Sunny Turkey is a favorite of Russian tourists. The abundance of mountains and seas makes the climate of this country very attractive for vacationers - after all, most of the year the sea season is here. Each province has its own natural and cultural features, because Turkey is able to surprise with landscapes, attractions and cuisine.
The benefits of a holiday in Turkey
Many tourists highlight the following benefits of a holiday in Turkey:
- You can choose a tour at an affordable price;
- close location, so the flight is relatively short;
- hotels for every taste;
- high quality service;
- decent food on all-inclusive and ultra all-inclusive systems;
- the wealth of nature;
- variety of sightseeing tours;
- the season lasts from April to November;
- ease of entry into the country.
When choosing a hotel, the resort in which it is located is also important. After all, the location of the city determines the possibilities of sightseeing tours and the variety of recreation outside the walls of the hotel.
Side Features
The city is located between the two most popular resort cities of the country - Antalya and Alanya. The climate is Mediterranean, the months most suitable for sea holidays are from May to October inclusive. Side is small territorially, but there is enough of it: sights, modern entertainment, and wide beaches. Historically, it belonged to Ancient Greece, therefore, along the perimeter of the old city there are many ruins of ancient structures: the city walls, Agora - the ancient square, the Nymphaeum fountain, dedicated to the emperor Vespasian and his son. All these monuments are dated to the second century BC.
Three kilometers from the city you can see the Managawt waterfall created by man, whose width reaches forty meters and a height of two.
Side is famous for its Mediterranean options for cooking fish and seafood, numerous positive reviews of tourists confirm this.
The resort is mainly designed for a relaxing beach family vacation with an overview of historical attractions.
Side hotels, aimed at Russian and European tourists, offer a developed infrastructure and a high level of service to their guests. One of them is the hotel Villa Side Residence 5 *. Reviews, services, hotel description - all this in our article.
Description
The hotel building has 10 floors and 308 modern spacious rooms. The infrastructure inside the walls offers tourists a jacuzzi, SPA-procedures, massage, sauna, pool, shops. In the courtyard of the hotel there are pools for children and adults, water slides, a park, a playground, and a volleyball field on the beach. Around the perimeter there is wireless Internet coverage. Meals are offered on an all-inclusive basis, there are bars, a main restaurant and an à la carte restaurant.
The rooms are spacious - ranging in size from 28 to 35 square meters, each has a balcony with views of the mountains, sea, pool, street. The bathroom is equipped with a shower and all the necessary cosmetics, towels, bathrobes, a hairdryer and a toilet. Each room has a tea and coffee set, minibar, TV, necessary modern furniture, safe and telephone. Apartments are cleaned daily, bed linen is changed every three days.
The hotel has its own sandy beach, on the second coastline with sunbeds and umbrellas.
Villa Side Residence 5 * (Turkey): hotel reviews
More detailed and objective information about the hotel can be obtained by studying the reviews of guests who visited it. For ease of use, tourists' ratings are divided into the following thematic categories:
- Hotel pricing policy.
- General impressions of the hotel.
- The rooms.
- Beach.
- All-inclusive system at the Villa Side Residence 5 * hotel.
- A la carte restaurants.
- Animation.
- The work of the staff.
- Excursions from the hotel.
Hotel pricing policy
In reviews of the Villa Side Residence 5 * hotel (Turkey), there are comparisons with Turkish hotels of the Alva Donna and Crystal chains with the DELUXE, VIP, LUXURY prefixes in favor of the latter and with criticism of Villa Side Residence 5 * and comments about the "lack of access". At the same time, guest ratings are also noted, which indicate a significant difference in the price of tours to the hotel we are considering and those hotels with which it is compared. The conclusion boils down to the fact that for the price that Villa Side Residence 5 * exposes, it provides a chic service in all respects and an optimal price-quality ratio.
General hotel experience
Villa Side Residence 5 * reviews (see hotel photo, in the article) gets mostly positive. Tourists admit that the territory is small, as for the category of five stars, but at the same time accommodating everything for a good rest of people of different ages. Her exemplary grooming was also noted. According to reviews, the presence of a hammam, a gym, a playground and an inexpensive store of things for every taste on the hotel territory contributed to a pleasant pastime.
Pools are recognized by tourists as clean and large, but there are complaints about the lack of sun loungers during a period of full hotel occupancy. This is primarily due not to their quantity, but to the "thrifty" of vacationers who occupy the sunbed in the morning and reach it only in the evening, respectively, no one can use it all day. Water slides work with a short break for most of the day and, according to vacationers, the lifeguard must carefully monitor the safety of children on them.
The Internet, according to guests, is quite high quality and fast, the signal is caught anywhere in the hotel.
Rooms
Check-in at the hotel takes place, according to the rules, at 14:00. All tourists who arrived much earlier than this time were immediately sent to the dining room and to the beach so that the wait was not painful. Not always for visitors were exactly those apartments that they booked when buying a tour. Also, not all guests were pleased with the views from the balconies or the sounds accompanying their relaxation in the evening. There were large companies of vacationers at the peak of the season with the desire to stay in four rooms in a row. In these cases, the hotel administration did all possible manipulations with relocations so that the guests were satisfied.
The hotel was built in 2012, so all the furniture in the rooms is relatively new and in excellent condition. The rooms are clean, the linens are good, all the necessary cosmetics of reasonable quality are provided. Moreover, there are beach bags in every room. Tea and coffee making sets and minibars are regularly replenished. The latter - local beer, sweet water (cola, fanta), mineral water and juices. Most tourists rated the cleaning at the highest level.
In general, Villa Side Residence 5 * reviews (the description of the rooms above) for the location options get mostly positive. There were no serious complaints.
