- Turkey Holidays
- Side
- Riolavitas Resort and Spa
Hotel is 4 minutes walking distance from the beach. Featuring free WiFi throughout the property, Riolavitas Resort & Spa offers accommodation in Titreyengol/Sorgun area where you can enjoy the relaxing Mediterranean breeze, 7 km from Side Antique City. This resort has a private beach area, water sports facilities and swimming pool. Free private parking is available on site. Each room at this resort is air conditioned and is equipped with a flat-screen TV. Some rooms has a seating area to relax in after a busy day. You will find a kettle with tea/coffee setup in the room. Every room has a private bathroom fitted with a shower. For your comfort, you will find slippers, free toiletries and a hair dryer.
Due to the surrounding area and the number of steps around the hotel, it may not be suitable for those with mobility difficulties.
Great hotel, the accommodation is clean and the food is very tasty. As for our stay, all praises. The staff is friendly. I would like to give a special shout out to a guy named Sahin. He works in a restaurant and bar on the beach. He is very professional, diligent and tried to make our stay as pleasant as possible.
We stayed at the property in 2017 and 2018, and after staying at many other hotels over the years, we realized in 2026 that we missed Riolavitas. We decided to stay here again with my family from September 7–12. We booked two rooms through Jolly Tour and stayed in rooms 2220 and 2236. First of all, I must say that there have been very positive changes at the hotel since our last visit. I would like to share everything with you in detail.
First, Ms. Melek Korkmaz from Jolly Tour called to inform us prior to our arrival. She welcomed us at the hotel, took care of everything, and checked in on us periodically during our stay. We would like to express our sincere thanks to her. We set off overnight from Bolu and arrived at the property around 11:00 AM after traveling all night. Unfortunately, the biggest drawback of the hotel is still the lack of a proper parking lot. This was an issue in the past, and it persists today—you have to park your vehicle in an open area directly under the sun.
The air conditioning in the lobby and common areas still works perfectly. During our stay, we experienced no temperature issues in the general shared areas or in our rooms. While we were waiting in the lobby feeling tired and sleepy, they offered us refreshments. The reception staff attended to us immediately and greeted us with warm, friendly smiles. The guest demographics have changed quite a bit over the years. There was a diverse mix of guests from Russia, Germany, Turkey, Ukraine, the UK, and other countries. While Turkish guests used to be a minority in previous years, I would say it was roughly 50/50 this time. They even offered us lunch while we waited for our rooms to be ready, which was a very thoughtful gesture.
As for the rooms, there is really nothing negative to say. They were beautifully designed, modern, and clean. Housekeeping and room service were noticeably better this year—you could see staff bustling about constantly, greeting us with a warm "good morning" every day. The only downside is that the balconies of the standard rooms face the neighboring resort and are very close to it, so we couldn't open our blackout curtains most of the time. Additionally, regarding bathroom amenities, a generic soap-like product is provided in the shower; replacing this with higher-quality shampoo and body wash would be a great improvement.
We noticed that the biggest transformation compared to previous years was in the dining options. We thoroughly enjoyed the buffet, which featured delicious, high-quality items catering to all dietary preferences—no complaints whatsoever. The quality of alcoholic beverages has improved significantly, and the bars have been renovated. The only negative aspect at dinner was that tables were often left quite messy by guests, and cleanup wasn't immediate. The restaurant cleaning felt a bit superficial: staff would remove table runners, use them to quickly wipe down the table, shake them out, and place another runner back on.
There has also been a massive improvement in entertainment. The entire team was professional, and a large new stage was built on the beach where evening events were held. Previously, events took place around the main pool, creating a lot of noise throughout the night that could disturb guests trying to rest. Moving this to the beach was a great decision. However, it did introduce one small challenge: you have to go down to the beach every evening for the shows. While shuttle/buggy service runs to the beach throughout the day, guests are expected to walk down for evening events. My mother's knee issues made walking that distance impossible. We explained the situation to reception, and they kindly arranged a private vehicle/shuttle for her so she wouldn't miss out. We thoroughly enjoyed the shows and want to thank them again for this thoughtful accommodation.
