Your rating of this hotel:
9.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms:
10.0
Service:
9.0
Cleanliness:
10.0
Food:
10.0
Amenities:
8.0
We were in Turkey for the first time (they planned to go to Cyprus, they had already booked tickets - but due to explosions at a military base and subsequent difficulties with electricity on this island, they decided not to risk it).
We reviewed about 20 Turkish hotels, read reviews and assessed the infrastructure.
Basic requirements: close to the airport (short transfer), quiet place, good sandy beach and sandy bottom in the place for swimming in the sea, smooth even entry into the water, not close to the residential area (no noisy local, transport highways near the hotel, etc. ) . P. ).
We chose Sural Saray 5 * because of the excellent sandy beach and good geographical location.
We flew from Yekaterinburg on a charter with UTair.
Did not like the organization of the departure:
Not only was the old Boeing 757-200 delivered instead of the promised "fresh" Airbus, but the flight was delayed for 40 minutes (they were waiting for some bastards, who were brought straight to the gangway in a black BMW with Moscow numbers and taken to the plane without inspection).
Naturally, there were no announcements of the delay, no apologies.
Despite all the efforts of the pilot, it was not possible to catch up with the schedule, they also arrived late.
In 15 minutes we received our luggage and passed through passport control, then we left the airport to the counter of "our" tour operator (reception, transfer and accommodation were provided by ANEX-Tour, everything went quickly and clearly).
A small FIAT-Ducato minibus was waiting for us - six of us were traveling in it, the rest of the fellow travelers from the plane were placed in large double-decker buses.
We turned on the air conditioner and drove to the hotel, along the way talking about the region, the resort, attractions and Turkey in general.
The guide, by the way, was a Turkish girl named Izumrud, who speaks excellent Russian.
We reached the hotel in 40 minutes (it was already about 08-50 local time).
According to the rules, check-in is at 14-00, but we immediately, within 5 minutes, filled out a questionnaire, gave us the key to the room we ordered with a sea view (I got room 248 on the second floor) and sent for breakfast.
After breakfast with scrambled eggs cooked in front of our eyes, pancakes with chocolate, vegetable salad and delicious apple tea with local sweets, we went to the sea, exploring the hotel along the way.
A little about the hotel.
Sural Saray 5 * is part of the Sural hotel group and is located on the same territory with them, about 2 kilometers from the village of Cholakli (9 km from Side).
Near Sural Saray 5 * there is a slightly neglected park, along the paths of which we sometimes walked.
Behind the park is a well-groomed and green area of the Sural Otel 5 *.
In front of the main entrance to these hotels there is a road behind which Sural Garden is located on the second line.
After Sural Otel 5* the road goes to the left, going around a huge wasteland, where you can see the foundation of the new hotel (no construction was carried out there during our stay).
On the other side of the wasteland there are three buildings of the Sural Resort 5 * hotel.
In my opinion, Saray is the most well located (farther from the road, quieter).
The most well-groomed and beautiful area is at Sural Otel 5 * (we went there to take pictures).
The best beach and entrance to the water is just between these two hotels.
All Sural hotels and all the infrastructure in them are fully designed for the Germans.
According to my estimate, they were 80% among vacationers in our hotel (half of them are pensioners, the second is young couples with or without children).
The hotel staff speaks very good German, many understand English.
One woman at the reception spoke a little Russian (she helped us fill out the questionnaire) and one of the managers at the SPA center spoke excellent Russian (Sural Saray 5 * has its own small SPA center).
There were few of our compatriots in Sural Saray 5 *, so we were deprived of the dubious "pleasure" to watch a variety of drunken antics, noisy parties, swearing and others
unpleasant things that could ruin our holiday.
I liked the room - spacious and clean.
Plumbing is new, everything works. Central air conditioning (3 positions), TV (mainly German and a couple of Russian channels).
The room was cleaned daily - floors washed, bed linen and towels changed.
Large balcony with folding chairs.
For the use of the safe gave $ 1.5 per day.
The safe is quite large - it will fit not only documents and wallets, but also a camera if necessary.
What is especially nice - free and stable WiFi is available in the reception hall and on the internal terrace behind the hotel.
Also in the lobby there is a computer permanently connected to the Internet, which is provided to guests free of charge (during the day, however, it is busy with someone all the time).