Beach
Beach Villa Side Residence 5 * is located on the second coastline, but thanks to the small territory of the hotel itself, walk to it no more than five minutes. If you use an electric car, then the road does make a minute or two. The beach itself is sandy and spacious, there are enough umbrellas and sun loungers for everyone with any occupancy of the hotel. The slope is gentle, which was positively appreciated by tourists with young children. The sea is mostly clean, but it is contaminated by algae, which is carefully cleaned by the hotel staff every morning under the influence of natural elements.
On the beach there is a bar with local drinks, presented in a wide assortment, and many options of delicious hearty snacks.
All-inclusive system at the hotel
The hotel Villa Side Residence 5 * (Side) receives positive reviews for the operation of the main restaurant. First of all, the cleanliness of the room was awarded, guests like the absence of dirty dishes and beautiful table setting. Claims for food are single in nature and are mainly associated with the children's menu, which we will discuss later. So, the hotel food in general terms looks like this:
Breakfast:
- a huge assortment of pastries;
- variations of egg dishes;
- local soy sausage;
- Cheeses
- fritters;
- fruit;
- honey, jams, Nutella type chocolate paste;
- several types of instant cereals;
- coffee, tea, milk, fruit drinks.
Lunches and dinners:
- many meat options, including chicken, turkey, tongue, on certain days in the restaurant arrange a "Turkish night", when the assortment of meat dishes and products is even wider than on ordinary days;
- a wide range of fish dishes and seafood, including sushi, tuna, grilled fish and king prawns, on Mondays - a fish day;
- side dishes: varieties of potatoes, rice, pasta;
- the freshest salads, cooked right in front of the vacationers, so there can be nothing stale, an abundance of olives;
- vegetables in all kinds of cooking options;
- sauces for every taste;
- a wide range of bakery products;
- desserts for every taste: cookies, cakes, pastries;
- ice cream;
- various fruits;
- an assortment of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and, importantly, natural juices, not powder drinks, as in many hotels in Turkey.
Baby food. On the tables intended for children's dishes, the same menu items were offered as for adults, as well as french fries and burgers. Therefore, with young children up to 3-4 years old, you need to come with your supplies. Naturally, many tourists were unhappy about this. To justify the hotel, it should be said that the approach to baby food is different in Russia and Turkey, therefore, most likely, the hotel staff offers such a menu with the best intentions.
Food at the bars:
- grilled meat or chicken;
- delicious pizza;
- French fries;
- burgers;
- Donuts
- waffles;
- ice cream in packages in unlimited quantities;
- local drinks: sweet and mineral water, coffee,
- tea, beer, ayran, alcohol.
Alcohol. Beer and wine in the main restaurant deserved good marks from the guests, but the local strong alcoholic drinks were traditionally criticized, while the imported ones found their grateful consumer.
In general, hotel guests note that it is unrealistic to stay hungry, you can literally eat for whole days. At the same time, tourists are offered a huge number of Turkish dishes, which many liked.
It should be noted that many tourists were afraid of the Koksaki virus, which the Russian media made noise about, but not a single case of infection was noted in the reviews for the summer period of 2017.
A la carte restaurants
From the latest reviews of à la carte visits at the Villa Side Residence 5 * hotel: guests mention only a fish restaurant. There are complaints of tourists about the difficulties of recording in a la carte and the presence of huge lines of people who wish. At the same time, all guests of this restaurant were satisfied with the assortment of menus, the taste of dishes and the high quality of the work of the waiters.
Animation
The hotel’s animators are divided into two teams: German and Turkish with the respective languages of the programs. Therefore, Russian-speaking tourists who do not speak foreign languages, it was not available. In the afternoon, standard types of physical activity were offered. In general, almost all vacationers admitted that the hotel’s animation is very weak and underdeveloped. Some families with children nevertheless noted that the child liked the children's disco, and the show with guest artists (Turkish and African dancers) was interesting.
Several vacationers write in reviews that they liked foam parties.
Staff work
According to real reviews, in Villa Side Residence 5 * the staff adequately copes with their work, carefully treats each guest, his wishes and comments. Disputes and conflicts regarding the provision of rooms are also resolved quickly and efficiently. The restaurant staff is very friendly and tidy. The housekeepers did their work quickly and quietly, as did the hotel staff responsible for the cleanliness of the beach.
In reviews of guests of Villa Side Residence 5 *, one significant minus in the work of staff is often mentioned - the language barrier. Almost no one speaks Russian, only Turkish and German. The hotel guide was the salvation for tourists, but its working day ends at 16:00. But many guests noted that the hotel staff and animators are currently in the process of learning the Russian language.
There were complaints of tourists about the Turkish girl-employee of the children's club, who did not show any enthusiasm for work and interest in children. Also, the guests did not like the difficulties with booking a table for dinner at the a la carte restaurant and the unfriendliness of the employee responsible for this.
Hotel excursions
Some tourists limited their stay to the walls of the hotel, but many visited the historical sights of the city of Side. Some went on excursions, for example, in the huge fabulous water park The Land of Legends - just a must-see place for children. Delight and positive emotions from visiting this water park are guaranteed. Sightseeing tours in Pamukkale also deserved good reviews. The hotel provides guests with lunch kits for excursions, the buses are comfortable, guides provide information interesting and accessible.
Tourists recommend not to buy excursion programs from hotel guides, since they are much more expensive, and are advised to contact representatives of travel agencies on the beaches.
According to reviews, Villa Side Residence 5 * (Side, Turkey), of course, deserves attention. This place is worth spending your holidays here. All minor flaws are not particularly critical and are easily corrected by the conscientious work of the staff.