Vikingen Infinity Resort and Spa

Never left a hotel review before, so you'll already know the place must have been really bad. The hotel could have been decent value for money but never again. In fact it put us off visiting Turkey altogether after 10 years of on and off vacationing there.

People cutting in line everywhere, smokers every 5 feet, forget about any consideration for us or our kids, they had their own babies and toddlers next to them while smoking one cigarette after another, kids pushing other visitor's kids and their parents just completely ignoring their child's behaviour, people taking our umbrellas if left unattended for more than 5 min and on one occasion I was sat right there, our stuff's gone missing after the kids accidentally left some items by the pool side, chunks of raw meat in the kebabs, absolute chaos at dinner time, visitors cutting every corner they could get away with just to eat and drink 2 min quicker, restaurant was understaffed and staff was understandably a bit miserable because of it, we couldn't get out of there fast enough. Absolutely zero ways to communicate with the hotel, all of our emails were ignored, phones are never answered and all phone menus are in Turkish if by a miracle you do get through. A bit better luck over WhatsApp, but that never led to contact with an actual person that could help with basic booking checks. No one gave a damn, we were just fobbed off from one person to another.

If you can get over all of that, you could potentially make it work. Kids club was decent, loads of water slides for all ages, small but modern rooms, hotel upkeeping was OK for the money, decent choice of food, with the chicken corner on the beach being pretty good.

The hotel was fine overall, but in our opinion, it definitely isn’t a 5-star hotel — 3 stars at most.

The room wasn’t cleaned to the standard you would expect from a 5-star resort. One of the few positives, however, was our housekeeper, who was absolutely lovely and probably the only genuinely pleasant member of staff we encountered during our stay.

The reception staff were consistently moody and unwelcoming, and often gave the impression that they simply didn’t want to be there. We rarely experienced a please or thank you, which really affected the overall impression of the hotel.

We arrived at around midnight on Saturday, exhausted and hungry, and there was nowhere at all to get food. We were travelling with our toddler, who simply wanted an apple, but nobody was willing to help. We were told we would have to wait until 1am for the “night soup”. When we went to the bar, we were told that because it was midnight, we would have to pay for any drinks — despite being at an all-inclusive resort.

Unfortunately, our experience with the medical facilities was even worse.

On our second day, I became very unwell with tonsillitis and was directed to the hotel’s “doctor’s office”. It turned out that this wasn’t actually a doctor, but a nurse who didn’t speak English. I was then sent to a local clinic. The nurse said they would provide transport, but when I asked how much the consultation would cost, they repeatedly said they couldn’t tell me because it depended on the diagnosis.

The car picked us up from the back of the hotel, near the bins. When we arrived in the area, there was a clinic clearly visible on the main street called MedAlanya Doctor. However, as tourists, we were taken around the corner to a very dodgy-looking lift and an even more questionable-looking clinic, which was full of other tourists.

We were then told that the consultation would cost £235.00 (!!!!).

I contacted my travel insurance to check that this was okay and proceeded with the examination. The doctor confirmed that I had tonsillitis and then recommended an IV drip, saying that because I was on holiday, it would make me feel much better much sooner.

I asked how much the IV drip would cost. He refused to give me a price and repeatedly said they would tell me at the end when I paid. I insisted that I needed to know the cost before agreeing to anything, at which point the receptionist came over with an invoice showing £235 for the consultation and a further £650 for the IV drip. 🤣🤣🤣

Needless to say, I immediately declined and asked them simply to prescribe antibiotics. They seemed very keen to get us out of there once I refused the additional treatment. I went to the pharmacy opposite the clinic afterwards and paid around £30 for the medication, which was fine.

The nurse couldn’t tell me the name of the clinic, and I couldn’t find anything online. However, knowing the location now, a quick google search returned hundreds of similar experiences - simply look up ‘The Turks Private Clinic MedAlanya Clinic’

https://maps.app.goo.gl/WY34nc8275VwMkQz6?g_st=ic

Adding the link here for further awareness.

