Eftalia Aytur Hotel

2 readers found this review helpful

Arrived at 00.15am on the 14th July to be informed that the hotel was full and that we did not have a room.When complaining to the reception staff we were told "Take a look around the hotel is full" we were sent to stay in a hotel which was situated on the same street. Well they called it a hotel and we can only describe it as a flee pit.
The Eftalia Aytur does not have sufficient provision of sunbeds at the pool area and the food left a lot to be desired. Who the hell wants sausage and chips for breakfast.
I would give this a wide birth and spend you hard earned cash on another hotel.

6 readers found this review helpful

Just returned early on Saturday morning from spending 2 weeks at the Eftalia Aytur hotel.
Often I wonder if people are staying in the same hotel as us and in the same country!
We found this hotel pleasently situated on the sea front about 800 metres from the town centre. (It told us this in the brochure details!) The beach was just across the road and was clean, and big! The hotel provided sunloungers and parasols for 4 lire for 2 people if you paid at hotel reception. (The cheapest for years!)
Upon arrival we were told that we had to pay for a fridge and safe in our room, again this we were told in the brochure!
The pool area appeared nice, although the beds appeared to be crowded but as we are beach people we did not use it
The hotel comprises 3 buildings around a courtyard. Our room was on the 2nd floor overlooking the courtyard and sea.
The room, as were all areas of the hotel, kept spotlessly clean and the linen changed every other day! The maid was only too pleased to help in anyway she could.
The breakfast buffet selection was extensive and good and because the hotel catered for many nationalities was quite international, no bacon but pork not that plentyful in a mainly muslim country!! eggs, cheeses, breads, juices, teas, coffee, frankferter sausages and various cold meats available. Freshly squeezed orange juice was available at 2 lire or 1 euro.
The buffet dinner was plentyful, usually one item available at the outside barbeque, fish, chicken, burger etc. and loads available inside, sometimes kebab type dishes, stews, cold meats, loads of salad items and a potato dish, the roast potatoes and wedges when available were nice, the mash potato a bit runny! The desert choice was excellent too, pastries,various other afters, pancakes etc. water melon etc.
The chef and head waiter run a tight ship and made sure the place was kept clean, prehaps the waiters were too efficient and eager to remove your dirty plates, but it was better that they did this than leave the place dirty. The restaurant area was a little holiday camp in layout! but the waiters and staff were extremely pleasent to us and helful and polite.
We were dissapointed that the advertised fitness centre proved to be a no go as most, if not all, of the machines did not work, but you could always walk a little along the prom to the outside exercise areas provided by the town, what a great amenity!
There was a card scheme where you could pay for your drinks or anything else using the card at meal times, at the bar or down the beach and we settled our bill daily to keep tabs on our spending! Drinks like wine or beer were competivally priced 1 x red wine and small beer for 10 lire (5 euros)
If you are looking for bacon with your eggs in the morning or sunday roast or fish and chips everyday - do not bother to go here as the menu is turkish and international as there were guests from a number of countries staying.
We have decided that we will return to this hotel next year as it offers good basic accomodation, is well situated, clean and tidy and good value for our money.

