Eftalia Marin Resort

We stayed at Eftalia Marin and came away with quite mixed feelings.

There are definitely some things this hotel does very well, but there are also several issues which, for us, prevented it from being a 4- or 5-star experience.

✅The positives

Let's start with the strongest point: the service.

The staff were genuinely excellent. They were polite, friendly and helpful throughout our stay, and whenever we needed assistance, they were generally happy to help. This was probably the best part of our experience, and the staff deserve real credit.

The hotel itself is also beautiful, modern and generally very clean. The public areas were well maintained and our room was cleaned regularly. We had no significant complaints about the cleanliness of the room.

The food was also good. There was plenty of choice and, although there were a few things that could have been better, overall we enjoyed the food and never struggled to find something to eat.

The resort is also huge, with lots of pools, water slides, facilities and things for families to do. If you are travelling with children, there is certainly a lot to keep them occupied.

☝️All Inclusive Plus — technically yes, but...

This is probably the most important point to explain fairly.

You can absolutely have a holiday within the All Inclusive Plus package without constantly spending money.

The hotel provides plenty of food, snacks and drinks, and the official hotel information lists breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack options, patisserie, pool/beach snack areas and ice cream at certain times. The hotel also states that some local alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are included.

However, the problem is what happens when you want something beyond the basic package.

easyJet describes All Inclusive Plus as offering everything from standard All Inclusive plus additional benefits, which can include branded drinks and other extras depending on the hotel. At the same time, easyJet also makes clear that the exact inclusions vary from hotel to hotel.

At Eftalia Marin, many of the things that make the resort look more premium are available for an additional charge.

For example: • ice cream advertised at £3 • cocktails around £9–£11 • private gazebos from £20 to £50 • room upgrades and various other additional services

So while you can certainly remain within your All Inclusive Plus package, there is a constant feeling of “this is available — but you'll need to pay extra for it.”

That was disappointing for us, especially because the whole concept of All Inclusive Plus naturally creates an expectation that more of the premium experience will already be included.

The official hotel information also makes some distinctions that aren't necessarily obvious when you simply hear “All Inclusive Plus”. For example, the hotel's current information says that cocktails, foreign alcoholic drinks, Turkish coffee and fresh orange juice are charged separately.

❓Why are so many prices in pounds?

Another thing that really caught my attention was the currency.

We were in Turkey, but many of the additional services around the resort were advertised in British pounds.

Seeing £3 ice cream, £9–£11 cocktails and gazebos costing up to £50 certainly gives the impression that a significant part of the resort's additional business is aimed at British holidaymakers.

Maybe this is simply because the resort has a very large British customer base, but as a British tourist myself, I found it quite noticeable.

⛱️The beach

The beach was another significant disappointment.

The resort is enormous, and getting from the hotel to the beach took us roughly 10–15 minutes on foot.

The walk itself wouldn't necessarily be a problem, except that the route involves an underground tunnel which frequently smelled very unpleasant.

This wasn't just something I noticed once. We experienced the smell repeatedly, and I saw other guests literally covering their noses while walking through the tunnel.

Once you reach the beach, there is another issue.

🌊The sea entrance is very rocky and slippery

Getting into the sea can be genuinely difficult.

There are large and small stones, uneven surfaces and very slippery areas. You need to be extremely careful when entering or leaving the water because it would be very easy to slip, twist an ankle or hurt your feet.

I appreciate that a natural beach cannot simply be redesigned, but in my opinion the access to the sea could be made much safer and more comfortable.

There were also regularly “Caution – Wet Floor” signs around the resort and on the route towards the beach. Obviously, wet surfaces are unavoidable around a swimming resort, but seeing these signs so frequently reinforced my feeling that the area could be safer.

🚭Smoking

This is a more personal criticism, but it affected my experience quite a lot.

I don't smoke.

In the evenings, however, smoking was extremely common around the outdoor seating areas. Almost every time we sat outside, there were people smoking cigarettes nearby.

In normal circumstances this might not bother everyone, but combine cigarette smoke with the hot Turkish weather, and I found it genuinely uncomfortable to sit there for any length of time.

We sometimes moved upstairs, although that didn't completely solve the problem, and on some evenings we simply left the area.

I understand that this is partly a personal preference and not necessarily something every guest will consider a problem, but for non-smokers it is definitely worth knowing.

🪂Activities and entertainment

There are plenty of activities and entertainment options, but organisation could be better.

The resort is so large that it isn't always obvious where something is happening or what time it starts. You often have to look for the information beforehand and then make your way across a huge complex to find it.

Compared with other hotels we have stayed at, I felt that the activities and entertainment could have been communicated and organised more clearly.

The huge size of the resort is both a strength and a weakness: there is a lot to do, but sometimes it feels like you are spending too much time trying to find out where you are supposed to be.

❓Would I return?

This is where I find it difficult to give a simple yes or no.

If you are looking for a large family resort with lots of pools, slides, food options and facilities, Eftalia Marin has plenty to offer.

The staff are excellent, the hotel is beautiful and clean, and the food is generally good.

But for us, the overall experience was dragged down by the constant availability of paid extras, the unpleasant tunnel to the beach, difficult rocky sea access, the amount of cigarette smoke around the evening seating areas and the sometimes confusing organisation of activities.