This brings me to another frustrating experience — the car rental.

We wanted to visit Alanya, but the taxis were around £35 each way, so we decided renting a car would make more sense which we were told would cost between £40 and £50 a day. Uber didn’t seem to work as I tried booking a few times and the drivers simply wouldn’t accept the ride. It was then explained by a local that the drivers have an agreement not to accept when the location is the hotel, as guests will be forced to request a taxi from the reception at a set cost (Uber was £20, Taxi booked through the hotel £35).

There was a car rental desk inside the hotel. At around 6pm, we spoke to a gentleman who told us we would need to give one day’s notice to rent a car, which seemed reasonable, so we left it.

The following morning at around 10:30am, a different gentleman was working at the desk and told us that there was one car available — a white Ford sitting directly outside the hotel. We handed over our documents, he made a phone call in Turkish, and suddenly there was a “problem” with the car and it was no longer available.

We therefore went to reception and asked them to arrange a taxi instead.

And you honestly couldn’t make this up…

The taxi that arrived almost immediately was the exact same gentleman we had spoken to the previous evening at the car rental desk — driving the exact same white Ford that we had been about to rent. 🤣🤣🤣

At that point, we just had to laugh.

Overall, we found the experience quite disappointing. The food was good, the location was good, the pools were enjoyable, and the shop inside the hotel was convenient. However, the service, attitude of the staff and the overall experience were very poor.

Unfortunately, we wouldn’t return.

Most importantly, I sincerely hope that nobody staying at this hotel becomes seriously unwell and needs medical assistance. Our experience made us feel extremely uncomfortable and, at times, genuinely unsafe. The lack of transparency around the medical costs and the pressure to agree to expensive treatment was particularly concerning.

Very disappointing and concerning that the hotel would partner with such immoral practices.

Turkey itself also left us feeling that tourists are constantly being treated as an opportunity to make extra money, which unfortunately put a real dampener on what should have been a relaxing holiday.

We have just returned from a fabulous week here as a family. The value for money and experience was 10/10. The only thing that let it down for us as a family, was the amphitheatre entertainment, it was all very much dancing shows. Our first night there was a Havana show, we were looking forward to the entertainment as so many good reviews on here. However, women in thongs with little else on was not really appropriate for a family show. My little girl who is 9 even asked why they were in underwear. All of the entertainment staff were clearly very skilled at what they do, I just didnt think it was child appropriate. Also no bar near the amphitheatre was a downfall. We loved the live music at the pool bar, and spend the rest of our week there each evening, it is a shame they dont do live music there on a Saturday night though! The bar staff were amazing there!! The buffet dinner is absolutely WILD! There could definitely be improvements made with a better que system. Adults were pushing past and walking in all directions, quite rude at times (obviously not staff fault) even pushed my child out of the way, it felt like a zoo at times. The food itself was great, but if you aren't keen to try new foods and variety, this may not be the best food for you. We loved the sea food and all the different meats/ stews on offer each night. We had one night at the Italian restaurant, food was served cold, which was unfortunate. My daughters main meal came out before her starter. The pools and water parks are clean and well staffed.
Our room was spotless, although we had to upgrade due to the economy room balcony overlooking the air conditioning units. We paid £30 per night to upgrade, so expect to do that if youve booked through a package and got the standard rooms.
Now to the excursions: we went to our holiday rep at loveholiday stand, we were ripped off! We paid £70 per adult and £35 per child for the pink lion safari. When we got to our excursion the other guests there paid £25pp through a third party elsewhere. At the hotel the rep said this was a in hotel offer and excursion, but that isnt the case. I would seriously recommend going elsewhere to save money! We also went to Jimmy's shop on his recommendation and it was a lot more expensive there, for an extra £10/20 you could get the real brands back home. I also got charged an extortionate amount at the milkshake/bubble tea stand just outside, £21 for one milkshake and one bubble tea! Insane!! But that was my mistake for not asking for a price prior, assuming it wouldn't cost me a small fortune.