages, tomatoes, often very tired ones, cucumber, green and black olives, two kinds of tasteless cheese, milk and chocolate puffs, sometimes a really sour yoghurt with lumps in it and white bread. And the usual small packets of jam, nutella and honey as well as a spreadable cheese. Oh, and huge, juicy chunks of tasty watermelon. The tea is quite good, but the orange ”juice” is watery and too sweet.
We live off of eggs, watermelon and bread and it keeps us full until lunchtime. The staff is quite inattentive and we need to ask for more cutlery, plates and glasses on quite a few occasions. Still nothing happens for minutes and we just feel like we are a nuisance to them, although it is part of their job to attend to the breakfast serving. They could do with an extra training in service mindedness.
The best feature of Serhan Hotel is definitely the swimming pool. It is large and warm and never too crowded. The sun chairs are comfortable and there is enough umbrellas to go around. The pool area has lovely palm trees and the buildings surrounding it are all beautifully decorated with bougainvillea and jasmine. It is quiet by the swimming pool, no loud music. We spend many hours relaxing here during the mornings and evenings.
We eat lunch and spend the afternoons at the beach. Serhan Hotel has a perfect location just one street up just minutes from the beach. Just walk left when leaving the hotel, cross the street after the taxi stand and to the right you’ll find a walk way to the beach. There are lots of mini markets, restaurants and bars close by. It’s a five minutes walk to the center of Gümbet and 200 meters to the nearest ATM.
If you are easily disturbed by noise, you should however consider living at a hotel further from the beach or the center of Gümbet, thus avoiding the loud music that starts around 11 pm and ends at 3 am. Gümbet is all about night clubbing and partying late. I wish someone had told me that before I went.
Still, despite the small room, the not so good breakfast, the grumpy breakfast staff and the sleepless nights due to the loud, thumping music, I cannot help but to like Serhan Hotel. It is a well kept budget hotel in a perfect location. The bus service to Bodrum, the dolmus, run by in the street outside the hotel, just wave at them to stop and pick you up. The hotel manager is very likeable and offers to help in any way possible. The house keeping service is good and one day we find our bed made in quite a romantic manner. Even our travel mascots were hugging each other! This is such a sweet gesture!