Overall, the pools were very clean, and sunbeds were readily available. A few staff members seemed somewhat inexperienced, but that is completely understandable for seasonal workers undergoing training.
We left the hotel feeling thoroughly relaxed and with very positive emotions. We hope to see you again on our future vacations.
Amazing hotel with great location. You can feel here friendly atmosphere and positive vibes. Room is comfortable, well-fitted and really large. Very cosy bed, AC works very well. Bathroom is well equipped, spacious and fresh. Hotel worth the money. Room is cleaned everyday and cleaning staff is very nice and professional. It is not too loud in the room, it looks like windows are soundproof. You can find here swimming pools wit attractions for kids and adults. A lot of bars and restaurants. Also on the beach. You have to know that you don't pay extra for sunbeds. Tasty food with a large variety of meals. 5 mins walking distance to beach ora you can get there with free shuttle melex. Shops on site let you buy suvenirs and everything you could forget from home. Spa and welness are not expensive and offer a lot of masages and other activities. Reception and guest experience Lady are always ready to help you. Go to Riolavitas and have a great holiday!
Overall a good holiday, but we wouldn’t return Overall, we had a good holiday and the hotel itself is lovely. However, there were a couple of aspects that would mean we wouldn’t return. I’ll start with the positives.
The beach – Amazing! We never had a problem getting a sunbed, and although the sea could be quite rough at times, we really enjoyed it. The beach restaurant was probably the best place to eat. The young waiters there are an absolute credit to the hotel – friendly, hardworking and always helpful. The food – There was a lot of variety and, although it could become a little repetitive, overall we thought the food was good. The pools – We never struggled to find a sunbed or umbrella. The rooftop pool was our favourite, although it is in the shade until around 1pm. The bars – No real complaints, other than there didn’t seem to be enough staff at busy times. Entertainment – It wasn’t really our thing, although plenty of other guests clearly enjoyed it especially the foam parties. The Gala on 30th August, however, was excellent. À la carte restaurants – These were easy to book. We visited the Far East and Turkish restaurants, and on both occasions the variety of food was good and the service was excellent.
The Negatives Mealtimes – mealtimes were absolute bedlam. The staff themselves are amazing and work incredibly hard, but unfortunately some guests had very little consideration for others and were rude and disrespectful. It also doesn’t help that staff start removing food around half an hour before the end of the mealtime. With the number of guests, there simply doesn’t seem to be enough time for everyone, which creates a very chaotic experience. Late breakfast – We found this pretty pointless. The juice machines are switched off, jams are removed, the toaster is turned off, cereals are removed, fruit is taken away and food stops being replenished. It would make more sense to simply finish breakfast rather than offer a late breakfast where so many of the usual options are no longer available. Rooms – and the main reason we wouldn’t return. Unfortunately, we had a problem with the air conditioning in our room. We repeatedly contacted reception and maintenance, but we were kept being told that it had been fixed when it hadn’t. Maintenance only came to the room three times, and the problem continued. After four days, when we asked to speak to the manager, we were finally offered another room and moved. In temperatures of over 40°C, having functioning air conditioning is essential. Having to spend four days repeatedly reporting the problem, only to be told it had been fixed when it hadn’t, was extremely disappointing and, for us, simply not acceptable.
Overall The hotel is lovely. The staff working on the ground are amazing, friendly and helpful, and they deserve a lot of credit for how hard they work. Unfortunately, purely because of how our air-conditioning problem was handled, we wouldn’t return to this hotel. Had the issue been dealt with properly and promptly, our overall experience would have been very different.
We recommend visiting Side Old Town on the number 11 bus and Manavgat Market on the number 2 bus.
Lovely location, very kind staff. Fidan was very helpful and professional, and spent time with us to make dinner arrangements at Rio Lavitas. All of the hotel’s staff have been very kind and made us feel welcome.
