Travel Europe

The region of Antalya, Turkey is famous for having some of the most beautiful beaches of the Mediterranean. The best known hotels are situated along the coast above the Konyaalti and Lara beaches, and indeed spread along the coast in both directions far beyond the city of Antalya, Turkey itself.

There are hotels for various budgets and with various offers from Bed and Breakfast to Ultra-All-Inclusive. If you want to pamper yourself with an indulgent high quality holiday but don’t want to go bankrupt, try an “ultra- or all-inclusive” five star hotel where you will pay from 40 - 70 euro per person/night depending on the season. If you go a bit off season you will definitely get much more value than you paid for though there is no guarantee you will find sunny weather. See the bottom of this page for information on the best time to go to Antalya, Turkey.

In order to test the quality of the Antalya hotels, we selected two Antalya hotels that were highly rated in Trip Advisor: Miracle Resort Hotel and Delphin Palace Hotel. We spent a week at each and offer this review.

Our two hotels were located about 15 minutes ride from the airport and about 30 minutes from the center of Antalya. They were only about 1km apart, within walking distance of each other on a long street lined with luxury hotels of various levels and quality. For example, from our balcony at the Miracle Resort Hotel we could look into the grounds of the Titanic Hotel next door. While there were shopping centers near the hotels, the local area did not appear to have much to offer. Except for an excursion to Antalya, we spent most of our time in the hotels. Hotel security was tight. We tried to organize a visit from a guest at one of the hotels, and after much discussion, we were reluctantly granted permission.

Interior: We were informed that the name of the hotel “Miracle” comes from the fact that the building looks like spread wings of an Angel. The interior is in calm pastel colours. We enjoyed the spacious lobby bar with a terrace offering a beautiful view of the hotel grounds and the sea in the distance. This was especially charming at sunset and night.

Room: Our room was spacious though rather simply furnished. We did not feel claustrophobic as in many other hotels. The room had a sitting area with an arm chair and table and the bed was really a KING-size bed. Most rooms have a ‘side view’ of the sea. This means that you do not have a view of the sea from your bed, but you can view it from the balcony. The room was regularly cleaned and the minibar in the room was stocked with two or three types of soft drinks, but no food.

Service: We would give 3 or 4 stars for the service. The staff was usually friendly however not always very attentive. It felt like they were often short of help and over their capacity. Ordered drinks often did not arrive or if they did, only after very long waits. During mealtimes, we usually found it easier to go to the bar and bring drinks to the table ourselves.

Food: Excellent – Even if you the highest taste preferences you will probably enjoy the food at Miracle Resort Hotel.
-Vegetarian: Excellent selection of various types vegetarian foods. We enjoyed cooked vegetarian dishes, usually 4-5 selections, and a good selection of salads plus fresh vegetables plus various joguhrt based dips.
-Meats: At least 4-5 plates at the buffet plus one station where freshly grilled meats were often available.
-Fruit: Not a large selection, usually only oranges and apples were available in May.
-Pastries: Usually a very good selection of Turkish, honey soaked delights and a nice selection of other cakes and pastries. Also check out a Turkish pie and pastry baking station where very sweet and friendly Turkish ladies are baking crispy, honey sweet Turkish specialties during the day.
In the course of the whole day snacks were served at various times.

Drinks and Cocktails: Though not a big choice of branded alcoholic beverages, wine and beer during meal times were good quality. Wooden barrels of white and red wine were set up at dinner and lunch time if you prefer self-service otherwise you can order it from a waiter and hope it arrives while you are still eating. However don’t expect that you can order semi-sweet or sweet wine – only dry wine is readily available. But try checking out the taste from different barrels – one usually would be sweeter than the other. Beer on tap is simply delicious.

Soft Drinks: One of the major surprises was the absence of free fresh juice at breakfast time. Oddly, only horrible tasting nectar was offered, which we could not drink at all. This limited our breakfast selection to tea, coffee and water. Freshly squeezed orange juice was offered for 2 euro per glass! Is this usual at an all inclusive?

Bars and Restaurants:
-Buffet Dining: At lunch and dinner time the atmosphere in the dining hall was very chaotic due to the crowds of people and the children running, playing and shouting in the dining areas. The inside buffet area has no atmosphere at all and has more a feel of a canteen. This motivates most people to seek a table outside when the weather is nice. However, the outside dining area does not have enough capacity for the large number of guests competing for tables. We often had to walk around for a very long time hunting for a table or give up and come back later. This cramped and chaotic environment often made it difficult to enjoy the otherwise delicious food.
-A la Carte Restaurants: There were 5 a la carte restaurants to select from (fish, Italian, French, Turkish, etc). Dinner at the a la carte restaurants is for additional price of 10 Euro and guests can book only once per week. While the quality of food was excellent, the service quality was not impressive. Our waitress spoke only Turkish and had a very difficult time understanding our wishes. However, the atmosphere was relaxing, food was of amazing quality and our meal was a nice change of pace from the chaos at the buffet.

Entertainment: The entertainment team was very international and hardworking. However, we have enjoyed hotel entertainment more on other holidays. This team was just ok. Evening shows though were always very enjoyable irrespective if the performers were professional Turkish dancing group or Miracle Resort Hotel Entertainment team.

