Aral Hotel

4 readers found this review helpful

This was an amazing holiday for myself and partner, the hotel staff were very smart polite helpful and full of fun. The rooms were cleaned thoroughly everyday with clean towels sheets and water replinshed in fridge. the meals were of turkish menu so very tasty and plentiful. The site was clean and secure and there certainly was nothing to complain about. The behaviour of some fellow british holiday makers was to be desired and sometimes several witnessed incidents made me feel quite ashamed - treat others how you wish to be treated yourselves and there is no problems. Thankyou to Mehmet and all your staff for making my holiday - Side is a beautiful place and well well worth a visit

4 readers found this review helpful

just got back from spending 14 nights all inclusive at the Aral Hotel.must say all the staff were very friendly
the rooms were cleaned every day,clean towels every day,we had 2 bottles of water left in the fridge for us every day.the food was first class,with plenty to choose from,fish, chicken, stews, if you are not prepared to try the dishes you would miss out.the swimming pool was
very clean,plenty of sun beds,bar was open from 10am til 11pm.
The walk to the town was plesant, the short cut round the dump was dusty not smelly as its only a dump for rubble not rotting food.The town was very tidy with loads of shops selling copy designer gear.The saturday market is worth a visit and is only 7/8 minutes from the hotel all in all excellant

just spent a week at the Aral hotel ,the staff were friendly and the rooms were a good size and very clean,
the food was ok but the chef could do with a bit of immagination there isonly so much you can do with chicken.if you do eat out beware it is expensive and avoid the day trips they will sting a bit epecialy ismail of tursab stear clear of him . but onthe whole a nice holiday been there done it wont be back.

1 reader found this review helpful

I have just got back from turkey with my boyfreind and my 2 year old son. When we got to the hotel it was late so was tired from the flight and they didnt understand a word of english. We got to the room and was too hot so had to pay for air conditioning which they tried charging us 70 lira for 10 days. We asked the lady in the morning on reception and it was 50 lira. The bed sheets were not clean when we got there and no cot for our son. Not recommended for children because no bath just a little shower cubicle.
In the morning we thought things might of been abit better but as we arrived at breakfast there was flies all over the breakfast and the food looked awful. There was nothing for english people not even fruit. We checked out that day as we couldnt stay here for 10 days. Our rep couldnt get us another hotel so we had to find an appartment that was suitable for us and our son. If the manager of the hotel had any decency he would of moved us to a better hotel but he acted like he couldnt be botherd with us. Definatly not recommended was awful.

1 reader found this review helpful

Just got back from 2 weeks at this hotel and after reading some of the other reviews wondered if this was going to be a huge mistake! But it was better than expected!!
Rooms were nice, always kept very clean.
Pool area was always clean. Nice, large pool, lots of beds around it. Pool bar played music but never heard any loud pumping dance music..... Also as the pool is so large we never encountered any problems with children playing in the main pool. Somedays there were less than a dozen people in the pool.
Stayed there for 2 weeks and there was only 1 entertainment night (which was good) but the hawaii bar just down the road would have something on most nights.
Loads of nice restaurants around (in the ruins, paradise, omur), harbour is well worth a visit or two. As is the appollo temple and ruins.
Never tried the short cut by the football stadium, as wanted to advoid the tip!! Only knew it was there from the comments here, it wasn't as if you could see or smell it from the hotel.
Yes you will get hassled by the shops but you are in Turkey!!!!! Would take us ages to get anywhere thanks to having 2 blonde children, they felt like mini celebs having such a fuss made of them everywhere they went.
Bloke behind the bar, Mehmet, was absolutely lovely and his english was good.
Was very concerned when read comments about porter/receptionist, but thankfully no problems.(maybe they no longer work there)
All in all for the money we paid it was a very good holiday. Food at breakfast was ok, never ate there of an evening so cant comment on that.
The only thing the hotel could improve on would be to organise some entertainment evenings, bar in evenings was deserted! Also, buy a freezer and stock some ice creams!!
Definately a good choice for families.

2 readers found this review helpful

It was my boyfriends and I's first holiday away togeather, we were on a budget and wanted a week away to relax and have an exciting time, we stayed in the Aral hotel for 1 week, and that week was brilliant i have no complaints, the staff espeically Mehmet and the lady on reception bent over backwards for us, there was no problems to small or large, on are first day we were a little late for breakfast as our plane arrived at 3.00am, but we were still allowed to have breakfast which was delicious!!, all staff welcomed us and said hello everyday, We had dinner at the hotel a few times, which was fab, we even had a belly dancer which eventually all the staff joined in, even the chef! I absoultly loved this hoilday and will defo be coming back, espeacially to this hotel, Thankyou everyone who worked at the Aral Hotel you made it a dream holiday. x

