Polat Palandoken

We were at Polat Palandöken Hotel with our six-year-old daughter, Azra, and the GymyKids Winter Club made the trip especially easy for us. Gamze and her team were warm, energetic, and dedicated. The club ran all day and was engaging, educational, and very well organized. We knew Azra was cared for and happy, which gave us real peace of mind. She also learned to ski with surprising ease and confidence. The instructors were patient and professional, and made the slopes feel both safe and exciting for her. Staff and instructors communicated well in English, which helped a lot as an international family. The hotel has a beautiful interior and a welcoming alpine feel, with comfort and elegance throughout. We’d gladly recommend it and GymyKids to families looking for a winter holiday where children feel supported and included. Thank you for such a memorable stay.

You get direct access to great skiing, and the facilities are terrific, especially the gym. Adem was great, and his English was a real help since I don’t speak Turkish. This was the best ski experience I could ask for.

The staff were professional, friendly, and kind, and the quality of service was very high. Every detail made it easy to have a good time. Thanks to everyone at the hotel, I’ll definitely come back.

The restaurant staff were attentive and helpful, and the open buffet had plenty of options, though the food was only mediocre. A medium quality bottle of wine will set you back $100. The hotel has two free chairlifts, but they’re ancient enough to belong in a museum. The local ski piste is enough for a serious skier for half a day. Another old chairlift takes you to Ejder, where there are more pistes for ₺700 a day, which is on the cheap side. The hotel seems recently renovated with reasonably good taste, but it’s detached from the main Ejder skiing area. At 10 pm, the front desk gave us a very bad experience. Our room smelled of cigarette smoke. They said smoking wasn’t allowed, but people had smoked there anyway. It was small, and adding an extra bed for my six-year-old granddaughter made it cramped. I offered to pay the difference for a larger room, but they refused, saying bookings through travel agents couldn’t be upgraded and it wasn’t hotel management’s concern. After an unpleasant exchange, they reluctantly moved us to a “family room.” It was the same size, but didn’t smell of smoke and had a second bed instead of a couch, so at least we had some space to move around.