Garden of Sun Hotel

1 reader found this review helpful

I for one loved the garden of sun hotel Altinkum Turkey staff amazing, food loads to choose from ( yes you are in turkey so there is gunna be turkish food but snack bar served burgers, chips, ice creams, pizzas and so on...) 4 pools big one, baby pool, and slide pool and inside pool cant find one thing wrong with it. If your one of those british people that go on holiday for more british stuff just go on holiday in england dont put turkey or hotel down just because your one of those people. hotel: 10/10 amazing and only 5 mins away from beach ( probs not even that) and only 5-10 mins away from the heart of altinkum. i have been going to altinkum for the last 10 years and still cant find anything worng with it miss it all the time but going back in summer hols. i would defo reckomend the holiday to anyone ( apart from the english that moan because they not in england getting english stuff ) love you garden of sun altinkum turkey cant wait to be back !!! xxxx

The hotel is amazing, close shops and things to do through out the day. The staff are very friendly and entertaining, especially Luke and Josh the bar men. They are very socialable and good entertainment. I would highly recomend this hotel it is absolutly amazing, and i would go back anyday. It was truely a holiday to remember.

2 readers found this review helpful

Loved every bit of our 11 night holiday at the garden of sun cant wait to go back. The food was great loads to choose from through out the day. The staff were all great, friendly and so helpful. Great entertainment for everyone of all ages. The rooms were great. Was close to the beach and town was just a quick ride on the bus for hardly anything. We got back last week and we want to go back already. top holiday.

My husband and 2 sons aged 10 and 11 arrived at the hotel exhausted after a 4 hour transfer because the driver got lost. The first week fine but disapointed no entertainment in the evenings only after the all inclusive had finished at 11oclock and then it was only the reps who worked there that did the entertainment karoke or bingo very un professional. The food was appauling same thing all the time no variety and the hotel staff were very rude and not helpful at all my son didnt eat for 4 days we have all been ill since we arrived back home.The only nice thing was the rooms were clean and our maid was lovely. we were on the 5th floor and the lifts broke down daily. I would not recommend this hotel if you go there take plenty of money to eat out you wil need it.

Stayed there for 7 nights from 23rd August. The food was awful, I never ate so much tomatos in my life as the salad was the only thing worth eating (Salad and chip at every meal). They were constantly out of ice and the white wine was hot and disgusting. The staff were unfriendly.
In our bedroom the air conditioning unit was placed over the bed, blowing cold air on you when you are trying to sleep.
I have been total put of Turkey and would never go there again.