2 readers found this review helpful

After all of the good reviews, me and my partner decided to go to the Hotel Aral. In many ways it is good, but there are just as many bad points in my opinion. It may be a good hotel by Turkish standards, but there are parts about the experience that I find very dodgy. I'll try to list the good and bad points:
Pros:
-Big Swimming Pool
-Maid Service every day
-Very Clean rooms and swimming pool
-Every room has a balcony and faces the pool
-Rooms are a generous size.
-The location is out of the hyped up part of Side, which is probably a good thing
Cons:
-Horrible night Porter and receptionist (see below)
-Food hygiene is terrible. but my girlfriend had food poisoning because of the incompetent food hygiene. All food (including dinner time) is left uncovered and has flies all over it. Its pretty shocking.
-There is a huge rubbish dump across the road.
-Swimming pool is unusable unless you like blasting club music. Gave us a headache whenever we were down there.
-The music is very loud even in the rooms.
-Bar is too expensive.
-All extras (Air Con, Safe & Fridge) are over priced. I think it was 40 for air con and 30 for the safe.. we didn't bother with the fridge but I think it was around 30 Lira.
-The 'water slide' is pretty poor. Only open 2 hours a day and is tiny.
-Though there is a separate kids pool, they all go into the main pool.
-We were there for a week and there was only one entertainment night.. which lasted for about an hour or two.
-Takes too long to get to the beach. Especially because you get hassled by all of the shop keepers and restaurants on the way.
-Doesn't really have much of interest around, so have to travel to do/ see anything interesting.
-We went on an excursion and the tour guide only spoke German, because we were the only English people. That was annoying..
Beware of the Night Porter and Receptionist:
Not sure what their names are, or if the receptionist was a manager - but these two put a huge damper on our holiday. They work together to try and get you to give them extra money.
-When we arrived my girlfriend was forced (I mean it), by the horrible night Porter and Receptionist to have her bag carried to the room. For which the Porter demanded a tip. We have very little money so were very upset that he wouldn't leave us alone.
-The night porter continued to hassle us about money. Every time we walked past him he would ask us if we could change his English tip money to Turkish Lira. We didn't because he's very dishonest and would try to backhand us. Even after saying no he would still hassle us in a complaining way.
-On checking out of the hotel around 12am we carried our own bags to the front of the hotel to wait for our bus. The receptionist then came out and started speaking to us. It soon became apparent that he was trying to make us pity him so that we would give him money. He kept eying us and telling us he was 'so tired' and pretended to keep nodding off while sitting beside us (looking up accusingly every time). That was uncomfortable enough, but then the Porter came. He turned his back to us and started muttering in Turkish to the receptionist. He then stood for a long time eying us and looking arrogant. The two then wandered off for about 2mins. The night Porter then returned and started playing sound clips of what I assume were his children, again to try and gain our pity (or make us feel guilty). When our bus arrived, my girlfriend protested that she wanted to take her own bag onto the bus - but he snatched it off her. We just got on the bus because he was clearly playing up at this point.
It may be some people's idea of ok, but it certainly wasn't to my liking.

3 readers found this review helpful

Just got home from a week in the aral hotel and have to say i was impressed. the hotel is lovely and clean and the maids came everyday to change all the towels and bedding. on our first morning the maid had maid the sheets into a flower shape and spead rose petals all over it which we thought was really sweet. the staff were nice although didnt speak much english and chose to speak to u in turkish which obviously we didnt understand a word of! we only wwent bed and breakfast but the food in the morning was not good atal!! all u had was boiled eggs and some strange looking salami thing. Me and my boyfriend dint like any of it so we used the toastie make and mdae cheese toasties. we aint tea in the hotel twice, the first time we opted for something called kebap, which was 35lira for 2 and it was gorgeous, its just like a stew and the make it in this ceramic pot thing which is great to watch them break it open. Also our waiter laid on a really nice table for us, covering it with petals, it was really romantic! The second time we went for the buffet, not much choice but still very tasty. Just up the way there is a bar where all the english seemed to congregate (partly to do with the sky sports on offer!) we had a barbeque there on the sat, that was lovely but we could of ate more than what they give! We ate out at various resteraunts the other nights but found it to be quite expensive, paying around 55lira for a meal and 1 drink. Side is a lovely little town but not cheap cheap cheap. We would definatley go back but would opt for all inclusive as u get all your drinks and that free and you can live of rice and chips if you dont like anything else.

1 reader found this review helpful

Had 11 days at the Aral and thoroughly enjoyed it. At £280 for 11 nights Half Board we were not expecting too much but we found a a modern clean small hotel with very friendly staff (apart from the a miserable chap on the bar). Look out for pool area manager Mehmet, he is brilliant! and very helpful. Also the young lady on Reception who re-charged my mobile phone battery for me. Food was good and plentiful. Do not expect english type food.
The rooms are cleaned each day by very friendly staff and the rooms have nice balconies overlooking the pool, refrigerators and hair dryers. Side has lots to offer - history, great beaches, and friendly locals but do not do your shopping there, go to Manavgat on the dolmus and shop on the main street and its side roads just over the bridge any day. Avoid the Monday and Thursday market where they sell poor quality goods. One word on caution, THERE ARE NO LIFTS but the maximum number of flights residents have to climb is four.
As for local bars, try the Olive Bar further down the street.

1 reader found this review helpful

The Aral Hotel is a lovely place to go if you want a relaxing holiday. The staff are friendly and very helpful. The hotel itself is very clean and you get clean towels everyday and the room gets cleaned on a daily basis on request. The pool area is immaculate and the pool is a good size with seperate kids pool. Another great feature about this hotel is the two water slides unfortunately they are normally only on for two hours throughout the day but still very enjoyable. The only bad thing about the hotel is its lack of entertainment throughout the day and nite. Food is basic serving meals throughout the day and at nite a buffet style dinner not really catering for english or scottish guests. If you are looking for cheap but fantastic meals i would strongly recommend a restaurant called the Amelda directly opposite the hotel it serves a large range of foods and drinks at very reasonable and affordable prices the staff their are also very friendly and go out their way to make sure you are enjoying your time there if you go into side town centre expect to pay quite a bit more for food and drink. Overall i had a fantastic holiday and would definetly go back.