Belek resort in Turkey is already quite “promoted”. Therefore, choosing it as a place to stay, you should take care in advance of buying a tour and choosing a hotel. To cope with the latter, you should read the reviews of those who have already been here, as well as determine what type of vacation you need. If you want to combine shopping and the beach, then you should stay in one of the hotels in the resort town. For a relaxing family holiday, the best hotel is Crystal Paraiso Verde Resort Hotel (Belek). Reviews about him are the most controversial, but numerous.
Belek Resort and Crystal Paraiso Hotel
If you consider that until the mid 80-ies of the XX century, the place of the fashionable resort of Belek today had a wild and desolate Mediterranean coast, then the Turks achieved incredible results, turning it into the best place to relax, where tourists from all over come to spend time and spend money Europe and the CIS countries.
Located 30 km from Antalya, which is well known by domestic travelers, Belek did not long remain a quiet resort "suburb". The construction of new four- and five-star hotels began along the entire coast, very quickly turning the neighboring villages of Serik and Bogazkent into an expensive and fashionable part of the Mediterranean.
Crystal Paraiso Verde Resort Hotel (Belek, Turkey) is an example of how you can effectively use every free meter of the coastal zone. Located in close proximity to the nature reserve, in which the bicentennial eucalyptus trees and pines, among which turtles live, “feel great”, he managed to maintain a harmonious balance, blending into the environment.
As noted in tourist reviews, the Crystal Paraiso Verde Hotel (Belek) is a rare exception when during the construction of the complex the landscape was not changed according to the needs of the resort, but vice versa. It is located not on the coast, like most buildings in Belek or its suburbs, but on the banks of the river, which only a few tens of meters from it flows into the sea. This is very unusual, and, as a rule, resorts are not built like that, but the Turks managed to turn the minuses into pluses in this situation, because not every day you can see how the waters of a freshwater reservoir, having come a long way across the earth, are connected with the sea element, becoming its part.
Not all guests of the Crystal Paraiso Verde Hotel in Belek (see photo below) find this location convenient, since it takes 10-12 minutes to get to the beach, bypassing the river along the way. At the same time, they forget to mention that a small tractor with a trailer departs from it, which brings everyone to the coast, which the children and their parents are incredibly happy that they don’t have to walk with them in the heat.
The nearest settlements from the Crystal Paraiso Verde Resort Hotel:
- Belek - 6 km;
- Serik - 11 km;
- Antalya - 50 km.
If you believe the vacationers and their reviews, then it has advantages for which you want to visit it again, and cons that make you think about the desire for a second experience. Both of them will be considered in order.
Rooms and service
On the issue of the quality of the number of rooms and their service, the opinions of hotel guests differ. They can be divided into 3 groups:
- Dissatisfied with the rest. If we compare the reviews of tourists vacationing in different years in Turkey at the Crystal Paraiso Verde Resort Hotel (Belek), we can see a tendency to lower their intonation from an enthusiastic to moderately restrained level. Of course, when the hotel is new, everything in it corresponds to the quality of 5 stars, but over time, not only the decor and interior decay, but the surrounding view also changes. Today, construction is underway on one side of the resort, and all whose windows overlooked such an unpresentable spectacle spoke negatively on this fact.
- People who rated the quality of their room as “good” were approximately 50%. Indeed, it is suitable for families with children, energetic youth, and athletes. Family rooms with bunk beds for babies and standard apartments are equipped with upholstered furniture, a refrigerator, which regularly replenishes supplies of Sprite, Coca-Cola and delicious local mineral water, bathrooms with all the necessary accessories, all this is in every building hotel. Air conditioning, satellite TV and linen change three times a week meet the requirements of not too picky customers, although many vacationers claim that the Crystal Paraiso Verde Hotel (Belek) no longer pulls 5 stars.
- Reviews of satisfied tourists about the rooms relate, first of all, to the fact that cleaning is carried out in them, although not as carefully and regularly as it should in apartments that claim to be 5 stars, but in general, everything is not bad. The service is excellent, and if you don’t like the room, you will be given a choice of several other options.