booked this as a honeymoon trip but also taking a child and unfortunately it was by far the worst holiday we'd ever been on!. It was so awful that we considered trying to come home after only 4 days into a 2 week trip. After reading a few reviews that said the other guests were mainly german and russian i was prepared to be "european" and spend time with other cultures, however.....we had no idea that the entire holiday was organised for the germans. We were outnumbered at least 50-1 which unfortunately is no exageration and it all got far too much when ALL evening entertainment was in german and not translated at all. The kids club was run by the germans who made no effort at all to let us join in and when i tried to take my daughter who by that point was climbing the walls with boredom they ignored us!.The food was almost entirely catered for europeans and was repetitive to the extreme. We managed to book some day trips with the thomas cook rep which we were glad off as welcomed any chance to leave the hotel but the trip to fire of anatolia show was a complete disaster and waste of 80pounds, with the so called included dinner being 5 chips,tiny dome of rice and 6 cubes of chicken kebab, drinks were extra!and my god they were extra!this ended with being dropped off at the main road at 1am (having to carry a sleeping child and myself being 6 months pregnant) and left to walk the 10 minutes to the hotel!.
The highlight of the holiday, after counting down the days until we could go home was when the airport transfer coach turned up 45 minutes late, driver had no idea who to pick up so had to wait for a fax with passenger names on which wasted more time, finally set off only to stop off at two more hotels for no apparent reason certainly not to pick any more people up!. Coach got back on the road much to everyones relief as panic had started to set in that we would miss the plane, driver wasnt at all bothered and confirmed this by stopping at a petrol station for a fag break!the coach was definately on it's last legs and making very odd noises so we were convinced it'd break down on a main road in the dark and we'd be stuck in Turkey which filled everyone with fear as we'd had enough but eventually made it to check in with only 10 minutes to spare until boarding (just enough time for a wee break)and that was it.I wish that the experience we had was a one off but unfortunately it seems from these reviews that these were not isolated incidents and Thomas cook have made no effort to sort out the problems, still happily sending poor unsuspecting families to their doom!
All in all, we felt the holiday was entirely miss-sold, a total waste of money and would not advise anyone to go there, especially with children and should be advertised as what it is-a full board hotel (certainly not all inclusive) and not suitable for english families.

1 reader found this review helpful

This modern block is in prime position for the beach but a fair hike into the town of Alanya taxi £4plus single local bus 50p . hotel is very clean but it could do with a freshen-up lick of paint to interior walls. There is a road running parrell to the esplanade and far more interesting with real Turkish cafes / resturants try it.Visitors from the British Isles are in the minority bedrooms are basic with the bucket system for used toilet tissue ( fine it works)the room TV is small making subtitles impossible to read and the only channel really is SkyworldNews everything else is in German/Dutch/Russian. beds are low chairs also low backed good showers however make a stay bearable. lifts do jam . Food is plentiful but repetitive in the extreme, little real meat a drink of freshly squeezed orange is £1, tea and coffee fruit juices in small cups is the only drink you will get for free in the morning no tea/coffee/water/minerals at dinner time you must buy. Somehow the cutlery disappears at meal times one spends ages hunting a set down meaning you meal cools.a large tv screen is wheeled out in the evenings facing the main road...for football or tennis and to attract passersby to come in and spend money. Not into sport..bring plenty of your chosen reading material. Daily papers are the previous days and can cost £2.50 or more The Sun The mail etc. Holiday reps do try and engender activity. to visit anywhere with a bit of history is a long trek away, shops every 10yrds sell shoes bags jewellry cheap trinkets and the shop staff still insist on hassling you to buy..it puts you off and feels like you are a shoplifter and not to be trusted...walk away is the best answer. don't buy anything unless the cost is displayed which is very unlikely. If you hire a car be prepared as the petrol there is 100% more than here is GB. Road skills dont exist speed limits are 50Kph in towns and 90kph elsewhere but never stuck to. entire families ride on a small moped yes Ma Da and perhaps 4 children obviously no insurance how a visitor would fare in an accident is anyones guess. Previous holidays in gumbet were fine Alanya is a no no.buyer beware.

1 reader found this review helpful

Where do I start. I booked this holiday as a surprise for my wife's 70th birthday. What a mistake! Holiday was a nightmare from start to finish. We were dropped off on a main road at 1am and told to walk into the holiday village. Our first thought was "what have we come to". We had to be moved 3 times before we were located a decent room. There are no lifts in any of the 3 floored apartment blocks, if you are on one of the outer block of apartments you will have a good 10 minute walk to the restaurant area.
Food was terrible - they do not cater for the British customer, all food was geared to the Germans, Russians, Europeans, etc. Same thing every day, no variety unless you liked pasta, chips, boiled eggs and bread. We found ourselves having to travel into Alanya for a few meals during our stay as we could no longer stomach any more of the rubbish we were served.
Entertainment was geared for the Europeans, all kids entertainment was in German so if you are British and travelling with children do not go here as they will not understand a word of what the reps are saying/singing! Only adult entertainment was a disco at 11pm which was no good at all for us wrinklies, even though the brochure states that there is a daily/nightly entertainment programme - what a joke!
The only good thing about this holiday was the lovely weather, the apartments were clean and the staff very helpful.
The best part of the holiday was our last day and the thought of going home!!
My advice is DO NOT go to this holiday village if it is offered to you by Thomas Cook, they would be totally irresponsible to send anyone to this resort.

