I did not see any significant disadvantages, the fact that the staff mostly does not speak Russian (apparently due to the fact that, according to my observation, about half of the vacationers are foreigners, mostly Germans) and the fact that the youngest son did not really like the mini-disco, I don't think there are any negatives that affect the quality of the rest. Firstly, the staff responds very quickly to any question, as polite and courteous as possible, we were surprised that on the third day of our stay in this hotel, when replenishing the bar, the staff already remembered our preferences and the replenishment was "selective".
The food is excellent: butter for breakfast and "melting in your mouth" beef for lunch and dinner, chicken and fish, like homemade, I have not seen or tried, yet in any hotel. Fruits, vegetables, watermelons, melons, sweets (by the way, baklava and honey are beyond praise), side dishes, soups, herbs, dried fruits are all very fresh and tasty. The staff in the restaurant himself comes to help with a table, although there were always places, queues (due to the coronavirus) at peak hours, you don’t notice, everyone smiles and serves very well and quickly, despite the staff’s predominant lack of knowledge of the Russian language. I can’t say anything about alcohol, we don’t drink
Cleaning (to which I have no questions, really conscientiously clean, change bed linen and towels) and replenish the bar every day.
The beach is sandy, the entrance to the sea is smooth, for us, given that the youngest son is 5 years old, this was especially important. The sea is very warm, the children did not climb out for hours, there were always free sun loungers, near the pool too.
The gym is small, but everything you need is there, there are few vacationers who train, so I didn’t sign up on the day of classes, it works from 8 00, a little inconvenient, but you adapt.
The territory is large and well-groomed, everywhere is clean and tidy.
The eldest son (and my wife and I too) really liked the water slides.
There are shops nearby, a 5-minute walk, everything you need (souvenirs, sweets, clothes, shoes, etc. ) is all there, prices, especially if you bargain, are affordable.
As a result: I recommend the hotel, my family and I really liked it, we had a rest in body and soul, indeed, so far it is objectively the best of those where we managed to visit. Once again, thanks to GOLCHON and SEVDA.
The hotel is located on the outskirts of Side, closer to Manavgat, which is both "+" and "-" at the same time: we were the first to be brought to the hotel, and the last to be taken on the tour, which saved a little time. At the same time, there is nothing to see in this part of the city, it is very far from the ancient city. There are minibuses, but they don’t have numbers and they go randomly, so Google won’t help you.
Nutrition:
Diverse, the choice is large: meat, fish, a bunch of salads, appetizers, desserts. Fish is served deliciously: whole trout or red fish, meat in different ways - the food is well cooked, but very dry dishes come across. But do not flatter yourself too much, tk. many of these dishes are "cotton": mashed potatoes from a disgusting powder, it is impossible to drink juices. Once they gave shrimp - they looked beautiful, but they tasted insipid garbage (it's hard to imagine how they could be so spoiled). There are about 10 fruits (mid-July), but most of them are greener than grass in taste. From the positive: 1 time (for 7 days of rest) you can visit either an Asian restaurant or a fish one. Registration there takes place on the day of the visit at 10 am, but if you come by 10 am, then there are no more places, so you need to come at least 30 minutes before the start. Were in Asian, in principle, we liked it, no complaints.
Entertainment:
For those who like to swell just right - drinks from the pool bar around the clock. The rest can play table tennis, swim in the pool (a strange entertainment if you go to the SEA). On the beach you can play volleyball and hack to death with the Turks or the Germans.
Service:
The staff does not speak English well, only one guy at the reception understands and speaks clearly. The rest understand Russian better than English.
Rooms:
Scruffy, everything you need is there, but definitely not luxury. They clean up the garbage, replenish the bar, make the bed, sort of vacuum (although this is not very noticeable, to be honest). We had a room with a sea view - in this regard, everything is clear.
Beach:
Everything is very good here: sand, "beachboy" constantly walks, which removes garbage, cleans sand beds, waters sand, paths. Lots of sunbeds, but line 1-2 is occupied by "towels" - people take sunbeds but don't come there. There are volleyball nets and balls. The sea is warm and stormy, more or less transparent in the morning, but in the afternoon it is already mulyak.
