- Turkey Holidays
- Side
- Arcanus Side Resort
This hotel is located on a private sandy beach with a dock over the turquoise water of Mediterranean Sea. Side is 3 km away, with its amphitheatre and ancient city, and it is 5 km to Manavgat. Restaurants, shops, bars and nightclubs can be found in the touristic centre, around 4 km away, and the city centre is approximately 6 km from the hotel. There is a train station 25 m from the hotel.
We had a wonderful stay at this hotel. Angel was very friendly and helpful throughout our holiday.t The hotel was clean and well maintained , the food was delicious , and the animation team was fantastic. The evening shows were absolutely amazing and made our nights so much fun.
We have been travelling to Turkey for over 25 years at least twice a year and have stayed in many hotels in the Side area. I have to say this is probably the worst hotel we have stayed in. I did read the reviews on trip advisor before our stay and noted that a high number of the 5 star reviews were first time contributors and the review was for the animation team and not the actual accommodation. It’s in 5 star hotel rated 4.5 by our tour operator so we booked it thinking it would be a decent standard.
We arrived at almost midnight tired from travelling. As soon as we sat down to check in we were told you booked a side sea room but the hotel is very full so do you want to pay 200 euros to upgrade your room. We declined as the price they were asking was higher than it would have cost if we had upgraded with our tour operator. All the receptionist was interested in was upselling, he didn’t even ask if we wanted to go for a drink or food after our long day. We were shown to a room on the 1st floor, room was a decent size with a large bathroom and new double shower. The rooms have been part refurbished with laminated flooring, new curtains and fresh paint but the wardrobes, drawers and paintwork were old, they had just been spray painted to update them. There was a smell of drains coming from the bathroom too but we were so tired we unpacked and went to bed. When we woke in the morning my husband had 3 bites on his back. We thought maybe there was a mosquito in the room but didn’t think much of it. We don’t usually suffer from mosquito bites and take plenty of repellent, plug ins,citronella etc with us. Our side sea view wasn’t a side sea view, we overlooked some waste land but if you stood at the end of the balcony you could just about see the sea behind a tree. Towels were often stained or had holes in and the pool towels were the same. Breakfast was ok, just a standard breakfast but as the holiday went on we didn’t bother going for a lot of meals and our breakfast became an Ayran from the snack bar. I chose a chicken stew type dish one night and the chicken tasted off and sour, Luckily, I spat it straight out. It put us off eating after that and we just ate soup. Fruit and salad or we didn’t go and eat at all.
Sunbeds at the pool were so uncomfortably ,especially if you lay on your front and some needed a good clean, so we spent the majority of our time on the sunbeds on the pier.
Wifi was rubbish, I could pick up a better signal from the voyage next door. If you are thinking of going here I’d suggest an eSIM if your data is too expensive to use in Turkey.
We were both getting more and more bites and mine were on skin not exposed during the day or evening. They weren’t mosquito bites, we have been going to Turkey long enough to know what a mosquito bite feels like. I wore a brand new pair of pyjamas one night and when I took them off in the bathrooom next morning there were “insects “ dropping off them onto the bathroom floor when I shook them. We went to reception and told them about our issue and they told us we had to go back at 9 when the manager came in. We were sent to guest relations and were told maybe you are leaving your windows open which we weren’t!! Or maybe they are coming into room on you as that has not happened here before. They sent the head cleaner up and she came back with a video of her “checking”our bed and saying there was nothing there. They agreed to us moving rooms and when we went to collect our belongings to move. The mosquito plug that we had plugged in near the bathroom had been taken out and left on the side, they obviously forgot to plug it back in after they had used the socket to vacuum before they took their video. In hindsight we should have gone up to the room with them but I have the photos that validate what I am saying. The front office manager was so rude and dismissive over the whole situation. No empathy at all . Our new room had 3 single beds in but after we moved there were no more bites and we could actually see the sea from the balcony. Not that it mattered because by this time we were couldn’t enjoy what was left of our holiday. At one point we had contemplated cutting our holiday short and paying for a flight home.
