Akra Fethiye Tui Blue Sensatori

We travelled as a family of four with two girls aged 5 and 7. Our youngest has a nut allergy, along with mango and pink peppercorn, and I’ll be honest, that was the thing I was most anxious about before we came. Turkish cooking uses pistachio in everything. I emailed ahead and hoped for the best.

They were exceptional.

The kitchen prepared her food separately every single time to avoid cross contamination. No fuss, no sense of it being an imposition. The moment that stuck with me was the ice cream. They serve pistachio on the counter, so rather than risk a shared scoop, a member of staff went to the main freezer and brought out a fresh tub of chocolate just for her. Nobody asked them to do that. They had worked out where the real risk was and dealt with it before we’d even thought to raise it.

If you’re travelling with a child with allergies, that’s the standard you want, and it is rare.

The food more widely was the best we’ve had at any hotel. Real variety across the week rather than the same buffet dressed up differently each night, and the à la carte restaurants were worth booking on arrival because they fill quickly. The cocktails were properly made too, which isn’t a given on all inclusive.

The hotel itself is lovely. The decor and the layout have been done with genuine care, and it stays calm even when it’s full.

What I’ll remember most is the small stuff. Heading out one morning, the bellboy noticed we were carrying water bottles and quietly handed us a bag to put them in. Nobody prompted him. That sort of thing happened all week.

We’d go back tomorrow. Strongly recommend.

This is a lovely hotel in a lovely part of Turkey. On holiday with our 2 kids aged 13 and 7 and this being our 6th time to turkey on an all inclusive. Il list the pro’s first: -Best drinks I’ve had on any all inclusive with premium brands and amazing cocktails.

• excellent food in both the main restaurant and Al a carte. Very attentive staff in all the restaurants.

• great food options in the day and at night, with themed food at night so you didn’t feel like you saw the same things very often.

• the lunch options were amazing with ice cream and milkshakes available from 10am.

• lovely grounds, lobby and main areas all very modern in design.

• no issues having a drink in the pool or on the waters edge.

• good variety of activities and things to do all day (although some require booking)

Negative- -The pools are decent but the adult only pool is like a morgue, no atmosphere and it’s the largest pool on resort but there is only ever 10-15 people in it at one time. Seems such a waste of a great area when the hotel is clearly geared for families. Would much rather see it all open for everyone to use.

• the slides are only open from 10-12 then 2-4. Far too short for the only slides.

• a lot of the activities require a booking like aqua HIT or archery that only goes live at 12am. By the time I woke at 6 am it was all booked. This is the same for the À la carte restaurants. This is on a rolling 3 days.

The poll activities were done in the activity pool which as clearly far to small and narrow for most things. Water Polo with any more the 5 a side was to cramped. Again, this wouldn’t be a problem if the adult only pool was opened for everyone.

• not one person was walking round the pool areas doing drink orders. You had to go to the nearest bar yourself to get drinks. Not a big issue but a lot of the time the service was slow due to not having enough staff behind the bar. First all inclusive I have been to where this wasn’t available.

• the bathrooms in the rooms feel a little tired.

• The areas round the pool didn’t seem like they cleaned / hosed down very often. As an early riser I didn’t see any sort of daily cleaning and noticed sticky drink marks at times near sun beds, sand from the previous day.

Overall it is a lovely hotel and stands out with its amazing food and drink. Advertised and priced as the flagship of TUI with the Sensatori badge I think it’s lacking in a few things. Over the last few years as a family we have been mostly to turkey and a couple of trips to Egypt. This being the most expensive but definitely not the best.