Your rating of this hotel:
9.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms:
8.0
Service:
9.0
Cleanliness:
10.0
Food:
9.0
Amenities:
8.0
I'll start my review with words of gratitude to the travel company "Coral". Before leaving, my wife and I went through several dozens (without exaggeration) of sites with reviews of travel companies. Frankly, the information that we found did not please us at all. It seemed that the whole tour. firms are specially opened in order to “throw” Russian tourists. Either they were brought to the wrong hotel, or they were not picked up in a timely manner, etc. And before the flight, the mood was, to put it mildly, nervous. I have been working in trade for many years and I know firsthand what a “divorce” of a client is. Therefore, I prepared in advance for hemorrhoids. My wife immediately told me - "what you expect from the trip, you will get it. "
What was my surprise when literally from the first minutes of our trip, from the walls of our native Kaliningrad airport "Khrabrovo", I plunged into the excellent organization and service of representatives of the company "Coral".
There was a complete impression that a military man organized our leisure time - everything was on schedule, everything was on time. After reading on the Internet, I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised. Thanks again to Coral.
And now about the main thing. We spent 14 wonderful days in Turkey with the whole family (16.06. 10-29.06. 10). Me, wife and 12 year old daughter. I note right away that this vacation was planned for a long time and we bought tourist vouchers for two months. As a result of this, we actually saved a lot of money. So my first piece of advice is: ALWAYS PLAN YOUR HOLIDAYS IN ADVANCE AND BUY YOUR TOURS AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE. This will really help you save almost 50% money.
A little about Turkey. We were there for the first time, so we did not save ourselves from some things. For everyone else, I recommend further reading very carefully. Tourism in Turkey is the third most important branch of the economy, after mechanical engineering and agriculture.
Therefore, it is not public, but everywhere in Turkey everything is set up to pump money out of tourists. Even the Coral company. The fact that the Turks will earn a tour. season, they live the rest of the time. This must be clearly understood and not offended by them. With all this, you must also understand that everything that is offered to you in Turkey really costs 2-3 times cheaper. This also applies to the tour. services (about them a little later), and souvenirs, and clothes. Never buy anything without at least 50% off. Feel free to turn around and leave. You will definitely be caught up and sold at your price. At the same time, Islam, the main religion of Turkey, clearly spells out almost the obligation to earn money in any way, even through not always fair trade.
Obsessive service, when they constantly pull at your sleeve, is closely intertwined with the cordiality and cheerfulness of the Turks. Turks always smile. It is very pleasant, especially since these smiles are sincere!
So, on June 16, we arrived at the airport in Antalya. Time is 7 am. Temperature + 30. We are in jeans - fun. Tip number two: in hand luggage, there must be a change of light clothing. The main and almost the only clothes that you will need are: swimming trunks, shorts, a T-shirt, dark glasses (who is bespectacled, buy lenses. I myself am a bespectacled man. ), a hat. Women are about the same. And do not flatter yourself with the thought that you will go somewhere in beautiful dresses and suits. It will not happen. Even at discos - in shorts and a T-shirt. It's the norm there! A video camera and a camera are required, preferably for underwater photography. There is no such camera - buy a special one. case for underwater shooting. Trust me, you will need it.
Our hotel "Utopia World" is the furthest hotel on the coast of Alanya. Therefore, the transfer (travel from the airport to the hotel) took almost three hours.
We traveled in a luxurious air-conditioned bus with a Russian guide who spent three hours telling us about Turkey. It was interesting, so we arrived quickly. Check-in time in rooms almost everywhere in Turkey is 14-00. We arrived at almost 11-00, i. e. we had to wait another three hours for check-in. Here, I must admit, I was nervous due to the reviews I read. The guide from the bus handed us over to the reception, said goodbye and was like that. Employees of the hotel immediately ran up to us, carried the suitcases, attached a bracelet-pass to our arm and sent us to rest. To be honest, I was even confused - but where are the hemorrhoids. My daughter dived into the pool without talking, my wife found a table somewhere, and I took a beer at a nearby bar. The first glass of beer - I drank slowly, not fully realizing that the vacation had begun. Before me is a view of the Mediterranean Sea, near the mountains, below you can see Alanya (our hotel is located on a mountain).
