Kervansaray Lara Hotel

We (spouse + 2 kids of 1 and 4 ) just came back from Kervansaray. Initially we wanted to go to Greece as we did the last few years, but changed our minds in the last minute in order to offer something more interesting for our kids. So we specifically targeted Kervansaray for its Aqua Park and children's "Luna Park". And for this, if you would have asked my son (4), the holiday was beyond his expectation! For us, it was OK even though I hate to admit that some things which I read in the reviews came to be true. All in all it's a good value for money (I don't bother classifying it 3,4 or 5 stars, because one should be aware that can't find ultra all inclusive prices in a truly superior hotel. My remarks go to bedroom cleanliness (the bathroom was OK), but the bedroom was dusty. Sometimes even the lobby was dusty and it appeares that initially a lot of money is invested in the hotel, but they save on maintenance. The key card was definetely an issue for us as it sometimes didn't work when opening the door and almost all the time was not working properly when it came to electricity. Complainted three times at the reception, received new cards, but no success! The day before we left I came down to the reception obviously upset because the key card(s) have really spoiled our vacation. I don't think the reception staff really cared even if you yelled, I believe they attend some kind of course to keep their cool! Otherwise, the food was OK, loved the BBQ and the baklava (the second you get to try only if you come in early for dinner, otherwise it's gone). Loved the grilled fish also! Animation was all day around and for all ages, so it's one of the major highlights in the hotel. We loved the evening shows (Moulin Rouge, Broadway)... The sunbed "reservation" with the towels is really anoying, but you can't fight it. All you can do is act the same (come early in the morning) and hope that others will not "steal" (remove) your umbrella (which happend to us). And at that heat you don't have any use of the sunbeds without the umbrella (plus with the baby direct exposure to sun is a big NO). We couldn't understand the extensive usage of wood in the hotel and in the surrounding areas (around the pool), because with the great humidity that Antalya has and its effect on the wood the hotel looks older than it actually is. I personally liked the poor lighting in the hotel, especially in the lobby, because it was quite relaxing and a good prelude to sleep. At night beware of the mosquitos and try to keep the balcony door shut. Even with the special spray, our baby had so many bites that people thought it had chicken pox. As I said, all in all a good value for money (which we rarely get in Greece). And if you happened to have a tour in Antalya or in surronding shopping centres you get to appreciate it more! The prices are so high that it's ridiculuous! Even where prices are negotiable you can hardly manage to pay normal price! After having paid 25 EUR for 2 donner kebaps we got to really appreciate the hotel and its food! I almost forgot, you pay the extras in the hotel at a really extra price. One photo taken by the hotel photographer costs 5 EUR! We paid discounted price of 45 EUR for 14 pictures on a CD which is still crazy. However, would come back to the hotel, because the kids really enjoyed and that's all that matters to us!

It is a great place for a relaxing vacation. Although the hotel has around 600 rooms there will never get croudy in the restaurant, at the swiming pools or on the beach. The food is very good and diverse. The staff is very carefull, always smiling and helpful.The room is big, clean and extremely relaxing. Great holiday! oh!There is sand on the beach and the water is really hot!

arrived in the early hours of the morning and the lighting in the hotel was and is terrible you cant see a thing! however you do get used to it. Staff do not speak much english and therefore dont understand you a lot of the time so they ignore you! Lots of Russians who are very rude and just drink everything - also lots of Germans who are also rude and just eat everything - they seem to think the food will run out - which it never does. The food is ok and tastes better than it looks - I recommend the soup! the hotel is clean and very spacious. sunbeds can be a problem because they are all saved and sometimes even if you ask staff they say they will get you one but it doesnt arrive! however after saying all that i did enjoy my stay but think the beautiful weather was more of the good holiday than the hotel but what do you expect for £400.

I've just came back from kervansaray and that was the worst holiday I've always had.I must admit that the lights were good,especially at night but that was all,there was no entertainment,the animation team was also terrible.I stayed for 8 days and I was nearly dying of boredom,I even couldn't help crying the last days.The food were OK.The music in the disco was terrible too.I can only hardly advise this hotel to married couples with children!

We (2 adults + 2 children) just came back from the Kervansaray tourist factory. In general it was OK but there are a few things I must mention. About 80% of the guests are Russian. Maybe they are fine people but why do they never smile ? And am I right they feel superior towards staff and others ? The finish of the hotel is quite amateuristic. I learned the hotel is only 2 years old but to me it looks like a renovated communistic state hotel. Personally I do not mind that much though. What did irritate me was the fact that we had to get up early and make a reservation for chairs at the swimming pool by leaving some personal belongings on them. This is rediculous of course. First of all there are just not enough chairs and secondly the fact the hotel allows this system is stupid. Many chairs (average 50%) stay empty during the day. It would be better to have only the right for chairs when you are actually at the pool / beach. According to the policy of the hotel every guest has the right to visit one of their 3 additional a la carte restaurants during their stay. Forget it. This is just a marketing trick. We had to negotiate 3 times to get it arranged. And when we finally arrived we were not on the guest list. The staff in the (Latin!) restaurant do not understand the dish 'tortilla' by the way. If you order this you get soup. And if you try to explain them in a friendly way that they might have been wrong they become very offended. I would say about 30% of the overall staff is rude, 50% normal and 20% very friendly. I however can understand that the staff is not smiling all the time because the guests are also not the nicest people in the world. Even though there are tons of food many of the guests run from one table to another like they are about the die from starvation. I do not want to judge the food because this could be a matter of taste. Personally I was not impressed though. Than there a few other things. Yes there is a bowling but only 2 lanes so they can put in the brochure. Have somebody send your favorite newspaper by DHL. This is cheaper than to buy it in the hotel. I exaggerate a little bit but 4 euro for a Telegraaf (A kind of Dutch 'The Sun') is not funny anymore. But now it comes: Bring enough suncream with you. A small bottle of Nivea costs EUR 20,- !! I do have a sense of humor but not that much..... It is a little bit like Gillette. The holder is cheap but if you want something additional you pay a fortune. This also counts for taxi's by the way. I think it might be cheaper to buy a car on the local market and just throw it when you leave. Or maybe it is worth trying a helicopter service. Maybe I am a little bit negative. But in general it was not bad. And let's face it: +/- EUR 30,- a night per person including drinks and food is very little. I however would like to have a different system for stars. 5 stars in this hotel is not the same as 5 stars in for example the Hyet.