The Sural Saray 5 * hotel has two restaurants (in the hotel building - for breakfast and dinner, and on the beach - for lunch) and two bars (on the inner terrace and next to the pool).
The hotel also has its own spa.
In it, on the very first day, we did a Turkish bath - "hamam" with a full "foam-soap" massage of the whole body, and then we got a relaxing "clay-oil" face mask, we really liked it.
After the hamam, a Turkish manager spoke to us in perfect Russian, asking us to call him simply "Roma" and told us about the procedures offered by the SPA center.
We chose a course of full body massage (prices are approximately at the "Ural" level, $40 per session).
Massage, by the way, was done conscientiously, firmly and competently. After each massage - a face mask and wonderful apple tea, a local attraction.
Nutrition.
The food was tasty and varied, buffet style.
A varied cuisine, always fresh products, a large selection of local vegetables and fruits (the resort of Side is part of the Monavgat province, which is one of the leaders in Turkey's agriculture - after all, the local climate allows you to harvest two crops a year).
Usually about 15... 20 types of salads and cheeses, 5 types of bread, 10 types of fruits.
Several types of meat (usually beef, turkey and chicken).
In unlimited quantities around the clock, local wine and beer (the Germans drank with pleasure), as well as soft drinks (there is a factory in Side, produces lemonades and Cola).
I especially liked the Gazoz drink, which is somewhat similar to the excellent Soviet lemonade "Kolokolchik".
Sweets for tea were not impressive - just biscuits soaked in sweet syrup. The cakes were much better.
They also took delicious buns with butter and filled them with jam (there were 10 types) or honey.
But for freshly cooked scrambled eggs with spices, pancakes with honey and hot chocolate, flat cakes with cottage cheese and spices, as well as baked potatoes "in uniform" in the oven - there were always small queues, it was so delicious.
Swimming and beach.
The beach is located 50 meters from the hotel. Both the beach itself and the bottom of the sea from the coast to the buoys are sandy (about 100 meters to swim to them, you can walk on foot - the depth of the sea in the area of \u200b\u200bbuoys is 2 meters, no more).
The bottom is flat, without stones.
The water is very clean (toes at the bottom are visible at a depth of 2 meters) and very warm - 30 degrees, probably.
We swam 4 times a day - we got up to walk along the beach in the morning (at 07-00 local time), before lunch, after taking ice cream (from 15-00 to 17-00 it was issued at the pool bar, there were 10 types of soft ice cream) and after dinner (at sunset or at night).
The first 2 days the sea was calm, then the excitement began, sometimes strong. It did not interfere with swimming - it was cool to "ride" on the waves.
At any time, among the palm trees, and on the beach there are free sunbeds.
There are more people by the pool on sunbeds (the Germans generally like to wallow in the blue and clean, but chlorinated water of the pool. We didn’t understand this - after all, there is such a clean and warm sea nearby! ).
Walking along the seashore in the morning, about a kilometer from our beach, we found two piers that go into the sea - between them lived a flock of fish, which we sometimes fed with bread.
The best, cleanest and most convenient beach in the area, in our opinion, was near our Sural Saray 5 * hotel.
Entertainment.
The hotel, I repeat, is "German", so everything was sedate, quiet and calm.
What is especially nice is the relatively quiet and unobtrusive animation (games, water polo and water gymnastics in the pool, volleyball on the beach).
(By the way, in sharp contrast to our calm hotel was the animation of the nearby hotel "Bella Resort", whose music screaming all over the coast and the wild cries of the animators "strained" even us, who were 200 meters away from them. Probably, they were trying to compensate for the lack of a normal beach in front of my hotel. I also note a positive moment for them - they had animation in 3 languages (English, German and Russian).
The SPA center has a gym and a sauna (everything is free).
In the evenings, tables were set up at the bar, candles were lit and live music was played.
Once every two or three days, local and imported talents (magicians, acrobats, jugglers, dancers, etc. ) performed.
I suppose that lovers of "get drunk", "hang out", "make some noise", etc. Sural Saray 5 * hotel will seem somewhat boring, but lovers of a quiet and relaxing holiday, parents with children and just wanting peace and quiet will really like this hotel.
Tours.
Bought two and didn't like both.
The first excursion: "Sightseeing tour of Side" - in fact, just a shopping trip (first jewelry, then leather - both expensive, then we stopped at a textile wholesale base, we liked it - the choice is good, prices are about half the price of Russian ones).