Excursions:
If you have read this far, then here is a little about Pegas touristik: everything that the travel agent says must be divided by 2 and added + 3-4 hours. Were on the Malibu yacht - there will be a strange animator who will pester you. We also went rafting - we liked it, but in both cases we were told that you would return to the hotel by 15:30, but in the end we arrived at 7 pm.
And now the most interesting thing about the return transfer:
In the evening, the day before departure, checkout records should appear in the folder at the reception. Our flight was at 7:50 in the morning, i. e. We were supposed to pick up around 3-4 am. But there was no record of our departure at 20:00, at the reception the staff froze and said that your tour operator "did not provide", at 21:00 they were not there either. Responsible "tour leader" from Pegas touristik - Valentina Kovalenko froze, read the message but did not answer. I had to call my tour operator "Let's go with us" Ekaterina to Kharkov - she solved this issue, for which many thanks to her. They sent a list of flights, but you yourself understand that this is unprofessional: there is no return transfer 8 hours before departure, this is some kind of kapets. There is no time to sleep, and I don’t really want to sleep after this, so this moment greatly spoiled the impression and I won’t mess with Pegasus anymore.
2. The next day, at our request, an extra bed for a child was delivered.
The room is clean and beautiful.
3. The staff is polite and friendly.
4. The cuisine is varied and delicious.
5. The pool is large and clean. The sea is warm, the event is comfortable for children, sunbeds in the morning were washed.
6. The hotel area is very large, so you need to walk a lot.
It was a pleasure for our family.
But we must take into account those who are for passive rest.
Very pleased with the hotel))))))
Sea, beach, rooms, food, service, excursions, reception. . .
The hotel is small but very well maintained, compact, a piece of heaven on earth.
Thank you all for an unforgettable vacation!
UNPLEASANT MOMENTS. The first moment - on the second or third day I came out of the sea on the beach, and floated past me... pieces of shit (sorry, but you can’t throw out the words from the song). There are many families with children in the hotel - maybe some child could not resist, or maybe a dog - during my stay I counted 6 dogs, one of them was without a collar. A trifle - but nice... I see this for the first time in my life, neither in the Crimea, nor in Bulgaria, nor in Egypt, I have not seen this anywhere. The second point - beach and hotel towels - they sometimes have bright brown spots, very noticeable, remind you know what : ) It seems not fatal, but somehow not aesthetically pleasing, you must agree. The third point - we went on an excursion, left at 5:50 - the hotel does not provide lunch packages. In the main restaurant, they leave cheese, raw vegetables, bread and some salads left over from dinner for the night, and you can make yourself tea (the coffee machine did not work) - so we refreshed ourselves a little, but they didn’t give us anything with us. Water must be taken care of in advance - we grabbed water from our mini-bar in the room, but we were told that we could ask at the reception. True, on the last day of our stay, when we were standing with bags on the street, a girl from the hotel gave us packed cookies and water for the journey. The fourth point is air conditioning. They explained to us that they turn on the air conditioning by the hour: from 13:00 to 15:00, from 17:00 to 19:00, and from 21:00 until the morning. In fact, we managed to turn on the air conditioner only a couple of times, the rest of the time (even during the indicated hours) it simply did not work : ) Maybe something was wrong - but we didn’t swear anymore, we just left the balcony door open at night. Oh, by the way - grab a fumigator, mosquitoes get it.
