Eftalia Aqua Resort – All Inclusive

We came here as a family of three for Oct half term and were not disappointed! The site, if you include Eftalia Island, is HUGE so I would advise a morning just getting your bearings and avoid the middle of the day to do it - it was a gorgeous 26-28 degrees every day and 11-2 were definitely the hottest times! There is the hotel itself which, as far as I could see, was SPOTLESSLY clean and, if people bother to notice, is CONSTANTLY being cleaned by the staff. No sooner has pne meal time finished, then they are preparing for the next and arrnging everything back to how it was first thing so that everyone can be accommodated. The pools are 'closed' around 5pm (not manned by staff) and they tehn arrnage all the chairs and umbrellas and so on ready for the next day. Especially at this time, when it started to get a little cooler around 4:30pm, I didn't mind too much - out at the Island there are plenty of places to sit on the beach and so on, and at the hotel, there is loads of outside space with chairs and tables so plenty of places to park yourselves. In the evening and early morning they jet wash all the paths as well so you cannot say they're not doing what they can to keep it clean. Our room was lovely for the three of us - we didn't spend a lot of time in it to be honest and as we had a room overlooking the pool with slides out the back, it was just nice to sit out on the balcony and wacth the world go by before dinner/tea in the evening. Our cleaning lady was so lovely and was always on hand to check if we wanted our towels changing earlier than every two days - I tipped her in euros at the end of the week which she was very grateful for - she always greeted us with a smile and blowing kisses, as she didn't speak a lot of English - much as we don't speak a lot of Turkish! The waterfall shower was incredible and never once went cold, plenty of towels and paper etc. I wasn't 100% whether you flush paper down the toilets in Turkey and all the posts suggest you don't, so using the bin provided is advisable. Common sense! The walls are not the thickest, and we had an 'angry' man next door to us, but it didn't really affect us much - the hotel is quite noisy as there are so many people coming and going, with lots of families of all ages, so if you're after a tranquil break, it's not really the ideal place! The hotel is not far from a mosque (out the back of the hotel) and it was nice hearing the call to prayer so many times - it is early in the morning, but after the first couple, you get used to it and I personally LOVE hearing it; reminds me that I'm away from home for real and in someone else's culture. I've said that before on a review of Turkey and it doesn't change; appreciate it for what it is. The food: to put it bluntly, if you complain about the food (as many people did!), there is definitely something wrong with you and not the food. My stepson can be quite picky and although he may have eaten similar things throughout the week,

Booked here for 10 days starting on the 28th of September, Soon as arrived we were offered upgrade for room at £250, we checked out room and took it, Food was repetitive all the time, kids lived of pizza and chips, Alcohol was watered down and the beer definitely was not Efes, Small glasses for everything, and if you asked for larger glass you were ignored, staff always on mobile phones, only 1 server at bar entertainment area, which left massive ques, on our last day my youngest son got sickness and diarrhoea so we had to miss our 8:45am flight and rebook for next day, Asked hotel for extra time in room as our check out was 12pm in afternoon but transfer from hotel was 3am, Was told this would cost us a extra £400!! So had to sit in main reception with 3 kids from 12pm till 3am transfer, The elevators were very dirty and hotel smelled of sewage all day, The only good things were the flumes which you can get at any Turkish Hotel now, Avoid at all cost, pictures and videos of this place over sell it, you definitely don't get what is advertised,

Our first family holiday with our 3 year old daughter. When we arrived we paid to upgrade our room which was worth the money!. Our room was very nice, the view from the balcony was amazing. Food was really nice, entertainment was good too. Would 100% be coming back. Ferhat & Sinan were great staff! All of the staff were so friendly and helpful. Can’t wait to come back!

We have just returned from 10 nights here, myself , my husband and 3 kids, 12,14,17. I will start with the positives- On arrival we where offered to upgrade to the new Blue hotel for 50 euros which was great however it is farther from the island so we opted to stay put, also read some reviews on the blue and lots of negative so thought i would stay where we where. Eftalia Aqua is a lovely hotel, spotless all the time, rooms cleaned every day, towels , sheets etc and such lovely cleaner too. Spacious and modern rooms, we had the 2 bedroom family room on ground floor. Lots of sun loungers and the most amazing pool attendant who made sure everyone got a lounger and umbrella, he was constantly cleaning the area too. Lifeguards on at the pool and slide areas where brilliant. Slides at hotel where great as where the ones down in the island. Entertainment staff excellent , especially ali who our kids loved. One waiter Fadil in the restaurant made sure we had a table every night, brought our drinks to us etc and always with a smile. Entertainment was fantastic most nights as was the island, we all enjoyed the shows and the foam party at the island. 2 of the kids done the zip line across the island which was reasonably priced and got a go pro video each for 8 euros. My hubby and 2 kids done the parasailing one day, great price and also managed to get an excellent deal on the drone video, their go pro video and approx 40 pics, highly recommend. To top is off the weather was amazing for our entire stay. Island area very good but extremely busy. Lots of food on offer through the day and night but i will talk about that in the negatives! Negatives - Not a real all inclusive - 1 euro for orange juice at breakfast, inclusive drinks where awful, even a double rum and coke tasted like coke, have to be water down! Beer poor and no cocktails included. Cocktails where amazing but cost between 8-10 euros each! No ice cream available unless you paid for it apart from between 2-4pm when chocolate ice cream lollies came out , if you have a nut allergy just forget about going near it. Constantly trying to sell you things, massages, photos, tattoos, hair braids and cocktails! stand around the pool area selling waffles and ice cream but again not included. Beach is terrible, water was stinking and full of stones, our first attempt for a sea dip my middle child had the sole of her foot sliced open on a very sharp rock, and we went to that part that the map said was least rocky, needless to say we didnt have any beach days! Now for food, plenty of places to eat at hotel at allotted times through the day, snack bar at slide pool at 12, burger land 2-6pm then 10pm onwards, restaurant open for breakfast, lunch and dinner as expected. Down on island you could get kebabs, chips , chicken wings from stands as part of the all inclusive and also a couple of large areas to eat with similar food to the snack bar at hotel, chips, pizza, burgers, salad. Waffles with chocolate sauce fr