The wife smiles, the child squeals in the pool - and then happiness knocked on my door (I feel like a poet).
Lunch started at 13:00. Even before we settled in, we already ate treats. Food at Utopia World is a topic for another discussion. I will say briefly - they feed always, everywhere, variously, as if for slaughter. I recovered by 6 kg. At first I tried to eat their local cuisine, but then the variety of dishes finished me off, and the last days I was looking for our scrambled eggs, potatoes, etc. The only thing that I ate a lot and constantly was their sweets. The variety of cakes, pastries, cookies, jellies of every conceivable kind - all this amazed me. We have never had stomach upsets, but be sure to take the pills with you.
After dinner, at about 14-00 we were settled in the room without any problems. I read somewhere in the reviews that you need to give 20 dollars to the reception, then you will be settled in more classy rooms. We didn't pay anything, even the guide on the bus didn't tell us anything about it.
Due to the huge area of the hotel and due to the fact that it stands on a mountain, the villas are located just below the main building. It is in the main building that there is a restaurant, swimming pools, and all events are held there. Therefore, the only inconvenience in the hotel is moving from the lower villas to the top, to the main building. Moving takes place on the steps, there are 150 of them. In terms of time - from the room in the villa to the restaurant for about 10 minutes without hurrying. My wife and I climbed without problems, but my daughter arose and moaned. At the same time, this is both morning exercises and an evening walk before going to bed. For me personally, there was no convenience.
The water park is located next to the villas. Lots of different slides and pools. Works from 10 to 14 and from 16 to 18. You can't pull your daughter by the ears. From our room 7 minutes walk, faster than the restaurant.
The beach at Utopia World is terrible. This is perhaps the biggest failure of the hotel.
Not only does it take about 15 minutes to get to it on foot, the beach itself is pebbly, there is no smell of sand there. Buses every 15 minutes can deliver everyone to the elevator that leads to the beach, but they run until 18 hours. So that lovers of the evening dawn from the beach to the hotel climb uphill for about 20 minutes. At sea in two weeks were only three times. Firstly, far, and secondly, the presence of a dozen pools compensates for the lack of water. The sea is warm, after our Baltic, Mediterranean (by the way, the Turks call it the White Sea) it seems like a bath, only very salty. On the beach there is a small bar where you can, again on schedule, eat and there is always plenty of beer and juices.
Speaking of beer. I got the feeling that the only beer sold in Turkey is Efes. Light. The beer is not bad, but not a masterpiece of brewing art. Glasses of two capacities - 0.33 and 0.2 (in the water park). Therefore, I always took two and four pieces. respectively.
Beer at the hotel for free, and enjoyed it. I drank a lot, but characteristically my head did not hurt and I was not very drunk. Quality is quality. All other alcoholic drinks are also free. My wife drank different cocktails - a thousand names. I tried a little bit of everything, and settled on Baileys. There are a lot of different bars and small bars on the territory of the hotel. You can walk all day and constantly drink something. True, it's boring. A strange animal is man. To everything, even very good, quickly gets used.
Not much about animators. Utopia World has the best animation team. Contests go on as usual from day to day, something is constantly happening somewhere. Music, laughter, fun. Well done! The team is almost all Russian, professional dancers. Even those competitions that were repeated, it was still pleasant to watch.
And the last thing I want to write about is tourist excursions. Tour variety. excursions are impressive.