Then, in 45-degree heat, they landed near the ruins of Roman settlements, we quickly photographed what we had time to do and after half an hour we ran to the minibus - because it was impossible to walk on molten asphalt).
Then we went to have dinner in an open restaurant on the waterfall of the Monavgat River, after which it instantly got dark and our tour ended : )
Conclusion - I don’t recommend taking this tour, it’s better to take a taxi from early morning (their parking is right outside the hotel), drive to the center of Side and take a quiet walk in the area before lunch, then return by taxi to the hotel for lunch.
Necessary souvenirs, oriental sweets, suitcases, textiles, etc.
it is better to buy at the markets near the Sural Otel 5 * hotel or on the road opposite the Sural Resort 5 * hotel.
In these places, the goods are the same, and the prices are half as much as in the shops that are visited on excursions.
The second excursion is "Picnic-fishing on the Green Lake".
This is a trip beyond Monavgat, to a mountain reservoir, with riding on double-deck catamarans, swimming in emerald green fresh water 14 ...trout and roasted boar).
This excursion is better, only the fishing was not successful (on a small stretch of the coast - about 50 fishermen and frankly inappropriate bait), as well as too expensive photos taken by the catamaran's staff photographer.
10 days of our holiday flew by quickly.
The return transfer went without problems - the same small minibus picked us up at 3-40 am, quickly and with a Russian-speaking guide drove to the airport (on the way, of course, we stopped again at a large store).
We flew back again with UTair, this time without excesses and on time.
I will note the small disadvantages of the Sural Saray 5 * hotel:
1. The LeCarte restaurant listed on the website was not working.
2. The park between the Sural Saray 5 * and Sural Otel 5 * hotels is a little neglected and unkempt.
3. In addition to the children's pool (35 mm deep) for very young children, there is no playground on the territory of the Sural Saray 5 * hotel (however, I note that all visitors to the hotels of the Sural group can use the infrastructure of all other hotels, and in the Sural Otel 5 * there is a special playground and water slides).
In general, summarizing:
I liked everything at the Sural Saray 5 * hotel, especially the crystal clear warm sea and the excellent sandy beach (probably the best in this area of the Side region).
Hotel Sural Saray 5 * (and this part of the coast of Side near the village of Cholakly) as a whole, I will now recommend to friends.
We reviewed about 20 Turkish hotels, read reviews and assessed the infrastructure.
Basic requirements: close to the airport (short transfer), quiet place, good sandy beach and sandy bottom in the place for swimming in the sea, smooth even entry into the water, not close to the residential area (no noisy local, transport highways near the hotel, etc. ) . P. ).
We chose Sural Saray 5 * because of the excellent sandy beach and good geographical location.
We flew from Yekaterinburg on a charter with UTair.
Did not like the organization of the departure:
Not only was the old Boeing 757-200 delivered instead of the promised "fresh" Airbus, but the flight was delayed for 40 minutes (they were waiting for some bastards, who were brought straight to the gangway in a black BMW with Moscow numbers and taken to the plane without inspection).
Naturally, there were no announcements of the delay, no apologies.
Despite all the efforts of the pilot, it was not possible to catch up with the schedule, they also arrived late.
In 15 minutes we received our luggage and passed through passport control, then we left the airport to the counter of "our" tour operator (reception, transfer and accommodation were provided by ANEX-Tour, everything went quickly and clearly).
A small FIAT-Ducato minibus was waiting for us - six of us were traveling in it, the rest of the fellow travelers from the plane were placed in large double-decker buses.
We turned on the air conditioner and drove to the hotel, along the way talking about the region, the resort, attractions and Turkey in general.
The guide, by the way, was a Turkish girl named Izumrud, who speaks excellent Russian.
We reached the hotel in 40 minutes (it was already about 08-50 local time).
According to the rules, check-in is at 14-00, but we immediately, within 5 minutes, filled out a questionnaire, gave us the key to the room we ordered with a sea view (I got room 248 on the second floor) and sent for breakfast.
After breakfast with scrambled eggs cooked in front of our eyes, pancakes with chocolate, vegetable salad and delicious apple tea with local sweets, we went to the sea, exploring the hotel along the way.
A little about the hotel.
Sural Saray 5 * is part of the Sural hotel group and is located on the same territory with them, about 2 kilometers from the village of Cholakli (9 km from Side).