If you focus on the average rating in other people's reviews and descriptions of the Hotel Crystal Paraiso Verde Resort (Belek), it is quite consistent with its level, except that it is separated from the sea by a river. Otherwise, it is a good resort for families.
Nutrition
If you determine what the average score is put by guests of the Crystal Paraiso Verde Resort Hotel (Belek), the rating is highest for its restaurants and food quality. It should be noted that the Turks are fed excellently - tasty, varied and plentiful. This converges the reviews of everyone who rested in this hotel. The choice of vacationers:
- Restaurant with local and international cuisine, offering buffet meals. This is where the eyes really run up: the fruits are represented by melons, watermelons, grapes, bananas, oranges, strawberries, apples, and even make “shish kebab” assorted from them. Grilled lamb, meatballs, beef with different sauces predominate among meat delicacies, and all this in large quantities, so no one is left hungry. Separately, in their reviews about the Crystal Paraiso Verde Hotel (Belek), vacationers note unusually delicious pastries, cakes, baklava and ice cream, which are so many varieties that no one can even tell an approximate exact figure. If you go to Turkey to relax with children, then it is worth choosing this hotel.
- Four a la carte restaurants are familiar to everyone, but no less beloved, Italian and Asian dishes that everyone loves, young and old.
- If you are late for breakfast in the restaurant, you can always have a meal in the bar by the pool, where you will be offered not chips with beer, but wholesome and healthy food.
- Separate laudations about the hotel chefs relate to vegetarian and children's menus, which take into account the preferences of both young guests and those who limit themselves to animal protein.
To experience Turkish hospitality, you should at least once come to the Crystal Paraiso Verde Hotel (Belek). Reviews about the service or the quality of the rooms in it may differ, but everyone writes about food with enthusiasm, and how else to find out how happy you are here, if not from your own plate. Uninvited and unloved guests are not so tasty fed as they are in the restaurants of this hotel.
Territory
There is one more point that all clients of the Crystal Paraiso Verde Hotel in Belek write with admiration - this is its territory. As many as 42,000 m 2 on which it is located, occupy:
- 8 five-story and 3 two-story buildings;
- outdoor and indoor pool;
- children's pool with slides;
- playground;
- garden with a fountain;
- main and 4 additional restaurants;
- bar and cafe;
- tennis court and volleyball court.
This is not all that the hotel has in such a large territory, but all vacationers unanimously say that everything is done here so that a person in the middle of the season will forget about the sea or in the off-season find something to his liking. Cleanliness, grooming and comfort - a distinctive feature of this place where everyone can find their own favorite corner and spend there a place with friends or family.
A lot of greenery, coolness from the pools, fountains, lawns for sports - all this is the territory of the Crystal Paraiso Verde Resort Hotel (Belek). The description, even the best, will not be able to convey the aromas of flowers mixed with the smell coming from eucalyptus groves. It is better to see the beauties of the palm tree once and plunge headlong into the blue coolness of the pool on a sultry day, than to read about how others do it.
Hotel beach
What can I say, the coastline, which is 400 meters from the hotel, is disheartening many of its guests, and there is a reason for this:
- A river flowing into the sea may cause interest, and even creates some kind of romance, but, in fact, it causes some inconvenience. Fresh water, mixing with sea water, makes it cloudy and constantly changes the heat. So you can go into the warm and gentle sea, and get out of the sufficiently icy water, from which "a tooth doesn’t fall on a tooth." Especially not happy with this prospect is couples with children, although in this case you can also find places where the sea is calm, transparent and warm, you just need to move away from the confluence of the river with it.
- There are sun loungers, mattresses and umbrellas on the beach, but they are 50 meters from the water, which many vacationers, especially from the CIS countries, do not like. There is nothing to be done, the Turks love and protect their nature and for the convenience of tourists they won’t change anything, because Caretta-Caretta turtles leave their eggs in the sand in this beach. They settled on this shore long before people appeared here. Dissatisfied tourists will have to come to terms with the fact that in Turkey, the rights and protection of animals and nature reserves are not empty words, but a way of life.