3 readers found this review helpful

which was peanuts!! we thought we had a bargain but you should be pleased with a bargain, surely. We flew with TURQUAZ airline and it was a good flight but you only get offered beverages twice which was a killer on a 4 hour flight and the staff were quite rude. Take your own drinks on board if you fly with them. Waited for an hour in the airport AFTER we'd collected our luggage for the mini bus to start our transfer. The transfer was with Holiday Blue which is fine except that we stopped at a shop about 10 minutes away from the resort, where the driver had several cups of tea with his pals which can be a bit frustrating when you're so tired of travelling and just want to get settled. Seriously this was just a scam to get us to spend some money as all of his mates were there ready & waiting with the orange juicers ready!! Finally arrived at the resort after 14 hours of travelling, start to finish and we only live 30 mins for Birmingham airport!!!
The resort is in a very remote area and our immediate thoughts on seeing it were "we've dropped 1 here", got dropped at reception which is small but nice and got taken through a queue of people on the other side of reception, to our room. (I'll explain the queue in a minute). The room was lovely, clean, spacious and with plenty of storage but there wasn't a kettle which you might think is petty, but don't you get one in any hotel, be it a 3, 4 or 5 star? and trust me you need a drink when you wake up. Ok, you can have a bottle of water out of the fridge which is great if you like your water luke warm. You could have glass of fruit juice which is in the fridge which is great if you want to be charged for it.PLEASE READ THE HOTEL INFORMATION LEAFLET THOROUGHLY!!! One other bit about the lovely room, the ventilation in the bathroom was a grill in the wall that led straight through to the next apartments bathroom and there was a lovely bit of mould or fungus growing on the door! Dropped our bags and went for something to eat and drink in the main restaurant.
The range of food was great and we easily got a table for four. A waiter immediately came over and took our order of drinks and was very polite with it. The food and beer was decent, the restaurant clean and the waiters worked none stop. We then decided to go and have a drink at the bar before we went to bed. We had a look about and decided we didn't want to sit at the pool bar as it seemed very busy so we went to the main bar. HA!!! the queue in reception! this is the main bar. The main bar is in reception which is about 5 foot across with 1 fella serving & 1 getting the plastic cups & glasses cleaned, many a night we drank our beer from hot glasses that had come straight out of the dishwasher as they hadn't got enough to cater for everyone. 9 times out of 10 you get your beer in a plastic cup, which we worked out to being the equivalant to a 1/5 of a pint glass. To say the least this became extremely annoying within a very short space of time, if you wanted a half pint glass you had to ask and 9 times out of 10 you didn't get 1 because if they had 20 of them on site, that was it!
Next morning we went for breakfast and it was poor. If you're not adventurous enough to have frankfurters in peppar & tomato sauce with potatoes, or salad, cheese and cold meats, your choice is toast, bread rolls, croissants, pancakes, nuclear blasted boiled eggs or touched the frying pan for 2 seconds fried eggs. We are quite adventurous and will try new things but gave up on the breakfast pretty damn quick. We took a trip to Alanya on the dolmus which is a nice town but be prepared to be hassled to hell to go into shops & restaurants and be prepared to spend your money. I don't know about other parts of Turkey but they have adopted the euro which seems a bit strange seeing as they aren't in the euro. You're looking at paying about 2 quid a pint, we stayed in a bar for 2 hours, didn't drink excessively, had 3 burgers and chips and it cost us 50 quid. If you want to go out & about ( and my god we really wanted to) take plenty of spending money. Not the concept we have of all inclusive but there you go On the subject of the euro, it’s a bit strange that when my boyfriend tried to change 50 quid at the hotel for liras, they hadn’t got enough & offered him euros instead, how can they not change something into their own currency but they can into euros? It was only 50 quid!.