Near Sural Saray 5 * there is a slightly neglected park, along the paths of which we sometimes walked.
Behind the park is a well-groomed and green area of the Sural Otel 5 *.
In front of the main entrance to these hotels there is a road behind which Sural Garden is located on the second line.
After Sural Otel 5* the road goes to the left, going around a huge wasteland, where you can see the foundation of the new hotel (no construction was carried out there during our stay).
On the other side of the wasteland there are three buildings of the Sural Resort 5 * hotel.
In my opinion, Saray is the most well located (farther from the road, quieter).
The most well-groomed and beautiful area is at Sural Otel 5 * (we went there to take pictures).
The best beach and entrance to the water is just between these two hotels.
All Sural hotels and all the infrastructure in them are fully designed for the Germans.
According to my estimate, they were 80% among vacationers in our hotel (half of them are pensioners, the second is young couples with or without children).
The hotel staff speaks very good German, many understand English.
One woman at the reception spoke a little Russian (she helped us fill out the questionnaire) and one of the managers at the SPA center spoke excellent Russian (Sural Saray 5 * has its own small SPA center).
There were few of our compatriots in Sural Saray 5 *, so we were deprived of the dubious "pleasure" to watch a variety of drunken antics, noisy parties, swearing and others
unpleasant things that could ruin our holiday.
I liked the room - spacious and clean.
Plumbing is new, everything works. Central air conditioning (3 positions), TV (mainly German and a couple of Russian channels).
The room was cleaned daily - floors washed, bed linen and towels changed.
Large balcony with folding chairs.
For the use of the safe gave $ 1.5 per day.
The safe is quite large - it will fit not only documents and wallets, but also a camera if necessary.
What is especially nice - free and stable WiFi is available in the reception hall and on the internal terrace behind the hotel.
Also in the lobby there is a computer permanently connected to the Internet, which is provided to guests free of charge (during the day, however, it is busy with someone all the time).
The Sural Saray 5 * hotel has two restaurants (in the hotel building - for breakfast and dinner, and on the beach - for lunch) and two bars (on the inner terrace and next to the pool).
The hotel also has its own spa.
In it, on the very first day, we did a Turkish bath - "hamam" with a full "foam-soap" massage of the whole body, and then we got a relaxing "clay-oil" face mask, we really liked it.
After the hamam, a Turkish manager spoke to us in perfect Russian, asking us to call him simply "Roma" and told us about the procedures offered by the SPA center.
We chose a course of full body massage (prices are approximately at the "Ural" level, $40 per session).
Massage, by the way, was done conscientiously, firmly and competently. After each massage - a face mask and wonderful apple tea, a local attraction.
Nutrition.
The food was tasty and varied, buffet style.
A varied cuisine, always fresh products, a large selection of local vegetables and fruits (the resort of Side is part of the Monavgat province, which is one of the leaders in Turkey's agriculture - after all, the local climate allows you to harvest two crops a year).
Usually about 15... 20 types of salads and cheeses, 5 types of bread, 10 types of fruits.
Several types of meat (usually beef, turkey and chicken).
In unlimited quantities around the clock, local wine and beer (the Germans drank with pleasure), as well as soft drinks (there is a factory in Side, produces lemonades and Cola).
I especially liked the Gazoz drink, which is somewhat similar to the excellent Soviet lemonade "Kolokolchik".
Sweets for tea were not impressive - just biscuits soaked in sweet syrup. The cakes were much better.
They also took delicious buns with butter and filled them with jam (there were 10 types) or honey.
But for freshly cooked scrambled eggs with spices, pancakes with honey and hot chocolate, flat cakes with cottage cheese and spices, as well as baked potatoes "in uniform" in the oven - there were always small queues, it was so delicious.
Swimming and beach.
The beach is located 50 meters from the hotel. Both the beach itself and the bottom of the sea from the coast to the buoys are sandy (about 100 meters to swim to them, you can walk on foot - the depth of the sea in the area of \u200b\u200bbuoys is 2 meters, no more).
The bottom is flat, without stones.
The water is very clean (toes at the bottom are visible at a depth of 2 meters) and very warm - 30 degrees, probably.
We swam 4 times a day - we got up to walk along the beach in the morning (at 07-00 local time), before lunch, after taking ice cream (from 15-00 to 17-00 it was issued at the pool bar, there were 10 types of soft ice cream) and after dinner (at sunset or at night).