5 readers found this review helpful

I'll just tell you it as it is.........
The hotel rooms were clean, maids were lovely - bath was cracked and tiles were a little black round the edges. 3*
The reception were rude and not very helpful if you were anything but Turkish. They often left you standing there for quite sometime while they talked amongst themselves instead of dealing with you. Unless you were Turkish then they would deal with you immediately. 1*
The pools - The large pool is very deep 150CM for the whole of the pool which is large, I could just about manage standing up on my tip toes, I'm, 5'4''. The small pool was lovely for my little one (he's 3) the depth varies so he could swim and paddle. While there for the week there were 3 incidents where people went to the toilet in the pool and I don't mean having a wee. They only closed the pool on one of the incidents for cleaning the other 2 times they just fished it out and carried on as if nothing had happened! Lots of people were admitted to hospital due to infections caused by the pool, luckily were didn't fall ill. There was plenty of availability of sun beds all have nice padded cushions and towels are given out although they are a pain to get as the booth is only open a few times a week so you have to go to reception to get some. For the size of the pool and surroundings 4* for the cleanliness 1*, the pool toilets were disgusting and i didn't allow my son to go to them as they were that bad 0*. There is water slides that are open for 1 hour in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon these times are very strict and the slides are turned off regardless as to whether children are still coming down the slide or not which is very dangerous children were coming off with friction burns etc. They were not always supervised and children were hurt regularly on the slides, i supervised my child at all times but other parents don't think they need to look after there own children. 2*.
Bar service, was ok they didn't smile much but there you go, if you were Turkish you didn't have to wait for drinks and they got priority over the paying guests. AI for drinks was very poor you could have wine, beer, vodka, gin or riki and soft drinks, 2*.
Food was ok nothing too outstanding, however the al a carte was disgusting, you could chose your main but that was it, i was served soup from the buffet, followed by chicken nuggets (from the children's buffet) my main i ordered chicken kebab and then i was given profiterole i had nearly finished my meal before my glass of wine arrived, the service was horrid, the atmosphere was terrible there was no atmosphere at all no music nothing it was horrid. The Turkish night was really good food. I witnessed the snack bar give food to a Turkish woman she touched every piece of pizza and said she didn't want it, this food was then placed back in the warmer to give to the next person, a Turkish boy did the same with the burgers and the same happened it was disgusting. Children's food is chicken nuggets and chips for the whole week which is a little annoying as i don't feed my child this type of food ever. when we complained they put some burnt pizza on so my little one wouldn't eat it. He did eat but tended to go for chips, lettuce, cucumber and bread, he didn't starve and neither did I. 1*
Entertainment, was appalling the children's entertainment wasn't much better a mini disco every night for 45 mins, the same songs every night if the DJ could get the CD to work he often played the same song several times while he tried to sort it out. Other entertainment was rubbish silly games and 2 dance acts and quite frankly i can dance better myself so can my 3 year old. 0*
Hotel run kids club, this is appalling it is run by an English girl. You are meant to be able to leave your children with her for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon, i wouldn't trust her to look after a kitten. I wouldn't leave my child with a kids club anyway but i do like to use the facilities while staying with my child. AM session consisted of the girl (23 years old) laid down in the club house on some dirty cushions playing on one of the kids DS while the other children just watched what she was doing. PM sessions she just laid on the dirty cushions saying its too hot. They were meant to be doing face painting and my little one wanted this to be done but she couldn't be bothered to do it as she was playing DS. I was appalled. The kids club is meant to be free however... if they wanted to do sand painting it was 15 lira (£7.50) and everything they did you had to pay additional for. The kids club was next to the deep pool and if you did leave your child without checking it out you could of had a very sad holiday. The gate to the club was always opened and she allowed children to play out in the park area unsupervised because she was too hot and lazy to supervise them and her job. It would only take a min for a little one to leave the area and fall into the pool, her actions were very annoying, i know they don't get paid a great deal but the least she could do was her job. 0*
Photo team - they were brilliant and we have some fantastic photos we paid £90 for 23 photos in a album and a disk with all the photos they had taken, they do hang about most of the day taking random shots I have great action shots of my little one on the slides jumping in the pool etc. they were lovely, very helpful etc 5*
There is a lot of security in this hotel and they can be a bit OTT you aren't allowed to bring anything into the hotel so I just took a bag out with me to bring in bottled water etc. The shop in the hotel isn't that expensive however compared to the shop across the rood it is double the price. Anything that is imported is very expensive so take your pringles etc if that is what you like with you as you will pay about £3 ish per tube. Across the road was a 5* hotel they had no security and the hotel was amazing and made our hotel look very shabby.
Don't let this review put you off Turkey or Altinkum as it is a really nice place just pick your hotel wisely, we were advised while there that the hospital have many people visiting them from this hotel, with ear infections, tummy upsets etc. I hope you find this helpful, I spoke to lots of different people while there and they all had different experiences of the hotel but non were positive.

14 readers found this review helpful

We stayed for a week. you could not fault the hotel, the room was clean ,the towels changed daily, the staff were friendly and helpful , there was always a good variety of food and plenty of it, if i was being very picky the only problem we had was the coffee machine at the pool bar kept breaking they need a new one. Only takes 10 mins to walk in to altinkum or the bus is outside the back of the hotel and takes a few mins and costs about 60p.The entertainment manager keeps things busy with darts bowls water polo and lots more, i would go back again.