- Many vacationers (immigrants from the CIS countries) mention mud on the beach in their reviews, and this, unfortunately, is not an isolated case. Perhaps there is also the fault of the hotel guests themselves, digging cigarette butts or waste into the sand, which is completely unacceptable to Europeans and the Turks themselves. What you definitely need to take with you on vacation to Turkey, Belek, Hotel Crystal Paraiso Verde, are slippers for entering the sea. There are stones that you can hurt your legs.
When buying a ticket to this hotel, you should know that you can’t call the entry into the sea on its beach gentle, and the depth comes only after a few steps. Parents with children should be careful.
Entertainment at the hotel
Given the river, as an obstacle to the beach, a regular change in the temperature of heating the water in the sea, turtles nesting on the shore, and not too clean sand, the owners of the Crystal Paraiso Verde Hotel, Belek (reviews confirm this) invested maximum funds in the arrangement of its territory and entertainment, so that guests have nothing to lack.
Well, they succeeded to the fullest. Indeed, why go (or go) to the sea if there are pools with such clean and evenly heated water. Comfortable sun loungers, umbrellas, a bar and waiters just waiting for your signal, water slides - all this attracts vacationers who have just tasted a rich Turkish breakfast.
In addition to the pool, guests expect:
- SPA - for those who are used to looking after themselves, no matter in which country they are on vacation. Hammam and sauna, massage room, beauty salon and fitness center, swimming pool with relaxation areas at their disposal.
- To be awake all day, sports animators conduct aerobics classes in an open area. What could be better than doing exercises, breathing in the air saturated with the sea and the aroma of eucalyptus.
- Two tennis courts, a volleyball and basketball court, billiards and bowling, bicycles and ping pong for the most active customers.
- As guests of the hotel note in their reviews, all the most interesting things happen here in the evening - a disco and concerts of live music, animation and show programs will not let bored adults or children.
If you carefully study the descriptions indicated in the reports on the Crystal Paraiso Verde Resort Hotel (Belek), it will be noticeable that for the most part they are positive, with a small “but” from each client. This is understandable, because all people find what they like or not.
Rest for children
As parents, vacationing at the Kristall Hotel with their children, write in their reviews, they could devote a significant part of their time to themselves, as they gave their children into the caring hands of animators. Without exception, all couples remember with love and gratitude how the employees of the kids club worked with their kids. They taught them how to sculpt and draw, watched cartoons with them and played on the playground, went for ice cream and danced at the disco.
If you have a vacation in Turkey with children, then you can safely choose the Crystal Paraiso Hotel (Belek) as a parking place. One pool with water slides for kids is worth it!
Holidays for the whole family
For those who do not want to lie every day like a seal on the beach or spend time by the pool with a cocktail in hand, Turkey will become a place where you can feel like “Indiana Jones”. The ruins of the cities of the times of the Trojan War, the huge amphitheater in which music festivals and theater performances are still held, mosques where local customs must be observed, all this will be interesting to those who are not familiar with Turkish culture or love ancient history.
As an entertainment, it is worth visiting the Troy water park and stock up on positive emotions and impressions a year in advance.
For the most courageous, tours with a raft descent along a fast mountain river are offered, and nature lovers are expected to walk along the paths of the reserve.
“On the side” shopping
It is hardly worth going to Belek for shopping, but if it is difficult to live without it, then you should give preference to shops and bazaars in Antalya, which is faster and easier to get by taxi for $ 50. So experienced travelers write in their reviews, advising at the same time to bargain with the Turks for any reason. Sometimes you can bring down the price to 40-50%, but this does not apply to clothes and shoes of famous brands.
For those who are interested in small things and souvenirs, a supermarket near the Crystal Hotel or shops with all kinds of things in Belek are quite suitable.
To go or not to go?
It is difficult to give advice about relaxation. It is also impossible to rely solely on the opinion of those who have been to Turkey (Belek) at the Crystal Paraiso Verde Hotel, the photo of which is presented above. What angers some, others like, so it’s worthwhile to single out from the verbal “garbage” those moments that can be accepted, and those that you want to avoid. Which of them will be more, and should be done.
According to statistics, this hotel is very popular and has its loyal customers, devoted to it since its opening in 2004. A true traveler knows how difficult it is to please everyone, and therefore is content with little. But at Crystal Paraiso, each guest is respected and greeted with joy and famous Turkish hospitality.