Pool: The main swimming pool is very big and beautiful. But it does not have enough capacity to accommodate everyone who wishes to sunbathe by the pool. Most sunchairs and umbrellas at the pool were reserved by 7:30 am, which left the only option at the beach, where sunbeds were available until mid-day. The pool area was also not very relaxing due to very loud and almost constant commotion from the animation team.

Beach: The beach is nice, clean and well maintained and generally calm. There is a bar located just behind the beach within easy walking distance.

Conclusion: The Miracle Resort Hotel’s strongest points were its excellent food selection, large guest rooms and attractive lobby. However, the resources available to guests (staff, dining tables, sunbeds, etc) were in very short supply. The crowded environment combined with the large number of children playing everywhere caused a great deal of chaos and stress. This is a hotel to go to for fun, but not for relaxation.

Interior: The interior is designed in dark red and gold colours. There are a lot of palace like decorations: metal brass lamps, sophisticated wooden crafted sofas in corridors, leopard skin upholstered chairs in the bar. The lobby was truly impressive though some might consider it kitsch.

Room: Our room was smaller than that of the Miracle Resort Hotel, with a standard double bed plus an additional single bed decorated in the same rich red and gold colours as the lobby with nice wooden furniture. The room was regularly cleaned and the mini bar in the room stocked with soft drinks, beer and snack food (nuts and chocolate bars). Free room service was offered from 2am until 8am, however, as we ate so much during the day, we never had the opportunity to test it.

Service: Very high level of service. The staff at lunch/dinner was very attentive, friendly and fast to bring the ordered drinks. At the pool waiters would go by with carts and deliver cold refreshing soft drinks, beer and wine. Just prior to dinner we often would see the waiting staff lined up listening to presentations from their managers. Whatever was said, it worked. This was a professionally trained crew and their high quality of service helped to make our stay very enjoyable.

Food: Generally very good. Those who like big quantities and varieties of meat dishes will enjoy it most. Those who prefer vegetarian and marine food may notice that often some dishes were not fresh.
-Vegetarian: Not a big selection of cooked vegetarian dishes.
-Meats: An excellent selection of at least four choices at the buffet plus up to 3-4 stations where chefs cook fresh meats.
-Fruit: Good choice of fruit included oranges, watermelon, strawberries with whipped cream.
-Dessert: Excellent quality desert. Amazing choice of cakes and Turkish sweets.

Bars and Restaurants:
-Bars: Lobby Bar and Secret Garden serve branded alcoholic beverages, Moonlight Bar located on a terrace about 20 meters into the sea has a spectacular feel to it and a wonderful view. There are also pool bars, bar in the patisserie and at a Disco.
-A la Carte Restaurants: You can reserve your dinner at any of seven a la carte restaurants from 10 to 11 every morning. You don’t have to pay for your a la carte dinner and you can visit a different restaurant every night if you like. However be warned: portions at the a la carte restaurants tend to be quite small and the quality is not impressive. We tried the sushi and french restaurants and after that, preferred to eat our meals in the buffet.

Buffet Dining: At meal time the atmosphere at the restaurant was very nice and usually relaxing. In the evenings there was live music outdoors. The inside dining area is nicely decorated, elegant and air conditioned so, many people prefer to sit inside. This meant that there was never a problem for us to find a nice table. Often guests were helped to find a seat by a waiter and are promptly served a drink. While there were often children playing in the dining areas during the first hour that meals were served, this rarely caused much stress or chaos.
In the afternoon if you feel hungry you can go to a patisserie where you can find various sorts of baked pastry, rolls, cookies and Turkish pies. The patisserie is located in a grass roof covered restaurant with a bar where you can order a drink. However, breakfast and other pastries (croissants, buns, layered pies, rolls etc.) were of a very average quality and dull compared to the Miracle Resort Hotel.

Drinks and Cocktails: A good choice of branded alcohol drinks in the lobby bar. Delicious cocktails. Wine and beer at lunch/dinner are good quality. You can also request sweet or dry wine.

Soft Drinks: Fresh orange juice is served in the morning. During the day you can enjoy a very high quality juice from a carton, a wide variety of soft drinks and even smoothies.

Entertainment: We were even less impressed with the entertainment team from the Delphin Palace than the Miracle Resort Hotel. However after the entertainment show there was always live music when different musicians performed in the lobby bar and outside of the amphitheater. During our stay the entertainment program included performances by an excellent team of dancers from the Caucasus and a team of Russian dancers. The guest entertainers were excellent and much more entertaining than the animation team on staff.

Pool: There are 3 pools and a beach. The main pool is large and nice but sometimes a bit loud. Since the children’s pool is so well developed, with little water slides next to bigger water slides it attracts families with kids of all ages. We found the ‘Relax pool’ to be a haven which offered peace and calm and usually an adult, well behaved, crowd. You do not have to reserve sunbeds in advance unless you want something special such as a hut-like sunbed with a mattress and curtains or even hammocks. Otherwise, there were always enough sunbeds for everyone.

Conclusion: The main strengths of the Delphin Palace are its well-trained and friendly waiters and its luxurious and relaxing facilities. This is truly a five star hotel in terms of service and facilities and it offers almost everything you could want on a lazy, sun soaked holiday. The main weakness was that although the food was usually very good, we occasionally found that some of the dishes were not fresh and not nice tasting.