Rixos Sungate

A fantastic Rixos experience – but a few bumps

It’s our final day after a week at Rixos Sungate as a family of three. This was our first experience of Rixos and, as I also work within the travel industry, I was particularly interested to see whether the experience lived up to the brand’s reputation.

The short answer is that, despite a rocky start and a few frustrations along the way, we loved our Rixos experience and would definitely consider another Rixos property in the future.

The room – not the best first impression

Unfortunately, our first impression wasn’t the best. When we arrived, the standard room we had booked simply wasn’t suitable for three people. There was initially no bed for our son and, after contacting reception, an additional bed was brought to the room.

The problem was that it had to be squeezed in next to the balcony door, making it extremely difficult to access the balcony or even open and close the curtains properly. More importantly, I wasn’t particularly comfortable having an exit partially obstructed.

In fairness to Rixos, I think some of the responsibility for this probably sits with TUI and how the room is sold. We booked the holiday as two adults and one child through TUI, so naturally assumed the room category offered would comfortably accommodate three people.

Having now experienced it, I’m not convinced this particular standard room should be marketed for a family of three without making it much clearer that adding the third bed significantly reduces the available space. I therefore wouldn’t put the bedroom situation entirely at Rixos’ door – there’s perhaps a conversation needed between the hotel and tour operators around how these rooms are described and sold to families.

We raised our concerns with the hotel, particularly as this holiday was important to us following a recent family bereavement and also coincided with our wedding anniversary.

I must say a huge thank you to the Guest Services team. They were incredibly supportive and genuinely wanted to ensure we had a great holiday. Once our concerns were raised, we felt listened to and looked after, and that made a significant difference to our overall experience.

The resort

Once we’d got past the initial room issue, there is a huge amount to like about Rixos Sungate.

Firstly, the resort is enormous. There is so much going on that you could easily spend a week here without needing to leave. Despite its size, there are also quieter areas when you want them.

The setting is stunning. You’ve got the mountains behind you and the Mediterranean in front, and some of the views around the resort are beautiful.

The facilities for families are excellent and there always seems to be something happening.

The sunbed wars!

Now let’s talk about something that definitely plays a factor here – the sunbeds!

Around the Marine Pool in particular, people must have been getting up at about 5am to secure their chosen spot!

Fortunately, we refused to play that game. Instead, we would have a wander around the main pool and generally didn’t have an issue finding somewhere to sit.

You’ll also see some very luxurious-looking beds and loungers dotted around the resort. They look fantastic from a distance and clearly people are getting up incredibly early to claim those too. In all honesty, though, they’re plastic and I can only imagine how slippy you become on them once you’re hot, wet and covered in sun cream!

Interestingly, there are signs on the umbrellas stating that if you leave your sunbed unattended for an hour your belongings will be removed.

Unfortunately, during our stay we didn’t see this enforced at all.

I was absolutely here for watching that drama unfold if they had started enforcing it! At one point I was even tempted to start putting the abandoned towels in the pool myself…

Speaking of drama…

The resort has a very international clientele and, during our stay, there was a particularly large number of Russian guests.

We witnessed a few arguments during the week and one evening at a show we somehow managed to become involved in a situation over…

A chair. Yes, a chair.

A family of five were attempting to reserve three entire tables and it created quite a scene. Hotel management were informed and eventually moved us, along with another family we’d become friends with, into a VIP area.

Much calmer!

One of my biggest frustrations, both as a Brit and someone who works within the travel industry, was the difference in etiquette between some guests. Queuing occasionally seemed to be an optional concept, as did saying please and thank you.

It certainly made me appreciate the British obsession with forming an orderly queue!

Food & drink – a real highlight

The food and drink offering was excellent.

The à la carte restaurants were fantastic and being able to try so many different things throughout the week was a real highlight. They also helped make the all-inclusive offering feel much more premium than a traditional all-inclusive resort.

And having Costa Coffee available on resort is perfect – particularly before moving on to something slightly stronger at the bar later in the day!

