Orange County Alanya

Food exellent Pool small Room cervise not good Reception exellent Beach bad Night progrqam good

Overall, we enjoyed our stay at Orange County Resort Alanya, but I would rate it around 4.5/5 rather than a true five-star resort.

The entertainment was by far the highlight. The evening performances were excellent, and some were genuinely better than acts we have seen on Britain’s Got Talent! There were plenty of activities throughout the day, making the resort lively and very good for families.

The sea was clean and immediately beside the hotel, and we loved the pier, particularly the beds provided there. The slides were also very good and suitable for different ages, although they were sometimes closed unexpectedly. The pool water was too warm to be refreshing, and finding sunbeds was extremely difficult—even very early in the morning. More sunbeds and some fans on the pier would help.

Food was generally good, with plenty of snacks and drinks around the pool. The fish sandwich near the beach was fantastic, the ice cream was nice, and the Turkish coffee by the pool was excellent. However, restaurant food became repetitive and there were long queues for the better dishes. Most importantly, the restaurant desperately needs better cooling or fans, as it was often far too hot to enjoy a meal comfortably.

For a five-star Turkish resort, I also expected much more authentic Turkish food. There was too much emphasis on international dishes such as sushi. We love sushi, but unfortunately the sushi here was not good, and Turkey has so many better local foods to showcase. I would much rather have seen more kebabs, midye, seafood, different fresh fish and regional Turkish dishes.

A five-star resort could also make dining part of the entertainment through live traditional cooking. Turkish ice cream served traditionally would have been much more memorable than mainly Italian-style ice cream. We also expected desserts such as künefe and baklava with ice cream, at least on selected evenings, but these were missing.

The fruit selection was disappointing too. Apples and pears were hard, apricots were not tasty, nectarines were good but not available every day, there was no melon, and watermelon was often limited. Alanya has wonderful local produce such as figs, pomegranates, cactus fruit and even dragon fruit, so it was surprising that these were not showcased.

Our first room had an unpleasant smell, but management changed it the following day and the new room was clean and much better. Staff were generally friendly and helpful, and overall management was good. The hotel shop was also very useful. Unfortunately, they would not allow even one extra hour for late checkout.

The steam room was closed and there was no jacuzzi, which was disappointing for a five-star hotel. Mocktails and other non-alcoholic drinks also need improving; there were plenty available, but many simply were not very tasty.

Overall, the hotel has excellent entertainment, sea access, activities, pier and atmosphere, and we had a good holiday. However, it is not particularly modern and needs improvements in restaurant cooling, authentic Turkish food, fresh local fruit, spa facilities, sunbed availability and non-alcoholic drinks to feel like a genuine five-star resort.