The first 2 days the sea was calm, then the excitement began, sometimes strong. It did not interfere with swimming - it was cool to "ride" on the waves.
At any time, among the palm trees, and on the beach there are free sunbeds.
There are more people by the pool on sunbeds (the Germans generally like to wallow in the blue and clean, but chlorinated water of the pool. We didn’t understand this - after all, there is such a clean and warm sea nearby! ).
Walking along the seashore in the morning, about a kilometer from our beach, we found two piers that go into the sea - between them lived a flock of fish, which we sometimes fed with bread.
The best, cleanest and most convenient beach in the area, in our opinion, was near our Sural Saray 5 * hotel.
Entertainment.
The hotel, I repeat, is "German", so everything was sedate, quiet and calm.
What is especially nice is the relatively quiet and unobtrusive animation (games, water polo and water gymnastics in the pool, volleyball on the beach).
(By the way, in sharp contrast to our calm hotel was the animation of the nearby hotel "Bella Resort", whose music screaming all over the coast and the wild cries of the animators "strained" even us, who were 200 meters away from them. Probably, they were trying to compensate for the lack of a normal beach in front of my hotel. I also note a positive moment for them - they had animation in 3 languages (English, German and Russian).
The SPA center has a gym and a sauna (everything is free).
In the evenings, tables were set up at the bar, candles were lit and live music was played.
Once every two or three days, local and imported talents (magicians, acrobats, jugglers, dancers, etc. ) performed.
I suppose that lovers of "get drunk", "hang out", "make some noise", etc. Sural Saray 5 * hotel will seem somewhat boring, but lovers of a quiet and relaxing holiday, parents with children and just wanting peace and quiet will really like this hotel.
Tours.
Bought two and didn't like both.
The first excursion: "Sightseeing tour of Side" - in fact, just a shopping trip (first jewelry, then leather - both expensive, then we stopped at a textile wholesale base, we liked it - the choice is good, prices are about half the price of Russian ones).
Then, in 45-degree heat, they landed near the ruins of Roman settlements, we quickly photographed what we had time to do and after half an hour we ran to the minibus - because it was impossible to walk on molten asphalt).
Then we went to have dinner in an open restaurant on the waterfall of the Monavgat River, after which it instantly got dark and our tour ended : )
Conclusion - I don’t recommend taking this tour, it’s better to take a taxi from early morning (their parking is right outside the hotel), drive to the center of Side and take a quiet walk in the area before lunch, then return by taxi to the hotel for lunch.
Necessary souvenirs, oriental sweets, suitcases, textiles, etc.
it is better to buy at the markets near the Sural Otel 5 * hotel or on the road opposite the Sural Resort 5 * hotel.
In these places, the goods are the same, and the prices are half as much as in the shops that are visited on excursions.
The second excursion is "Picnic-fishing on the Green Lake".
This is a trip beyond Monavgat, to a mountain reservoir, with riding on double-deck catamarans, swimming in emerald green fresh water 14 ...trout and roasted boar).
This excursion is better, only the fishing was not successful (on a small stretch of the coast - about 50 fishermen and frankly inappropriate bait), as well as too expensive photos taken by the catamaran's staff photographer.
10 days of our holiday flew by quickly.
The return transfer went without problems - the same small minibus picked us up at 3-40 am, quickly and with a Russian-speaking guide drove to the airport (on the way, of course, we stopped again at a large store).
We flew back again with UTair, this time without excesses and on time.
I will note the small disadvantages of the Sural Saray 5 * hotel:
1. The LeCarte restaurant listed on the website was not working.
2. The park between the Sural Saray 5 * and Sural Otel 5 * hotels is a little neglected and unkempt.
3. In addition to the children's pool (35 mm deep) for very young children, there is no playground on the territory of the Sural Saray 5 * hotel (however, I note that all visitors to the hotels of the Sural group can use the infrastructure of all other hotels, and in the Sural Otel 5 * there is a special playground and water slides).
In general, summarizing:
I liked everything at the Sural Saray 5 * hotel, especially the crystal clear warm sea and the excellent sandy beach (probably the best in this area of the Side region).
Hotel Sural Saray 5 * (and this part of the coast of Side near the village of Cholakly) as a whole, I will now recommend to friends.
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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