13 readers found this review helpful

We booked this hotel very last minute. Scepticle of reviews as always.
We had a great time. Lovely hotel, great position to get into town. Spotless. Rooms a bit tight for a family of 4 but for how long you are in them? Was not a problem.Our children's ages 7 and 12.
Lovely staff which couldn't do enough for you.
Food excellant. I have a very awkward eater aged 7 and had no problems with the choice in 2 weeks.
Drinks available on allinclusive ample and NOT watered down. The beer just a different strength to our strong lagers downed in the UK. A lovely drink in the hot sun!Only dissappointment no cocktail of the day all inclusive.
Animacion team worked really hard .
If you want a chilled holiday this is the place to go for a family to know your children will be very happy too.

20 readers found this review helpful

Well to be honest i dont know what some people moan about. i mean you go abroad to a diffrent country to eat their kind of food not ours. This hotel is lovely. The staff are really friendly and the food is brilliant. We arrived their at something like 3:30am and we went straight to bed the rooms were very clean. At breakfast there is always something diffrent and there is normally someone making omelettes or fried eggs outside the restruant. If you want sunbeds then you need to get down and put towels on them early before they have gone. When you check in you get a towel card and this means you can get hotel towels instead of having to use your own but the kiosk doesn't open until 9am. The slide is alright but they allow floats down it and you could get hurt if one goes down after you. Its only for children though. There is a shop on the hotel site and a few bars just outside of the resort. Dolphin square is really good if you want to get all the fake designer clothes, and its cheap i know i got some nike air max trainers for something like 55 lira (£24) and their normally £60-65. None of the clothes look fake either. The waiters at the hotel can be a bit too friendly at times, such as passing notes and things but its quite funny. The market is good but if your going there then you need to be going early on in the day as it gets very hot walking around under them tent things. The only thing that lets the hotel down is some of the guests, because one night they was doing something in the resturaunt and dinner was a little late because of this, and some people were so rude they lined up outside the door waiting to go in, and then my nephew, who is 7 got told to get out of the way because a lady was hungry, just as he was getting his dinner, you can see why people abroad think english people are rude, not saying everyone is but its the truth. I would defonatly go to this hotel again and i recommened it.

12 readers found this review helpful

I have to say that we all really enjoyed our stay, there were 3 of us 2 adults and 1 child ( apart from the odd notorious moaning,loud and rude Brits)the Turks were great and well mannered, friendly and a good laugh , very helpfull and not bad looking either!
Hotel rooms were big enough ( at the end of the day you dont go on holidat to sit in your room)cleaned dailt and the maids made patterns and animals on the bed from towels and bedding( they even made a flower from a toblerone that had melted and we left by the telly)
Plenty of choice in the food department also, fresh every day - fruit, veg, eggs- fried, scrambled, boiled and omelettes, turkish foods, chicken , rice, chips, loads of different cakes and puds etc etc.
Kids entertainment very good ( adults not so good)
at the end of the day keep the kids happy and the adults should be.
The drinks were ok, a bit weak ( just as well as the moaners would be un bearable when drunk), but unlimited until 11pm, then you had to pay
very handy for the 3rd beach - about 300mtrs out the back door
Day trips were good,based on 2 adults & 1 child costs were- boat trip including SKOL( havent had that since school)£38.00, jeep safariincluding dinner £32.00, turkish bath, scrub, massage and sauna £79.00( in hotel), water park £32.00
Met some great people from all over UK and had a laugh in kids pool soaking everyone ( got told off by moaners again and made to sit in naughty corner)
Would go back again , great value for money - approx £2000.00 for 3 for 2 weeks, where else can you get that , costs you more to holiday at home!!! GOOD TIMES an HAPPY DAYS!!!