We spent our 1st full night at the main bar because thats really the only one that seemed most appealing believe it or not and it was pretty poor. We managed to get a wonky to the point of, you couldn't put your drink on it table right outside the reception doors which weren't great but a lot better than having to sit at the plastic tables & chairs on basically the car park which overlooked the main road. Seeing as the resort was full to capacity, needless to say there was nowhere near enough tables and chairs so they then gave you the choice of sitting in the overspill section which is amongst the shops. By the 2nd day we were grateful to get a space outside the reception doors as it seemed like you were in the "posh bit"! The cappucino was nice though. If we sat in the posh bit on a night 3 times we were lucky, we're not at all bothered by the fact that there are other nations that go on hoilday if would be downright pathetic to think that we brits should be the only nation on a resort but ARRRRGGGHHH! People have said that the majority of people there were German which is fine if they weren't so godamn rude!!! I'm really not just being judgmental, all of us are so friendly to anyone but when you get talked about & stared at & barged in front of, it gets on your nerves just a touch & when you don't want to kick off in a foreign country, nerves can become frayed & tensions can rise.If you're Briish and If you've got kids or teenagers with you you'll seriously need to keep them occupied at night else if you've got kids that can't sit still & with all the other niggles, you might not have a great family time. Playing cards was the thing, everyone was playing cards! even us! every night & day! it was exhaustive! take something to do if you want to be entertained & don't want to end up being arrested for killing one of the 3 or 4 hotel cats which were roaming around your legs whilst you eat! If you take a drink up to your room once you’re done at the so called bar, beware, if they catch you you’ll will have to pay a charge for this!
The next day we thought we'd try the beach, which you must take your own towels for ( & the pools) else they'll charge you for taking theirs. We crossed over the bridge which was over the main road and not in the best of conditions onto the beach. We tried the underpass on the way back, words fail me! It has a bar & eating area with the toilets at the back of them ( they stunk), beach chairs in rows under what looked like strips of tarpaulin & the bloke who had tried to sell us the turkish bath back at the hotel about 4 times by now, hassling us again. Because we don't like to be rude we'd politely tried to tell him no all these times which doesn't work, it just makes him carry on so you have to be firm from the start & tell him straight no if you don't want to pay 30 euros a piece for their lowest package. To get to the sea it's pebbly but then when & if you're brave enough to dip your toes in the water it's sandy under your feet.It's also dirty, the foam was an orangey colour & I nearly died when I saw a black wobbly thing on the edge which I thought was a jellyfish for some reason & wasn't pleasantly surprised when I realised it was a bin bag. Not the best but you have to put a brave face on it I tell ya else you could crack.
We braved it till dinnertime & tried the Osmanli restaurant which is right by the main pool again with plastic chairs & tables & was chuffed to bits that it was the kebab place. It was as good as our local chippy, which was great because we were all missing home, but none of us said it because you don't want to bring a downer on what was a pretty crap situation. We decided to try the pool after dinner but didn't go by the main pool because the entertainment team just wouldn't let up with trying to get people to play games and singing German kids songs over & over again, which please don't get me wrong, they're doing their job and trying hard but when you're getting more & more silently bugged by things, it can be the last thing you need. We went down to the pools at the other end & easily got 4 spare sunbeds together which was good. Had ice-cream which was nice & all in all it was the best time of the holiday down by that pool. You have to walk past Happy Land to get to that pool and we decided we’d go there later for a game of pool, so we popped in (there were’nt a queue for this I assure you) & asked if we could play pool, yes you can for 18 liras an hour! 10 quid an hour for a game of pool, we laughed just to cover up what could have been sobs!