BEACH. The beach is spacious, there are always enough sunbeds, even closer to the sea. From the exit from the hotel to the beginning of the beach, about 70 m. The entry into the sea is magnificent - however, closer to the Alba Royal beach, large flat stones come across at the bottom. Shallow, just above the knee somewhere at a distance of 30 meters from the shore, further to the waist, and 10 meters to the buoys is already a normal depth. By the way, I was told that you can use the beaches of all three hotels of the Alba chain - nothing like that. On the first day I settled down on the territory of Alba Royal beach, which borders on Alba Queen beach - a beach boy immediately jumped up and politely offered to move to the territory allotted to Alba Queen. The beach is wide - the rows of sun loungers occupy about 30 meters, and from the nearest row to the water to the beginning of the water - about 20 m. The beaches of Alba Queen and Alba Royal are fenced in the sea with buoys, so it is absolutely safe to swim - no boat or scooter will run over. The sand is generally clean, but there are cigarette butts. Water washes garbage ashore - bottle caps, cigarette butts, bags, etc. , they are not removed during the day - as I understand it, this garbage is collected only in the evening. On the beach of each hotel there is a volleyball net, a beach-boy invites everyone to play volleyball from about 10:30 to 11:30 and from 16:00 to 17:00. There is also a WATER SPORT section, where you can ride a scooter and fly on a parachute for a fee. On the beach there are 2 changing cabins, fresh water showers, one tea and coffee machine (plastic cups nearby). The beach bar is located from the edge of the beach (from the last row of sun loungers) at a distance of about 40-50 m, no more (earlier reviews wrote 200 m - I think this is an exaggeration), you need to climb up the path. The beach bar has drinks and cakes. In the same place, in the beach bar and a toilet (go into the beach bar, to the left of the bar there is a passage, on the left side are the doors to the toilets).
SETTLEMENT. We arrived at the hotel at about 9:00 (the drive from the airport to the hotel is approximately 1 hour - 1 hour 20 minutes). We were told that the check-in after 12:00 and that we took a walk. At the same time, I got the impression that the Germans and Poles who arrived before 12:00 were settled immediately : ) I don’t know if this is considered “discrimination” or not, but technically the Turks are right, so we didn’t mind and waited as long as necessary. No bribes were given. At the reception there is a box with the inscription "tips", we put a tip there on the last day of departure. Maybe it was necessary to put it right after the settlement - I don’t know : ) One dollar was given to the employee who helped carry the bags to the reception desk, and to the one who reported to the room. We were waiting at the reception, and at 11:30 a man came up to us and said that our room was already ready.
RUSSIAN-SPEAKING STAFF. In the hotel, mostly employees speak German, at the reception a few people speak English, one person at the reception speaks pretty good Russian, and one young lady named Maria speaks Russian well - she is usually behind the counter to the left of the hotel entrance . In general, unlike the Egyptian hotel Dana Beach 5, where we visited, in the Turkish "Alba" the staff is adequate, unobtrusive, polite - no one was rude to us, no one looked from head to toe and no one stopped.
ROOM. As soon as we arrived, we asked for a room with a balcony. We were informed before check-in that our room would be "on the first floor". In English, as you know, “first floor” is the second floor, because the first one is “ground floor”, so we were calm. We were given room 2142, very close to the reception. When we entered, we found that the room... on the first floor : ) What they call a "balcony" is actually not really a balcony, but in fact a fenced terrace or a small verandah. But the structure looks like a balcony : ) We can't stand the first floor, so they immediately asked to move us - we were promised to do it the next day. Plus, it turned out that the balcony door does not close... There are no vents or a separate window. In general, we were disappointed, but in the morning we saw everything in a different light - our room overlooked a small garden - flowers, trees, grass, very romantic, the garden was surrounded by a low fence, behind which - the road. Cars sometimes passed along this road (mostly tourist buses) and people went to the beach from the neighboring Stone Palace hotel, it was quiet and very comfortable. No one saw us, because the plants in the garden were all closed. The next day they fixed the balcony door for us and, as we asked, they were going to move us. I asked what room they offer - it turned out to be on the 4th floor overlooking the pool... On reflection, we decided to stay in the old room, because it is very noisy in the pool area, and it is much nicer to see flowers and grass than sunbeds with vacationers. Our room was quite spacious, standard (the room, excluding the balcony and the bath, was approximately 4.5X3.5 m - two spacious beds, two bedside tables and an armchair were freely placed on one wall, not back to back - and even a distance of about 30 cm remained. In the room wall-mounted flat-screen TV, mini-bar (replenished free of charge every day with soft drinks), safe (paid - 3 lira or $ 2 per day). You must tell us that you want to use the safe immediately upon check-in. Balcony - approximately 3.5X1.5m The bathroom (bath, shower, toilet, sink, mirror, hairdryer, liquid soap, shampoo) is also not cramped. Our room was, as it were, in the same block with the neighboring room 2141 (at the same time, of course, each room has its own amenities) - first the entrance to the dressing room, then to my room. By the way, I looked out of the corner of my eye into room 2140 (separate, unpaired) - so it was much smaller than ours - only 2 beds and 1 bedside table fit on one wall. So we can say we were lucky : )
TERRITORY. The entire open-air area is actually just a pool. We had to walk right past the sunbeds. It was a little annoying at first, but then you got used to it. People walk along the palm alleys outside the hotel, along the paths that stretch between the beach and the hotels - it's very picturesque! True, mosquitoes gnaw at night - in my opinion, not far from the neighboring Alba Royale or a river or a swamp, frogs croaked quite distinctly : ) Near Alba Queen, neither a swamp nor a river was noticed. There is a spa in the hotel (hammam is free if you just “warm up”, if the procedures are all paid), billiards, bowling (for a fee), a lobby bar (free of charge), a pool bar (free of charge), a gym (free of charge). We didn't know about the rest.
