Swandor Topkapi Palace Hotel

Family of 4 staying for 8 nights in the duplex accommodation, 5000 block facing what others have called the Kremlin building (neighbouring hotel).

Incessant Music Noise from 10am to 1am 0/5: The very horrible loud music from the nearby hotel was extremely annoying and made the balcony unusable for the duration of our 9 days stay, it was also a nightly challenge holding off on your sleep until the stupid music stopped. We like music and listen to all types of genres, but I genuinely don’t know who likes that level of noise every hour of the day..

All Inclusive Food 1/5: “Dinner 19.00-21.00 Hünkar Restaurant” Having just a 2 hour window for dinner in the main restaurant is just ridiculous for the size of the hotel and the number of guests, Repetitive food menus, Batch produced food like a hostel or even worse, Inconsistent flavours and tastes, Food is recycled from the main restaurant to the smaller restaurants when it closes. Mass crowds at meal times made it a free for all, The daily hunt for a seating area was very frustrating on day 5, Sat in the seating area with no AC on 3 days as it was just too busy in the air conditioned areas and we had already spent about 10 minutes looking for a table, Odd layout of the restaurant adds to the chaos and crowding issues during meal times. Very odd reading positively glowing reviews of the all inclusive meals, I guess we all have different tastes and preferences.

Swimming Pools 1/5: The 3 circular / oblong shaped pools are definitely not enough for the size of the hotel and the number of guests on any given peak day. Silly to have the sun loungers right at the tip of the pool so the nuisance families who get up at 6am to kidnap all the sun loungers feel it’s their personal space and property. The pools were so over crowded that we only went into it on 3 of the 9 days that we were there. Smoking & vaping is a national pastime here and the locals and neighbouring country guests love it, so be prepared for daily passive smoking everywhere outdoors, whether you like it or not.

Sadabad Beach Club - The Pier 3/5: Lots of smoking, vaping, alcohol consumption and loud music if that’s what you are into. Good views of the sea and beyond. Kids enjoyed jumping off the sides into the sea and seeing how many times they could swim back to the beach.

Onsite Water Park 1/5: We only went there once as it was closed several times so I can’t really comment beyond that. Go to the Land of Legends instead, that was surprisingly awesome and on par with the top waterpark venues in the Gulf and even in North America.

Amphitheatre / Entertainment 5/5: This was the best distraction from all the negatives at the hotel. We saw the Hall of Fame music group with a solid Michael Jackson ending, the Mongolian acrobats were also very good but nervy to watch, the KB Magicians totally blew everyone away. There was also nightly live music in the central area which looked okay and had lots of people congregated daily.

Beach Area 4/5: Probably the least crowded area of the hotel, so we spent more time here during our stay and we are not all competent swimmers in our group. The pools were just too over crowded for us. Lots of available sun loungers, sufficiently placed shower areas and places to get cold drinks and ice creams. The sea water is colourful and it is definitely not clear so this was new to us compared to other places we have been to. Probably the most sand we have ever seen at a beach when the waves comes in and goes back out.

Duplex Room 2/5: Good layout with a double type bed on the ground floor and 2 singles beds on the top floor. A well stocked fridge that was replenished daily I think. The AC on the top floor became noisy mid stay but the obtrusive music noise from the nearby hotel helped drown this out!, but it was equally annoying and affected the kids sleeping pattern. The AC on the main floor started leaking slightly mid stay and we also had that foul, sewage type smell one day so I turned off the AC to stop the air recirculating for the night so it was a very unpleasant nights sleep due to the heat as the AC had to be turned off to stop the foul sewage smell form coming back into the rooms.

Hotel & Taxis 0/5: The hotel has a monopoly on which taxis can access the hotel so they manipulate the charges as others have already mentioned. Taxi meter? What taxi meter? You paid TL700 yesterday but it will cost you TL1000 today WTF!! You are coerced into arranging return trips that you didn’t know you needed!! Taxi driver drops you at a friends shop who does the mid to hard selling for his shop depends on how unfortunate you are with your driver on the day. The shop owner gives off a false sense of security because that person has offered his unrequested service to call the taxi for you when you are ready to return to the hotel… But the wider issues with taxi is unfortunately a country wide problem as we had the same experiences in Istanbul, Ankara & now Antalya..!!!!! Be prepared for daylight robbery from very very dishonest taxi drivers.

Arcade room 5/5: Good variety of arcade games to cater to all age groups, it also has a mid size bowling alley that’s great fun.

Shopping on site 1/5: Prices for amenities, clothing, bags and footwear were on average 2 to 3 times more than what you would pay outside of the hotel or in the Grand Bazar and Old Town. We reluctantly had to buy some items for the kids that we forgot to pack so we just accepted the ridiculous mark up.

Amazing Resort everything is perfect, various types of food many swimming pools and huge space of gardens Best staff is Astra from guest relations And Hulya from the main restaurant