We booked into the Italian restaurant which you can have 1 visit of for free. The Italian restaurant is the pool bar down by the quieter pool & this is advertised as 1 of the al-a-carte restaurants. Again, plastic tables & chairs & plastic beer cups. The food was good compared to what else they had, steak in sauce (cheese I think) pasta & chips (we’d got used to pasta & chips by now), desert which was 1 of the same as what they have at the main restaurant & melon, which is what is at the main restaurant morning, noon & night. We was chuffed to bits because of the steak!
Booked into the other al-a-carte restaurant for our last night & like a pillock I thought it was round the back somewhere in a nice quiet little section but my boyfriend knew better. It was the Osmali restaurant where we’d had our kebab & chips. Gobsmacked! Anyway the food was nice, mixed grill & the usual desert & melon!
We was told on the Wednesday night that it was Turkish night tomorrow & we were so excited because it would have been some entertainment of some form that we might just might enjoy. Don’t get your hopes up like we did because I can’t really remember if we missed something but sure we didn’t. The food in the main restaurant was exactly the same, they had cooked meats out which was bloody lovely, then the lights went out & we thought oooh here we go! The chefs walked through the restaurant holding fire sticks and a huge cake, there you go that’s your Turkish night over & done with! back to playing cards!
The staff do try hard & work long long hours & you could see the strain of how certain people treated them, showing. They don’t speak great English but try but when it comes to saft little things like the “do not jumb” sign on the bridge over the pool, you begin to wonder, is it really that hard not to get these little things right?
We really paid cheap for this holiday at just under 400 quid each & we did get what we paid for, but, we took our quote to all the travel agents in town & they quoted us twice as much, we thought we had a bargain & as cheap as we paid, we didn’t. I dread to think if we’d have paid twice as much, we most certainly would be in a Turkish jail by now. It has 5 stars on the hotel plaque, you’re joking, it’s 3 if that. I haven’t travelled much but my boyfriend has & says that he’s never been anywhere like this!
If you’re booked now & can’t do nothing about it take some advice, be very prepared, take money if you can, take stuff to do if you’ve got kids, especially teenagers, keep your cool as if you’re a bit temperamental, you could blow. Read the information leaflet thoroughly & be prepared for a long journey, we went to Egypt last year which is obviously further & got there in a lot less time than here. Speaking of which, we met a lovely English couple who had paid 800 quid for 2 weeks at this place, people paid that last year to go to the Hilton Sharks Bay in Egypt which is just paradise.
One last thing,make sure you know which terminal you are flyingback home from as we didn't & neither did our transfer driver (or he couldn't be bothered). We got to departures to find our flight wasn't on the board,needless to say we were a bit concerned, we just wanted to go home!! we had to get another taxi to terminal 2 which was a 2 minute drive away. When my boyfriend gave the taxi driver 20 liras to pay for it (as we had no change), he smiled his little head off & went to put it in his pocket! the meter said 7 lira 30 & we gave him 8 which he pulled a right face at & wouldn't get our cases out for us! Make sure you eat & drink before going to Antalya airport or take something with you. You could alternatively pay 5 quid for a cup of tea & 9 quid for a tube of pringles,but you can guess what we thought of that & suffered!
ENJOY!