There was plenty of choice throughout our stay and we certainly never struggled to find something we wanted.

Entertainment – couldn’t fault it

The entertainment deserves a special mention because I genuinely couldn’t fault it.

The shows, atmosphere and celebrity concerts really add something to the experience. There’s a proper buzz around the resort in the evenings and it feels like Rixos puts some serious investment into its entertainment programme.

The celebrity concerts in particular were really well received and there always seemed to be something happening.

Water slides

Our son had been particularly excited about the water slides before we arrived and they were great.

Unfortunately, he managed to cut his foot on one of the steps and, strangely enough, after that he didn’t seem quite as enthusiastic about going back on them!

Thankfully it didn’t spoil his holiday, but it’s obviously something worth keeping an eye on.

The Land of Legends – absolutely worth a day (or two!)

One of the reasons we chose Rixos Sungate was the included access to The Land of Legends, as we knew we wanted to visit the theme park while we were in Antalya.

Having now been, we could easily have spent two days there. As we were only in Turkey for a week, though, it made sense not to lose another full day at the resort.

The complimentary shuttle from Rixos Sungate takes around 1 hour 15 minutes. The journey itself was absolutely fine – the biggest challenge was once again discovering that apparently forming an orderly queue to get onto a bus isn’t universally appreciated!

When you arrive at Land of Legends you’re given a wristband which you load with money, as pretty much everything inside the park is paid for using the band.

It’s a great idea in principle, particularly when you’re around the pools and water attractions, but it’s slightly frustrating because you’ve no real concept at the beginning of the day of how much you’re going to need.

For some perspective, between the three of us we got through around six bottles of water, three burger meals, a magnet, a pair of sliders and a cuddly toy and spent roughly £130.

So although certainly not cheap, it felt fairly comparable to what we’d expect to spend on a family day out at a major UK theme park.

We didn’t need to hire a locker because my wife wasn’t going into the water, so she effectively became our human locker for the day! If you do need one, they were around £17 for the day.

The park itself genuinely blew me away.

I don’t think I’ve ever visited a theme park that was so immaculately maintained and brilliantly themed.

It is absolutely stunning and feels incredibly premium. There’s the theme park, huge water attractions and even an enormous shopping mall attached to it. It really is a destination in its own right.

There are plenty of additional experiences too. The dolphin experiences caught our eye, but at around €150 for a dolphin swim and €130 for the dolphin kiss experience, we decided to give those a miss!

Apparently the evening shows at Land of Legends are brilliant, which is perhaps the only downside of visiting on the Rixos Sungate shuttle.

I wish the final bus back to the hotel was later because it would allow you to experience much more of what happens there in the evening rather than having to leave.

Would we go back to Land of Legends?

100%.

In fact, we’d potentially even fly into Antalya for a long weekend specifically to spend a couple of days there.

It was one of the highlights of the holiday and the fact that Rixos guests get complimentary park access and transport adds some serious value to a stay at Rixos Sungate.

Would we return?

Despite the rocky start, the sunbed wars and the occasional bit of chair drama, we genuinely loved our Rixos experience.

Would I return to Rixos Sungate? Yes, although I would definitely be more careful about the room category I booked. As mentioned earlier, I think this is as much about how the room is sold by the tour operator as it is about the hotel itself.

Would I stay with Rixos again?

Absolutely.

In fact, having now experienced the brand, I’d be very tempted to try another Rixos property in the future.

There are certainly areas that could be improved – particularly enforcing the sunbed policy – but there is also a huge amount that Rixos Sungate gets right.

The food, à la carte restaurants, entertainment, facilities, atmosphere, setting and sheer amount available to families make it a memorable resort. Add in the complimentary access to Land of Legends and you have a very strong family holiday offering.

Finally, another genuine thank you to the Guest Services team. Their support and determination to make sure we enjoyed our holiday following our initial concerns made a real difference to our experience.

We arrived wondering whether Rixos would live up to its reputation and left wanting to experience another Rixos property.