But here you have to be very careful. What your tour operator offers (in our case, this is Coral, aka Odeon - they have some kind of tricky structure) can be bought 2-3 times cheaper (see what I wrote at the beginning). A cunning hotel guide (we had Zaur) will tell you everything beautifully about the advantages of purchasing tours from a tour. operators (security, guarantees, etc. ). But my advice to you. Do not purchase all tours from your hotel guide. There is a category of tours, such as rafting, pleasure yacht, safari, etc. , which can be bought from any Turkish representative 3 times cheaper, while you will be brought to the same yacht, or to the same rafting as "Coral" . For example: a pleasure yacht for three people cost us 125 USD in Coral, at the same time a tourist from another hotel swam with us, who paid only 15 USD for himself from a Turkish company. Our friends who visited Turkey during the same period paid the same for rafting for $15, and we paid $50.
I don't blame Coral, but one must have the same conscience.
At the same time, there are excursions such as Ephesus - Pamukkale. Two days on the road. Here you can not do without a major tour. operator with a normal, Russian-speaking guide. Therefore, multi-day excursions, I recommend taking a tour from that one. operator who brought you to Turkey (the hotel guide will be from this tour operator). It will cost a lot more, but you will be 100% safe. It's my opinion.
Finally, I want to warn against the other extreme. Among the Turkish firms that offer excursions, there are the same different ones. Of course, you can’t buy vouchers where clothes, supposedly gold, and excursions are sold in one tent. There are very good tours. firms - they are immediately visible from advertising in different languages, including Russian, it is impossible to make a mistake. They are usually located on the first floors of residential buildings. That's where you should buy.
From excursions I advise: a two-day trip to Ephesus - Pamukkale (do not take a one-day one), be sure to rafting (a sea of \u200b\u200bemotions, a sea of adrenaline), I am a pleasure yacht - there are many options with yachts, choose according to your taste. Friends went on a jeep safari - they liked it. For all excursions, especially multi-day excursions, take a supply of water and beer with you. It's free in the hotel! Outside the hotel a glass of juice 1-2 dollars, a glass of beer up to 8 dollars. At the same time, your guide will never stop near cheap shops - they do not have a public rule to help hotels make money from tourists.
I do not advise: do not try to visit those gold and leather stores that hotel guides advise you (cunning guides receive immeasurable kickbacks from these stores) They bring them to insanely expensive places where gold costs much more than even here in Russia. We fell for this bait.
At the end of my essay about traveling to Turkey, I want to repeat the words of my wife: "What you expect from a trip is what you get. " Tune in to the good, because you have an amazing and exotic country ahead of you - Turkey ! ! !
Have a good trip
What was my surprise when literally from the first minutes of our trip, from the walls of our native Kaliningrad airport "Khrabrovo", I plunged into the excellent organization and service of representatives of the company "Coral".
There was a complete impression that a military man organized our leisure time - everything was on schedule, everything was on time. After reading on the Internet, I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised. Thanks again to Coral.
And now about the main thing. We spent 14 wonderful days in Turkey with the whole family (16.06. 10-29.06. 10). Me, wife and 12 year old daughter. I note right away that this vacation was planned for a long time and we bought tourist vouchers for two months. As a result of this, we actually saved a lot of money. So my first piece of advice is: ALWAYS PLAN YOUR HOLIDAYS IN ADVANCE AND BUY YOUR TOURS AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE. This will really help you save almost 50% money.
A little about Turkey. We were there for the first time, so we did not save ourselves from some things. For everyone else, I recommend further reading very carefully. Tourism in Turkey is the third most important branch of the economy, after mechanical engineering and agriculture.
Therefore, it is not public, but everywhere in Turkey everything is set up to pump money out of tourists. Even the Coral company. The fact that the Turks will earn a tour. season, they live the rest of the time. This must be clearly understood and not offended by them. With all this, you must also understand that everything that is offered to you in Turkey really costs 2-3 times cheaper. This also applies to the tour. services (about them a little later), and souvenirs, and clothes. Never buy anything without at least 50% off. Feel free to turn around and leave. You will definitely be caught up and sold at your price. At the same time, Islam, the main religion of Turkey, clearly spells out almost the obligation to earn money in any way, even through not always fair trade.