3 readers found this review helpful

In September 2008 we had a two week stay at this hotel, on a half board basis. Every part of the hotel was spotlessly clean. The rooms were cleaned every day and the linen was changed every two days. The staff were very helpful and any problems were sorted out quickly. The food at breakfast and dinner, though slotted for our European cousins, couldn’t be faulted. There was always a wide variety of food, plenty of it, and well presented. There was no reason for anyone to go hungry. The hotel was away from the town, (just a short bus ride away), and away from the noisy clubs and cafes, so was quiet at night, the room was double glazed, so even any noise in the hotel was muted. The beach was just across the road from the hotel, so very easily reached. All in all a very pleasant time was had by both people in the party.
A highly recommended hotel and holiday.

1 reader found this review helpful

Overall out holiday faired ok. Starting on a positive note the pool and water slides were great fun, a big area to swim and slides added a little extra fun. I would say the hotel has seen, better days there are area's which need investment the sun unbrellas were in poor condition, some of tiles on the floor were broken needed replacement, just very minor things which add to the feeling that the place is not being well run and cared for.
The real down point for us was the whole dining experience, i enjoy going away to eat good food. In my opinion the food was poor, not much variety, but they were catering for large numbers. Also the lack of air conditioning in diningroom made for a very hot and somewhat disappointing experience.
The resort is more geared to Russian, Polish and Germans, not the English, you feel very in the minority. The bar staff struggle to understand our English even something as simple as ordering a drink.
The entertainment was very good, both for adults and children but more suited for children.
In summing up i felt for an all inclusive holiday, there were lots of extra not included, such as bingo entertainment, spa treatments, lockers and extra money to have room for longer period before flight (as were due to vacate room twelve hours before flight)
I would not return to resort as i felt it was not good value for money.

2 readers found this review helpful

It appears most of the reviews on here are for Eftalia village. We stayed at the Aytur Eftalia hotel on the beach road in Alanya. This holiday was a last minute booking for our honeymoon. My complaints which were followed up with Thomas Cook are as follows. 1. No rep travelled on coach from airport, we were just dumped on main ropad by driver who spoke no english. 2. We were on our honeymoon which hotel and reps were fully aware of. They gave us a twin room, they moved us eventually. 3. They stated that food was available between 1900 till 2100 so you would expect to be able to eat if you go at 2030. Wrong all the food had gone and they were making no more. 4. The room they moved us to was filthy, the bed had a broken leg and the double bed was against a headboard designed with light switches for 2 single beds (everytime you turn over the lights came on). 4. The transfer coach back to airport again no rep. When we asked to come home early they demanded £150 per person to transfer our flight and even wanted £20 each to use the transfer coach. We travelled back with First Choice fopr £43 per person (Excellent flight) and thomas cook offered us a £100 holiday voucher. Threatened to take it to arbitration and they upped offer to £275 cash. Good to see they did right thing in end. I WOULD NOT TRAVEL BACK TO THAT HOTEL EVER AND I ADVISE ANYONE THINKING OF GOING TO THINK VERY CAREFULLY - If it was not for Big Ben bar this honeymoon would have been a complete disaster.

4 readers found this review helpful

before i went on my holiday to eftalia village i read the reviews on here to see what people had previously thought of the resort and after reading them i was very concerned, however i had no reason to be.
for the price of the holiday i don't know what people are expecting. we had a party of 16 including 5 people under 16 and 5 people aged 16-19 and nobody had any complaints.
the rooms are lovely, nothing special, but always clean. the maids also leave water in your room every day which always helped.
the pool is big and just the right temperature, we stayed by the main pool instead of the slide pool as they didnt appear to be on very often but this didnt affect any of us.
the food is nothing to complain about, its certainly edible, just a bit repititive.
the beer from the pool bar was always nice and cold however the other drinks wernt quite as refreshing but there is a shop in the resort if you want a cold drink.
if you want to explore outside the resort the buses are cheap, however they do pack them full so make sure your wearing deodrant as you will end up holding on to the ceiling.
if you travel to konakli (the next town) you can visit a travel agent where you can arrange day trips if you fancy a change of scenery. we went to a water park and a boat trip, i highly recommend the boat trip, it was excellent.
the only thing i disliked was the entertainment as it was mainly aimed at germans and russians but even this didnt bother me too much.
for families with teenagers tell them there is a beach disco at half 11 every night which is worth going to if you want to watch the crazy germans and russians dance!
if you do go to the nearby towns konakli and alanya do prepare to haggle as they will tell you an unreasonable first price. also watch out if you are a young girl as they will not leave you until you are a fair few metres past their shop.
overall i had a lovely holiday at the eftalia village and if you want a tan its the place to go.