FOOD. The food is great! I won’t list everything, but it’s simply unrealistic to visit this hotel and lose weight : ) If anyone is interested in fruits, there were a lot of them, both in the morning, afternoon and evening: strawberries, melons, apricots, watermelons, oranges, grapefruits, plums (hard green ), apples, and another interesting fruit, called something like “New World” (looks like a small orange apple, sometimes on a twig, inside 4 round bones, tastes very pleasant - not sour, not sweet). There are several “tip boxes” in the restaurant - separately for waiters and cooks, we left a tip a couple of times, the Turks were happy.
TOURS. Coral Travel offers to decide on excursions immediately, the next day after arrival, so take the money to meet with the guide. We chose a one-day excursion with the route Demre (the holy place where St. Nicholas was born) - Mirra - Kekovo - a boat trip with swimming in the sea. Cost - $ 75 per person, this amount included entrance fees and lunch. Duration - left the hotel at 5:50, arrived at 18:30. A small bus, there were 2 drivers who replaced each other and two guides - one Russian guide named Vera, and one Turkish Russian-speaking guide. In the morning there were 2 stops with a break of about 1 - 1.5 hours, both - near large supermarkets, where you could buy food and go to the toilet (toilets are free everywhere and relatively clean, which was very pleasing). On our return there were also 2 stops with toilets. The organization of the tour was excellent, the guide Vera is a very nice friendly girl, knowledgeable - she told a lot, answered any questions, in general it was very good and at a professional level.
If you have any questions - ask, I will answer. Have a nice holiday!
1. Numbers. The best. The best of the best on the 4th-5th floors (design, furnishings, laminate flooring). Plus fanatical housekeeping.
Cons: in the bathroom there is only liquid soap, central air conditioning (it does not work according to your desires, but from the possibilities of the hotel. We caught the following work intervals 14:30-15:00.21:00-? )
2. Location. Is not different. Approximately 250 meters from the sea.
3. Territory. Tiny. 2 buildings (4 buildings). Between the buildings there is a large pool with four slides, a bar, an amphitheater, a shallow pool up to half a knee. There is a court. Everywhere, where possible, planted with greenery. Along the descent to the sea (outside the hotel fence) about 100 m lawn.
4. Nutrition. Breakfasts are the best in variety. Paid fresh (orange, apple, carrot). Lunch and dinner are inferior in choice to more expensive hotels. Juices, tea, coffee - in vending machines. Beer, wine, cola are ordered from the waiters. They brought the order both after 20s and after 10 minutes.
5. Animation. Children's - as everywhere. Dads specially went to Zhenya - a local celebrity from the children's club (you can say the face of the hotel, as well as the figure and legs). In general, children are treated no worse than in Camellia. They did not live up to adult animation with a baby, but they heard well. (Amphitheater 50 meters from the loggia).
6. Beach. Great entrance to the sea for children. No pier, no toilet. And the bar is 150 meters away.
Outcome. The price / quality ratio is the best. Recommend for children from 9 years old.