Obsessive service, when they constantly pull at your sleeve, is closely intertwined with the cordiality and cheerfulness of the Turks. Turks always smile. It is very pleasant, especially since these smiles are sincere!
So, on June 16, we arrived at the airport in Antalya. Time is 7 am. Temperature + 30. We are in jeans - fun. Tip number two: in hand luggage, there must be a change of light clothing. The main and almost the only clothes that you will need are: swimming trunks, shorts, a T-shirt, dark glasses (who is bespectacled, buy lenses. I myself am a bespectacled man. ), a hat. Women are about the same. And do not flatter yourself with the thought that you will go somewhere in beautiful dresses and suits. It will not happen. Even at discos - in shorts and a T-shirt. It's the norm there! A video camera and a camera are required, preferably for underwater photography. There is no such camera - buy a special one. case for underwater shooting. Trust me, you will need it.
Our hotel "Utopia World" is the furthest hotel on the coast of Alanya. Therefore, the transfer (travel from the airport to the hotel) took almost three hours.
We traveled in a luxurious air-conditioned bus with a Russian guide who spent three hours telling us about Turkey. It was interesting, so we arrived quickly. Check-in time in rooms almost everywhere in Turkey is 14-00. We arrived at almost 11-00, i. e. we had to wait another three hours for check-in. Here, I must admit, I was nervous due to the reviews I read. The guide from the bus handed us over to the reception, said goodbye and was like that. Employees of the hotel immediately ran up to us, carried the suitcases, attached a bracelet-pass to our arm and sent us to rest. To be honest, I was even confused - but where are the hemorrhoids. My daughter dived into the pool without talking, my wife found a table somewhere, and I took a beer at a nearby bar. The first glass of beer - I drank slowly, not fully realizing that the vacation had begun. Before me is a view of the Mediterranean Sea, near the mountains, below you can see Alanya (our hotel is located on a mountain).
The wife smiles, the child squeals in the pool - and then happiness knocked on my door (I feel like a poet).
Lunch started at 13:00. Even before we settled in, we already ate treats. Food at Utopia World is a topic for another discussion. I will say briefly - they feed always, everywhere, variously, as if for slaughter. I recovered by 6 kg. At first I tried to eat their local cuisine, but then the variety of dishes finished me off, and the last days I was looking for our scrambled eggs, potatoes, etc. The only thing that I ate a lot and constantly was their sweets. The variety of cakes, pastries, cookies, jellies of every conceivable kind - all this amazed me. We have never had stomach upsets, but be sure to take the pills with you.
After dinner, at about 14-00 we were settled in the room without any problems. I read somewhere in the reviews that you need to give 20 dollars to the reception, then you will be settled in more classy rooms. We didn't pay anything, even the guide on the bus didn't tell us anything about it.
Due to the huge area of the hotel and due to the fact that it stands on a mountain, the villas are located just below the main building. It is in the main building that there is a restaurant, swimming pools, and all events are held there. Therefore, the only inconvenience in the hotel is moving from the lower villas to the top, to the main building. Moving takes place on the steps, there are 150 of them. In terms of time - from the room in the villa to the restaurant for about 10 minutes without hurrying. My wife and I climbed without problems, but my daughter arose and moaned. At the same time, this is both morning exercises and an evening walk before going to bed. For me personally, there was no convenience.
The water park is located next to the villas. Lots of different slides and pools. Works from 10 to 14 and from 16 to 18. You can't pull your daughter by the ears. From our room 7 minutes walk, faster than the restaurant.
The beach at Utopia World is terrible. This is perhaps the biggest failure of the hotel.
Not only does it take about 15 minutes to get to it on foot, the beach itself is pebbly, there is no smell of sand there. Buses every 15 minutes can deliver everyone to the elevator that leads to the beach, but they run until 18 hours. So that lovers of the evening dawn from the beach to the hotel climb uphill for about 20 minutes. At sea in two weeks were only three times. Firstly, far, and secondly, the presence of a dozen pools compensates for the lack of water. The sea is warm, after our Baltic, Mediterranean (by the way, the Turks call it the White Sea) it seems like a bath, only very salty. On the beach there is a small bar where you can, again on schedule, eat and there is always plenty of beer and juices.