We had a great time there. Lots of fun and excelent food. Very nice the team and helpfull. I recommend it

Myself, my husband and two children 4 and 6 booked our weeks hoiday with Thomas Cook, the style of the hotel appealed to us, looked modern and clean. Arrived in the middle of the night, the kids loved the lighting and the service seemed friendly enough. We had booked a family room, which was excellant (two rooms, two bathrooms, all joined with sliding door) In the morning it was a find out for yourself session as to where to eat breakfast or which pool was suitable etc. Food was plentiful, never steaming hot though, and very busy in the buffet style dining room. Often very difficult to get seated and almost always having to find own cutlery, serviettes and fetching drinks. When you book five star, you expect to be waited on just a little bit don't you? There was often a bbq part outside, but its a treck if you are sitting inside! And being this terrible world we live in, unable to leave kids seated alone so doing it in shifts..(thats where you find the chips and burgers for the kids) Rooms were cleaned at various times of the day, we were woken by knocks on the door for the first four days, but then cleaning seemed to happen at about six in the evening(just when you come in for a rest before getting ready for the evening!) The bathrooms were always spotless but the bedrooms weren't cleaned much, and the mini bar was refilled with one juice carton, one small coke bottle, two small tonic waters and a large bottle of water in the early evening, The pools were brilliant HOWEVER...SPLINTERS SPLINTERS SPLINTERS... the whole pool area is wooden decking that has seen better days, so make sure the kids have some sort of shoes on. Various drinks facilities around the pools, child friendly too. The long pool with the bridge over (and small kids pool next to) seems to be the quiet area, where as the other pools have the entertainment and music. Entertainment team work like troopers, in the day by the pool at night on the stage. The hotel lacks in evening entertainment, mini disco at around 9pm and some sort of show or music(sometimes quite poor) at around 10pm. There were no more than 30 English people in the hotel (only know that as we all came together to watch the England V Brazil match) so brush up on another language to get yourself understood as their English is very poor. The spa and turkish bath facility is excellant, where as the organised trip to one in the town is poor. The hotel does offer beach towels but did run out when we were there, and it is a fight for sunbeds all around the hotel, even getting to the pool by seven in the morning is a waste of time as towels are already marking peoples spots...however, staff will support you in your decision to remove them! We would visit this hotel again, but would not pay brochure price... its not THAT good...

We have just arrived home from Kervansaray Lara hotel, After reading the previous reviews before we went we was alittle bit worried as to what we would find when we got there, but from beginning to end everything was perfect.the food, the staff, the cleanliness, the free drinks included international drinks such as baileys, malibu, martini and they even make you cocktails.previous reviews have remarked about glass being cracked, we did see this but this isn't the hotels fault, the guests have done this but it didnt in anyway affect our holiday. there is a mixture of turkish, russian, german and english. we never found any problems with anyone, and we was suprised to see that there was always sunbeds available, if you couldn't find one, the pool staff would go and find one for you. the entertainment programme is great for all ages, with lots of things to do such as archery, water polo/gym, darts, basketball and much more, you'll always find something to do..From 9am-5pm you're spolit for choice on what to eat and then from 7pm-9:30pm, they have an open buffet dinner which is fab, a huge salad bar, and they had barbeques EVERY night. They had a huge choice of fruit, desserts and ice cream to finish it off nicely.Midnight snacks till 1am too if you feel peckish and they also have tea and pastries every afernoon between 5pm and 6pm.It was also nice to see the menu wasn't repetitive, we stayed for 2 weeks and everyday they had something different.The rooms are clean and very spacious, very neatly and modernly decorated and cleaned throroughly on a daily basis. All in all I would give this place 10/10. A very enjoyable holiday.

just returned from kervansary nice hotel but lots of germans / russians/ met one family from wolverhampton very nice couple food lots to eat but my daughter never ate a proper meal and had to opt for bread and jam and when there was no jam on tables we had to ask not being able to speak turkish and explain what jam was most of the day had passed this is not for tourists more buisness we met a young man from the entertainment team his name was rolex he has a good scotttish tounge and he gave us a lot of advice very nice young man where to shop taxis £24 pound english to get you to market the driver will wait then take you back but lots of hasstle from sellers beware /good bargains to get / friendly jerry lewis small cafe in antalya market /everyone wants tipped shops in hotel very expensive good hairdresser in hotel lots of pools to suit all ages

Booked this through Thomas Cook , food very basic , staff very rude and lazy , we had severe food poisining , bedrooms are not serviced regularly , Thomas Cook reps do not help , building leaks when it rains causing glass floors to be very slippy resulting in me fracturing my hand which Thomas Cook and the Hotel offered no help with , many off the activities and facilities are either closed or broken , eventualy were moved to another hotel on the day that the main revolving glass doors fell in onto a customer , just please dont waste your money , this was a real holiday from hell !!!