Which probably says everything.

My family and I spent a week here in August. We didn’t venture outside of the resort despite having the free Land of Legends passes as the length of bus journey there and back put us off. The hotel is a large complex, we think made up of a few pre-existing hotels joined into a large resort rather than a purpose built resort. As much different areas of the hotel have a different feel to them. We were in the Marine building by the Marine Pool and bar. Our room was a superior double supposedly but I’m not convinced it was. It had a king size bed and a double sofa bed but it was quite dark decorations and looked a bit tired, not what was shown on TUI website. However it was ok for us so we didn’t waste time complaining, especially knowing the hotel was full. Bathroom shower did have a tendency to flood a bit. Air con never got colder than 22 degrees but that was fine for us. We asked for a quiet room on a high floor and we definitely did get that. The cleaners did a good job and the mini bar was restocked daily.

The Marine pool was our favourite pool by a long way. The sunbeds were really good solid wooden ones with cushions there. If you wanted to secure sunbeds you did need to have your towels out by 7am. The main pools were louder and busier but the resort had a really good amount of shade if you wanted to escape the blazing sun. The Rixy kids club had air con in the soft play and their own kids slide area which is fab for younger kids or less confident swimmers. The main water park had a good number of slides but you did have to be over 120 tall and the lifeguards do check. A couple of the slides weren’t running when we were there but the fastest/tallest ones all were. There are 2 which use rubber rings and there seemed to be enough rings (single and double) to go round.

Costa coffee shack and bar were great, loved our ice caramel macchiatos! We mainly got drinks from the Marine pool bar otherwise and they did a great job too. Sometimes there was a bit of a wait but never too long. Food wise we only tried the Rixy restaurant and the Mexican Cactus. Cactus was really nice and we would recommend it. With hindsight I’d have liked to try more à la cartes but the app wouldn’t work very well for us and guest services were constantly busy so we didn’t bother. We did feel that there weren’t enough lunch time options - it was alara snack bar, main buffet, Rixy or croissants. Other resorts we have been to had more lunch time restaurant / food options despite being smaller resorts. Excluding Cactus we sadly found the food quite bland. There was a large selection to choose from but the taste itself was underwhelming/disappointing. The variety of ice cream / ice lollies available however was good and we all enjoyed those!

Entertainment we were disappointed by, it was mostly music/DJ based and one circus style show. The seating to view was terrible tall stools and nowhere near enough of them. Having stayed at resorts half the size with double the seating it’s very noticeable. The circus show was good though, however the kids circus show was just as good in terms of quality. This was in an amphitheater which had probably far more seating! Still not mega comfy but better than the main stage!

Kids club overall offered SO much variety and choice - ceramics, woodwork, art, painting, science, coding, soft play, bubbles, go ape ish style play area, evening sweets/popcorn/candy floss/drinks etc. They also had a fairytale festival night in the main square which had so many different things available to see or do. This really is what would likely bring us back to Rixos again.

Overall the hotel was clean and the grounds were well maintained, staff were mostly friendly (though not all spoke good English), food was bland for us, pools were nice, Costa was fab, water slides were good, beach was pleasant, entertainment was lacking for adults but great for kids.

The experience was unbelievably disappointing, and the level of service we received throughout our stay was extremely poor. Every time we went for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, we encountered issues that made the experience increasingly frustrating.

The tables were often dirty, our orders were repeatedly taken incorrectly, and the overall service was far below what we expected.

Our final night was particularly disappointing. We went to the Cactus Restaurant expecting a pleasant last evening, but our order was taken incorrectly. My main course never arrived, and despite calling the waitress three times, she completely ignored me. I was left sitting at the table while everyone else had their food, which was incredibly upsetting and embarrassing so my husband gave me his quesadilla to have it as my main.

For our last night, this was especially disappointing and left us with a very negative impression of the entire experience. We expected much better service and attention from the restaurant, and unfortunately, we were let down repeatedly.