Hotel review: Sea Garden Beach Resort, Bodrum

Sea Garden Beach Resort review

AOL Travel reviews family resort Sea Garden Beach in Bodrum, Turkey

Written by: Katy Holland

Sea Garden Beach Resort

Date published: 12/07/2010

4 / 5 stars

It's like a scene from one of those holiday ads. I'm sitting in a little wooden beach bar right over the water, where I can dangle my toes in the sea while sipping a cocktail and watching the sun go down.

My 11-year-old son is busy having his first ever waterskiing lesson, and has just jetted past, spraying foam, grinning and waving as he goes. The elation we're both feeling is pretty unbeatable. Moments like this are what a Mark Warner holiday is all about. Fun activities, beautiful scenery and a laid-back atmosphere: these are the are all MW specialities, and its new Sea Garden Beach Resort has it all with knobs on.

This Turkish resort, less than an hour up the coast from Bodrum, offers pretty much everything a family could possibly want from a holiday in the sun. Parents can be pampered in the amazing spa. Kids can go to clubs or try pretty much 'every single watersport in the world' as my son put it. And you can play tennis, beach volleyball, table tennis, hire fun boats, chill on the private beach or swim in one of the two pools whenever the fancy takes you.

The beauty of the Sea Garden is just how self-contained it is. The four restaurants, accommodation, beaches, bars, kids' clubs, swimming pools, mini-village and watersports centre are all right there.

And somehow you can have all this and yet still feel an overwhelming sense of space and tranquility.

So what is it that makes the Sea Garden stand out from the crowd? From the moment you walk in, you know you're in good hands. The managers are friendly and helpful, the kids' clubs are exceptionally well run (children were divided up into groups of eight or so, each with their own dedicated carer) and the food and activities were fantastic.

The kids were reluctant to leave at the end of the kids' club day and I even started to miss them a bit. I just had to make do with sitting in that blissful little beach bar, watching the sea change colour.