Lavantali Konak- Taşev Otel ve Restoran

With a few tweaks, this place could be so much better. Absolutely gorgeous restored stone house right by the sea, with its own pier and pool and parking, and the pictures are pretty true to life. All of that is great. Note that it is surrounded by a residential neighborhood; no restaurants, pubs or markets nearby, other than the hotel’s own restaurant - which is pretty good, but read on. It is 2-3 km from the center of the town Sigacik, so you end up having to drive a lot; something to keep in mind. It could be inconvenient if you don't have a car. There is good A/C and mini fridge in eclectically decorated rooms that are a good size, some of which have great sea views. Location is great during the week if you are looking for peace and quiet. Unobtrusive soft music in the background and you can hear the waves; all good. However on weekends there is live music until midnight and you can hear it from any room. If there is a wedding, music is super loud and thumping, and you can hear guest noise until well past 1am. That was a big negative and we wish we had been told that there was to be a wedding as this is a very small hotel of 8 rooms. They probably should have insisted that the wedding party take up all the rooms, as it becomes awkward and uncomfortable to be surrounded by a wedding party and guests and be the only people who have nothing to do with it, and of course staff is running around trying to make sure the wedding is taken care of. Service is ok; but the place feels somewhat understaffed and undermanaged. It takes days for tables and chairs to be reordered after an event on the lawn, as an example. Also, staff rarely ask if you want to order drinks by the pool or while at the cafe tables, which is surprising as this would be an easy way to generate revenue, besides being convenient for the guests. Servers and other staff are nice and friendly when approached, but do not seem incentivized to be more proactive. The pier is nice to have, but this part of the coast does not have sand, or anything much to see underwater, so in practice almost no one uses the pier. There are a lot of rocks, pieces of old concrete, and sea urchins too so if you want to go in, bring water shoes. The saltwater pool is where it's at. It's a decent size but if there are families with younger kids, they tend to take up the whole pool splashing and jumping. Not something that the hotel can do anything about, of course. I did love the fact that there were enough umbrellas/shade and loungers by the pool such that we didn't have to wake up early to go reserve one, which is something you have to do at bigger resorts and which I absolutely dislike. It was a big reason in us looking for a smaller property, in fact. As for the restaurant, you have to make reservations for weekend dinners; somehow they don’t have enough food to serve if you didn’t make a reservation even as a hotel guest. It didn't make sense to us that a restaurant wouldn’t have enough of the basics like

The pictures do not capture the full beauty and uniqueness of the location. The hotel is perfectly situated on a small point directly on the waterfront so there are gorgeous ocean views on three sides which can be enjoyed from the dining and pool areas. It is a peaceful and tranquil location. Also the restaurant has an excellent chef. All the meals we had there were outstanding. The best food in 5 weeks of travelling in Turkey .