Initial Thoughts:
Me and my partner booked this for a little Easter weekend getaway. Staying for 4 nights starting from 28th March.
We got there quite late, around 9:30pm, check in was very fast and we were quickly told about the meal times and the rest of the expected information. There was a bellhop there to take your bags to the room but we only traveled light so took our own bags up.
We were very happy to find out that every night they offer a late night buffet that runs from 11pm until 1am. This meant that even with the late arrival we were able to get some food.
We couldn’t believe the size of the resort. Admittedly this was our first time at a 5* and our first time in Turkey. But it genuinely dwarfed anything we had stayed in in the past. The size, the elegance, the amenities. Everything was just above and beyond.
The Room:
We stayed in room 3415. This was in the second building away from the main one so was a slightly longer walk to the restaurants/bars/beach etc. But this was welcome to us as it also meant we were further from the noise of the entertainment if we wanted an earlier night.
Even the buildings with the rooms felt fancy. Our building had even had indoor garden.
The room itself came with a very large super-king bed. A wardrobe. Dressing table. Safe. Balcony and a minibar that was refilled daily. It contained 2 beers, 2 soft drinks, 2 juices, 2 sparkling water and 2 still water.
The bathroom had a very large walk in shower and toilet with built in bidet.
Obviously we only used the room for sleeping and didn’t spend any time in there otherwise, but it was a very nice room. The bed was extremely comfortable and provided a lovely sleep.
Entertainment/Amenities:
Firstly I want to state that there were actual shows on each night, ranging from magic to acrobatics, but we didn’t find out about these until the last night at which point we were already relaxing outside with some live music and preparing for an early night for an early departure the following morning. So I can’t really comment on these, but other guests did tell us they felt very premium.
What I can comment on though is the rest, and of that there is A LOT! We don’t have children but there was a kids club that seemed to offer a diverse array of activities throughout the day.
There was a game centre which consisted of a pool hall, arcade and a full size 2 lane bowling alley, complete with score screens and ball return. The bowling cost around £8 for 2 people which I thought was a decent price.
There was also a console gaming corner which was a row of (I believe) 5 PlayStation consoles for the guests to play on. I personally witnessed a family all playing Fortnite together using all seperate consoles.
Now, the Pools. Oh my god. I have never seen so many pools in one hotel. I think it is advertised as having something like 6 pools but it was hard to count as some of them join together. But off the top of my head I know there was a decent sized pool and a kids pool with slides near the residential buildings. Then there was a very large pool that covered the top level of the outdoor area by the main building. And then 2 further decent sized pools on the level below as you head down to the beach which was attached to the hotel.
There was also a pretty large indoor pool which was in the same building as the Spa. The Spa was a sauna, steam bath and Turkish Hammam. My partner made use of all of these and said she had a lovely relaxing time. The indoor pool is heated slightly but still felt a little cold upon initial entry.
The beach was a bit of a let down though as the sea wasn’t as clean as I’d have hoped from pictures and the beach itself just didn’t seem up to the same standard as the hotel. There was also no way to have a walk along the seafront without walking on the sand. Which if you want an evening stroll sometimes you want to avoid getting sand everywhere.
But onto the part that was my favourite. The bars! There were numerous places to get a drink from. Not all of them were open due to the time of year but there were still loads!
In the main building there was a 24 hour bar. Which for someone who usually goes to Spain, absolutely blew my mind. I could literally have a cocktail at 4am if I wanted!
Then there was a bar by the largest of the pools outside, this was open from 10am until 5pm and offered all the same drinks as the main bar.
There was then another bar down at the actual beach. We didn’t use this one but when we checked it out it also seemed to offer the same wide selection of drinks.
We went on the All Inclusive package and were very happy with the selection of drinks on offer. There was a good choice of cocktails, all mixed freshly which was nice to see. Including a Bloody Mary which my partner made sure she had plenty of each day!
Also in the resort was a shop, souvenir shop, jewellers, bag shop, coffee shop and a hairdressers. I’m not sure if I’ve missed anything but basically there is ALOT.
Food:
Food is always the part of All Inclusive holidays that terrifies me and my partner. We are both vegan so as I’m sure you can imagine, we don’t go on holiday expecting to eat well. But if we want to book an actual vegan resort the prices are crazy.
But for the first time in 4 holidays, we were very impressed. I’ll go through it for each meal time, but just know I’ll mainly be referencing the vegan food. I’ll mention the allergen signs at the end of this section to avoid repeating myself.
Breakfast; this was easily the worst meal for us. They offered a huge selection of pastries and the usual fried breakfast and salads. I ended up having beans on toast with chips every day. And the baked beans were not good…but it did the job to fill us up and get us ready to get back out into the blazing sunshine.
Lunch; This is where things began to improve for us. Every day there was a good selection of dishes we could have, they had a decent amount of salad/pasta offerings. But they also offered some actual meals. I had a couple of different curries with rices, my partner tended to have more of a picky meal having a little bit of loads of dishes. But the big thing was we didn’t go hungry and I actually felt spoilt for choice. Obviously it was nothing compared to the extensive choice for everybody else but as a vegan you expect less choice.
Dinner; this was another meal that had loads of different choices for us. But the only negative I have is they didn’t seem to include us in the theme nights. There was one night that had sushi and fresh shellfish and none of it was vegan. It’s very normal to go to a sushi bar and there to be cucumber or avocado sushi at the very least. But unfortunately there was nothing for us. But again I was always able to put together a complete meal and left feeling full while also happy with the choices.
Midnight Buffet; this meal time was a smaller offering than the others but still have enough to help soak up the alcohol from the evening. There was plenty of bread, chips, salad and pasta to put together a little plate of picky bits.
The big thing that needs improving though is the allergen signage. I appreciate they are trying, and for the most part it was clear which dishes had egg,milk etc. but there were a few occasions when something was labelled with the Vegan sign, and even be called something like ‘chickpea curry’, and then upon inspection it actually contained meat. This happened several times throughout our trip and was a little worrying about how accurate the rest of the food was, but which a little common sense and poking around abit you can fairly easily work out what is safe to eat. At one point I was concerned about a dish and spoke to one of the chefs who was quick to help talk me through what it contained, this was very much appreciated.
The hotel also included a few restaurants that provide a sit down meal service but none of them had vegan options so I don’t want to comment on these. But we did hear good things from guests we had spoken to.
Surrounding Area:
I always try to include a section about the surrounding shops and attractions in my reviews, but to be honest we literally left the resort once.
There is a theme park nearby called The Land Of Legends. We went there one evening to witness the nighttime Light Show and Boat parade. Both of which were fantastic. It was only a 15 minute shuttle away and we got a package through Get Your Guide. But I will warn, after attending we realised it would have been cheaper to just get a taxi for around £10 each way, and entry into the show was actually free, despite multiple different adverts on Get Your Guide stating you were paying for entry.
But I will say even though we paid we weren’t too upset as it was worth every penny and without using the app we wouldn’t have even known there was such show.
Overview:
In summary we were extremely pleased with this hotel. From the moment we got there we were made to feel at home. Nothing was ever too much for the staff.
I can’t give them the full 5 stars, but that is primarily because the beach was disappointing and the false signage for allergens could cause some serious problems for people. But I was still impressed with the vegan options and if anyone you are travelling with is Vegan/Vegetarian then I’m confident they’ll be content with the food.
We are already discussing returning but maybe later in the year so that even more of it is open as some of the restaurants were closed so maybe they would have offered us better options.
This hotel has however, converted me from being a regular traveller to Spain.
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