Speaking of beer. I got the feeling that the only beer sold in Turkey is Efes. Light. The beer is not bad, but not a masterpiece of brewing art. Glasses of two capacities - 0.33 and 0.2 (in the water park). Therefore, I always took two and four pieces. respectively.
Beer at the hotel for free, and enjoyed it. I drank a lot, but characteristically my head did not hurt and I was not very drunk. Quality is quality. All other alcoholic drinks are also free. My wife drank different cocktails - a thousand names. I tried a little bit of everything, and settled on Baileys. There are a lot of different bars and small bars on the territory of the hotel. You can walk all day and constantly drink something. True, it's boring. A strange animal is man. To everything, even very good, quickly gets used.
Not much about animators. Utopia World has the best animation team. Contests go on as usual from day to day, something is constantly happening somewhere. Music, laughter, fun. Well done! The team is almost all Russian, professional dancers. Even those competitions that were repeated, it was still pleasant to watch.
And the last thing I want to write about is tourist excursions. Tour variety. excursions are impressive.
But here you have to be very careful. What your tour operator offers (in our case, this is Coral, aka Odeon - they have some kind of tricky structure) can be bought 2-3 times cheaper (see what I wrote at the beginning). A cunning hotel guide (we had Zaur) will tell you everything beautifully about the advantages of purchasing tours from a tour. operators (security, guarantees, etc. ). But my advice to you. Do not purchase all tours from your hotel guide. There is a category of tours, such as rafting, pleasure yacht, safari, etc. , which can be bought from any Turkish representative 3 times cheaper, while you will be brought to the same yacht, or to the same rafting as "Coral" . For example: a pleasure yacht for three people cost us 125 USD in Coral, at the same time a tourist from another hotel swam with us, who paid only 15 USD for himself from a Turkish company. Our friends who visited Turkey during the same period paid the same for rafting for $15, and we paid $50.
I don't blame Coral, but one must have the same conscience.
At the same time, there are excursions such as Ephesus - Pamukkale. Two days on the road. Here you can not do without a major tour. operator with a normal, Russian-speaking guide. Therefore, multi-day excursions, I recommend taking a tour from that one. operator who brought you to Turkey (the hotel guide will be from this tour operator). It will cost a lot more, but you will be 100% safe. It's my opinion.
Finally, I want to warn against the other extreme. Among the Turkish firms that offer excursions, there are the same different ones. Of course, you can’t buy vouchers where clothes, supposedly gold, and excursions are sold in one tent. There are very good tours. firms - they are immediately visible from advertising in different languages, including Russian, it is impossible to make a mistake. They are usually located on the first floors of residential buildings. That's where you should buy.
From excursions I advise: a two-day trip to Ephesus - Pamukkale (do not take a one-day one), be sure to rafting (a sea of \u200b\u200bemotions, a sea of adrenaline), I am a pleasure yacht - there are many options with yachts, choose according to your taste. Friends went on a jeep safari - they liked it. For all excursions, especially multi-day excursions, take a supply of water and beer with you. It's free in the hotel! Outside the hotel a glass of juice 1-2 dollars, a glass of beer up to 8 dollars. At the same time, your guide will never stop near cheap shops - they do not have a public rule to help hotels make money from tourists.
I do not advise: do not try to visit those gold and leather stores that hotel guides advise you (cunning guides receive immeasurable kickbacks from these stores) They bring them to insanely expensive places where gold costs much more than even here in Russia. We fell for this bait.
At the end of my essay about traveling to Turkey, I want to repeat the words of my wife: "What you expect from a trip is what you get. " Tune in to the good, because you have an amazing and exotic country ahead of you - Turkey ! ! !
Have a good trip
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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