I don't think Eftalia Marin is a bad hotel.

I think it is a hotel with a lot going for it, but also a lot of small frustrations that add up during a holiday.

Excellent service and a beautiful resort, but the overall experience didn't live up to what we expected from an All Inclusive Plus holiday.

British review flying from Leeds for 10 days, booked through Jet-2.

Firstly we arrived very early hours as we were delayed plus it’s about an hour and half transfer, and that’s even with private transfer.

I will break this down into a few areas. Starting with the lobby and grounds. The hotel lobby and general areas are fine, nothing special, but decent enough. The grounds themselves are very spacious. You have access to ‘The Island’ which I will go into more later. I will also say that you are never explained how things work in the hotel. When you check in to a hotel, usually you get a brief overview and information from the reception desk. We got little to no information. We kept finding out things as days went on which would have been good to know. Example is the island area itself, it was not mentioned that the main area is the island and all its amenities and activities. The island is available to several Eftalia hotel residents, not just Marin folk. We randomly found this out on the first full day after wondering around trying to find the water slides. We also were never told about food options/ areas to eat, again we found this out as we went. Finally on the grounds, you have your main hotel, the main pool and the restaurant and its own entertainment, then you have the ‘island’ eating areas and entertainment.

One thing I need to call out is the tunnel to get to the island from the main hotel. They need to sort this out. It is not pleasant at all to go through the tunnel. It’s small, and has a very very strong sewage small the whole way through (about 50metres). They also need to refurb it completely, it’s very old, small and filthy. This is one of the reasons I can go above 3.5 stars, it’s honestly shocking how bad it is, very much takes you out your holiday highs. Just to give context, I stayed in a hotel like this in Turkey that had a tunnel to another area, and it was actually great, had mirrors, pictures, spacious and very well decorated.

Moving on to the rooms. The rooms as standard are absolutely fine. Again nothing special, but they are good size and plenty of storage. The bathrooms are again fine, quite standard. The only thing negative I will say is that they need to improve is a) the tv and b) the finishing. It needs a full re-grouting and sealing etc.

The drinks. They have coca-cola, Sprint and Fanta on tap which you can get yourself in many locations. Also plenty of water bottles. Therefore I can’t fault them on soft drinks. Alcohol is ok, they have Efes beer and then local spirits if you want them. This is where it stops. You want any decent alcohol or cocktail, you have to pay for them. They are €9-€11 and therefore not cheap, and for Turkey I’d say quite expensive. In comparison to other Turkish hotels I’ve been to, this was one of my biggest disappointments and frustrations of the hotel. The cocktails that were all inc were terrible and in a big tub pre made.

Food: the options were actually very good. You have a lot of food areas all over the hotel and the island. How anyone can moan about the food options I don’t know. We generally used the main hotel, even for lunch, but there was a lot of other areas. For example on the island there are 2 food court areas. One is an indoor restaurant style with limited options, the other is more like a market style outdoor area with loads of options such as jacket potato, kebab, burgers, pasta, chips, waffles, and many more. Now, the quality of the food I’m going to give 7 to 8 out of 10, so quite high, but not the very best I’ve had in Turkey. The availability is an easy 10/10.

Staff and entertainment. We don’t generally get involved with the day or night entertainment, so this area is going to be short. That said, again there are plenty of activities and staff that entertain all day and all night. For families with kids, this is a dream. There are so many pool options, and kids clubs , you can’t go wrong at all.

Pool and slides. You have your own hotel pool which was always very busy and music pumping. Then you have the option of 4 pool areas on the island (again, this was never explained to us) we were always at the ‘quiet’ pool, but sometimes was not quiet as people were playing Bluetooth speakers music. There is also a full on small kids area/pool, a more lively pool area then the slides area. We spent the afternoons in the slide area as the slides were actually very good. We very much enjoyed all the options, and the life guards were great. The sun-beds were ok quality, but they need to update 2 things: the umbrellas and the pool area floors. Both very dated, look 10 years old. Bit annoying that sales people are constantly bothering every 20 mins you for cocktail sales and then water sports etc.

Overall I’m giving this pace 3 out of 5 stars. I’d of given it 3.5 if trip advisor had that option. I do think that this place has the potential to be 4.5 stars, but there are too many areas of improvement to go above 3 out of 5. If they improve a few areas, I think this place can be amazing. For me, they need to improve or update: a) information - give me an info sheet about everything. b) drinks - need to have better all inc variety of alcohol. c) rooms need refurbs d) communal pool areas need cleaning much more. e) food quality up a notch. f) stop the constant sales pitch’s. g) sort the sewage small on the way to island. It’s decent, plenty of options, but quality needs to be upped.

I’m a very harsh but fair critic, and not easily impressed so take this review as such. For me this is a solid 3.5 / 5. Had a great time overall.

At check in we were met by very friendly staff who made sure we weren't thirsty or hungry during the check in process. We were offered a room upgrade which we took,then we were taken to the room which was absolutely brilliant with sea views . The food in the hotel was amazing,so much choice ,something for everyone. The Mexican restaurant was amazing and the pudding was to die for. Staff were friendly throughout from bar staff to cleaners. The entertainment reps were good and included us in their activities and remembered our names to say hi next time.highly recommend this hotel!