Drinks were terrible, the wine and prosecco were horrible and the beer was poor it was a different colour sometimes very pale as though it had been watered down. I don’t drink spirits but ended up drinking vodka Diet Coke as it was the only drink I could taste. Didn’t try the cocktails as they were made with those awful syrups.
Evening entertainment was very boring and very repetitive with usually some sort of dance troupe. We left most nights and were in bed by 10pm.
Cats! In our first room they were sleeping inside the block and would be outside the rooms waiting to dive in or fighting and screaming during the night. They’d be jumping up on tables and sleeping on sunbeds too. Some guests were encouraging this.
I would have rated 1 star but have given 2 as we had a lovely meal at the Mexican, the food and service was what we had expected from the whole holiday. We were also there for Octoberfest, the effort that they had put into that was amazing and it was so nice to see all the staff that probably only work behind the scenes enjoying their day.
Wouldn’t go back, we couldn't wait to leave!
Well where to start , we go to turkey every year booked this hotel as it was 5 * and had good reviews , what a disappointment this is not a 5* hotel , the food was cold every day unless you get to the main food area when it opens , doesn’t really cater for the English . Rooms was nice bed was to hard for me so only had a few hours sleep every night . Not enough Bar pool staff around the pool , only one guy Serving around the pool should have been more , the intertainment guys was great going round the pool when games . The evening intertainment was shocking the singers sounded like a cat being strangled . One night I asked for a iron so I could iron a dress my partner bought me as we was going out into Side I was told I couldn’t have one as it was against their policy , I said I would iron it in reception but they still said no do I went back to our room and ironed my dress with my hair straighteners (not good enough ) every 5* hotel we have stayed in turkey always give you a iron. This was not a relaxing holiday for the amount of money we payed . I got food poising and was ill for 2 days , day 2 of our holiday and a German child pooed in the pool so that was closed for hours as the parents let the child play In the pool with no swimming nappy on , and after speaking to a lady who goes to this hotel every year was telling us that she gets bathrobes , iron . Fruit in her room everyday , why is this ???? Just because she goes every year should she get special treatment ?? So many other people we spoke too also said this was no way a 5* hotel we all said it was about 3/4 * . Would not be returning to this hotel again .
Altan and berkay from guest relations are very good and nice guys. Thee to the best to make you have a good time! We love Arcanus! Also Nür is so very nice girl. 🫶🫶🫶🫶 the food, the place , the people work at Arcanus are the very best. We are definitief come back!!
We had a lovely holiday overall, and the food was definitely one of the highlights. There was a good selection of food available, (with an amazing Mexican restaurant) and we enjoyed the variety throughout our stay. Our room was okay and was cleaned daily, which was appreciated, although the “sea view” was very disappointing and not what we had expected.
This was our first holiday as a family with our four-month-old baby, so we were really looking forward to having a relaxing and enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, the service from some of the bar staff let the hotel down.
We often felt overlooked, even when our glasses were empty, while staff would go around us to offer drinks to other guests. As a younger couple, we sometimes felt that we weren’t given the same level of attention as some of the older guests, which was disappointing. We can’t say for certain why this was, but it certainly left us feeling less valued. The cocktails were also inconsistent, with some being lovely one evening and very poor the next.
One particular evening really highlighted this for us. We were asked to move closer to another table so that a further table could be placed near us. The problem was that the table we were being moved towards was occupied by smokers. We explained that we had our four-month-old baby with us and obviously didn’t want to sit close to people smoking. Despite this, the bartender still moved our table and simply shrugged and said, “Oh well.” We found this particularly disappointing and felt that our concerns were completely dismissed, so decided to return to our room for the evening.
For a hotel advertised as five-star, and considering the amount we paid for an all-inclusive stay, we expected a much higher standard of service and hospitality. The food and daily room cleaning were positives, but the lack of consistent, attentive service meant the experience didn’t quite live up to our expectations.
Overall, given the price we paid and the standard we expected from a five-star hotel, we unfortunately wouldn’t choose to book this hotel again when we return to the area.
