Wyndham Garden Lara

We have just returned from a two-week holiday with a family of seven, and I can honestly say we survived — which is always a good start! Overall, we had a fantastic time and there was plenty to keep everyone entertained, fed and searching for sunbeds.

The hotel is around a 30-minute transfer from the airport, and check-in was smooth and easy. No drama, no tears and no one lost their passport — a successful beginning!

The rooms were spacious and well equipped with a kettle, fridge, hairdryer, conditioner, iron and ironing board. Basically, everything you need to survive a family holiday. The TV, however, only had three British news channels, so if you enjoy watching the news on holiday… congratulations, you were in luck. The Wi-Fi was fantastic during the first week, but during the second week it clearly decided it had worked hard enough and went on holiday itself. We could barely use it!

The pool area was spotless and incredibly well looked after. Every evening it was cleaned down, and throughout the day staff were constantly maintaining the area. A huge shout-out has to go to Lukman, the man who looked after us with our sunbeds. Always friendly, always happy to help and generally an absolute legend. If you see him, give him a tip — honestly, just do it.

The only issue was the sunbed situation. People were reserving beds before 6am! Some guests were clearly on military-style sunbed missions while the rest of us were still drooling on our pillows. The hotel policy said towels would be removed if people weren’t using the sunbeds, but unfortunately, these towels appeared to have diplomatic immunity because nothing happened.

The slides were very well run by the lifeguard team, and safety was clearly their number one priority. There were whistles constantly being blown to warn people of potential danger. It was basically a whistle concert with waterslides in the background — but better safe than sorry!

The shuttle to the beach comes every 10–15 minutes, which is great. You can walk there, but I personally wouldn’t recommend doing that in the middle of the day unless you enjoy arriving looking like you’ve just completed a desert expedition. Late afternoon, when the sun goes down, is much more manageable.

There are two pools at the beach. One is brilliant for children, with lots of slides and plenty to keep them entertained. Again, the lifeguard team were excellent. The other pool has lots of activities and loud music, so if you like your holiday with a bit of boom boom boom and people shouting into microphones, you’ll love it! There are also more sunbeds available.

The beach pier is definitely worth visiting. You can grab a cold drink and enjoy the view. The sea is absolutely beautiful and calm. Definitely bring your own lilo, though, because buying one there may require you to remortgage your house. They cost around €18–€28!

The food at the beach included pizza from the pizza oven — mmm, lovely! There was also the beach restaurant, although the food was pretty repetitive. However, the churros were absolutely worth it. Forget your diet. Get the churros.

If you want more variety, head to the main restaurant. There is loads of choice and genuinely something for everyone. The food was great, and the waiters were very attentive. Just be friendly, give them a smile and they will look after you. Manners cost nothing… unlike the lilo.

Entertainment included a mini disco every night at 8:30pm, which was perfect because it gave us time to eat first. After the mini disco, there was more entertainment, which was okay. But if you really want the good stuff, venture down to the beach bar. That’s where things got more lively!

Housekeeping did a great job of keeping the rooms clean and making the beds. Considering the mess seven people can create, they deserve some kind of award.

Now, for the most bizarre part of our holiday…

One member of our party lost a vape. A waiter at the beach told us he had found it and handed it into Guest Services at the Ramada. Great! Problem solved… or so we thought.

When we asked the two girls at Guest Services, they told us they didn’t have it.

We asked again.

Still no vape.

We persisted.

Eventually, one of the girls got up and said she would go and check with security outside. She disappeared and then came back with the vape.

Now, here’s the interesting bit…

Some members of our family were outside and had actually watched her take the vape out of her pocket before she came back inside with it.

Make of that what you will.

So, my advice is: do not leave anything valuable lying around. Keep your belongings with you, lock them away or possibly tie them to your body.

Overall, despite the disappearing Wi-Fi, the 6am sunbed commandos and the mysterious case of the pocket vape, we had a brilliant family holiday. The pools were fantastic, the beach was beautiful, the food was great and there was plenty to do for everyone.

Would we go again? Probably.

Would we bring our own lilo? Absolutely.

We are enjoying ourselves. This stay has been nice, lovely staff, great food and I’ve stayed in turkey many times and this is near the best yet.

Sun beds are easy enough. Give the pool attention some euro and it’ll be ready for you every morning.

We have a family room and it’s perfect. We was worried because 2 children need to sleep in the living room but they are comfortable and loads of space. Probably better than the twin room to be fair.

A few negatives. And when I say this they are probably more our fault for not checking deeper than what we did.

Entertainment tends to be down near the beach on the lawn behind the access to the sea. It’s either a 10 min walk or a bud s journey.

The beach. The same, it’s a walk or a bus journey.

We didn’t realise the beach is over a busy road, and a walk for 10 mins which was frustrating as we have a young family with us. We thought it was nearer and easily accessible.

The actual entertainment at the hotel isn’t great as most the investment goes To the lawn entertainment down near the beach so the hotel empties out in the evening so it can be very dead at night.

The specialist restaurants. When you arrive book them straight away. They are around a 7 day lead time so if your here for 7 days you will struggle if you don’t book on day one

Anyway, enough of the small negatives. Overall it’s a clean, lovely hotel with a good standard.

We are set to enjoy the next 5 days before we leave for ol blighty