"We had a really enjoyable stay at Arcanus Trendline Side and overall thought it was an excellent family all-inclusive hotel.
Arrival & first impressions
Our first impressions were really positive. On arrival, our cases were taken to our room for us, which might sound like a small thing, but after a long journey these little touches are really appreciated.
The hotel itself is modern, well maintained and was kept extremely clean throughout our stay. The cleaning staff seemed to be constantly working around the hotel and the standard of cleanliness was very good.
The staff
One of the biggest positives of the hotel for us was definitely the staff. We found the standard of service excellent throughout the hotel. Everyone we dealt with was friendly, helpful and incredibly hardworking, and you could see just how much work goes into keeping such a large and busy hotel running.
There were a few people who particularly stood out to us, mainly because we had more interaction with them during our stay.
In the buffet restaurant, Ahmet Can particularly stood out to us. He was superb throughout our stay — always friendly, welcoming and attentive, and provided consistently excellent service.
Begum and Bengü, the twins, along with Ceylan, Mine and Tuanna, were also excellent and deserve a special mention. They were always friendly and welcoming and helped make our experience in the restaurant a really positive one.
At the Brasserie Café, Eylul particularly stood out to us. She was always friendly, welcoming and attentive, and even remembered our usual drink orders. In such a large and busy hotel, we thought that was a really nice personal touch. Ahmet was also excellent, and the service from both helped make the Brasserie one of our favourite places in the hotel.
We had the same experience with Hasan at the Lobby Bar, who also remembered our usual drinks. Hasan and the rest of the Lobby Bar team were excellent throughout our stay and always provided great service.
Bilge, who was part of the cleaning team in the buffet restaurant, was another person who stood out. Whenever we saw her she always seemed to be smiling and genuinely happy in her work. The cleaning staff throughout the hotel worked incredibly hard, but Bilge’s cheerful personality meant we particularly remembered her.
Then there was Cengiz Hasan from the entertainment team — or “Aquaman”, as we ended up calling him! He was involved in the entertainment before the main evening acts, including leading some of the dancing, and brought loads of personality and energy to it. He did some excellent dancing himself and certainly became one of the characters we’ll remember from the holiday.
The teams at the pool bar and beach bar were excellent too. These are incredibly busy areas, so understandably there isn’t always the same opportunity to get to know individual members of staff, but they worked constantly and the service was consistently good.
These are simply the people who particularly stood out because of the interactions we had with them. We didn’t encounter a bad member of staff anywhere in the hotel, and we wouldn’t want naming individuals to take anything away from all the other people working extremely hard throughout the resort.
Food
There is a huge amount of choice in the buffet restaurant. Inevitably over a longer stay some dishes start to repeat, but we found that if you actually put together a meal rather than taking a little bit of everything, the food was really good.
There was always freshly cooked meat and fish, plenty of salads and sides, and a huge selection of desserts. The fresh bread straight from the pizza oven was excellent and became a particular favourite.
Breakfast had plenty of choice too. A special mention has to go to the omelette chef. Unfortunately we didn’t get her name, but she was superb every morning and the freshly cooked omelettes were excellent.
We ate mainly in the buffet but also had lunch down at the beach. The flatbreads cooked fresh to order were excellent, and the chef making them was incredible. Unfortunately we didn’t get her name either, but she definitely deserves a mention.
The beach bar also has a really nice salad bar. The snack bar near the pool has a fairly similar menu, although we thought the salad bar and freshly made flatbreads gave the beach option the edge.
Brasserie Café & Lobby Bar
We probably spent most of our time away from the pool in the Brasserie Café and Lobby Bar, and both became regular stops for us.
The Brasserie does excellent coffee, has a very good selection of cakes and is also where you can get freshly made waffles.
The Lobby Bar was another favourite. The mojitos there were excellent, and they were really accommodating in making alcohol-free mojitos for us even though they weren’t actually listed on the alcohol-free cocktail menu.
Pool, slides & beach
The main pool is massive and a perfect temperature. It’s 1.4m deep throughout, which we really liked because it’s equally good for properly swimming or just having fun in the water.
The slides and splash pool are really good too and provided plenty to keep our 14-year-old entertained.
Something else we really liked about the pool layout was that one side gets the sun earlier in the day and the other later. Whether you want to sit in the sunshine or you’re actively trying to avoid it, you can normally find somewhere suitable.
There were always plenty of sun loungers around both the pool and beach, even if you didn’t want to take part in the traditional early-morning sun-lounger Olympics!
The beach is separate from the main hotel site, but the free shuttle is a really nice touch. The journey only takes a few minutes, so we never found the separation to be an issue.
Our room
We stayed in a family room with two double beds. The main bed was really comfortable, although we found the second bed slightly firmer.
Having a lockable connecting door between the rooms worked really well for us as a family, and having two bathrooms was a very useful bonus.
The minibar was restocked regularly. We weren’t really drinking the juice or sparkling water, so we left a note for the cleaner asking if we could have more still water instead, and from then on she made sure we had plenty. It was only a small thing, but another example of the helpful service we received.
Another positive was that the safe in the room was free to use. We’ve stayed at hotels in the past where there’s been an additional charge for the safe, so it was good to see this included.
One recommendation for British guests would be to bring a Fire TV Stick or similar streaming device if you like watching TV in your room. We only found one English-language channel, so there wasn’t a great deal of choice.
On the positive side, we were able to watch the football with local commentary, which was definitely a bonus!
Entertainment
The evening entertainment was probably one of the more mixed parts of the holiday for us. Some acts were better than others, although obviously entertainment is very much down to personal taste.
There was entertainment each evening and we enjoyed some of the shows more than others, but there was always something going on and it gave the evenings a good atmosphere.
Other guests
Before travelling, we’d read a few reviews mentioning the behaviour of other guests and the mix of nationalities staying at the hotel. That didn’t reflect our experience during the vast majority of our stay.
There was a really varied mix of nationalities, which is exactly what you’d expect at an international resort, and at no point did we feel that this negatively affected our holiday. Apart from an issue on our final night, we didn’t have any problems with the behaviour of other guests throughout our stay.
Everyone generally seemed to be there for the same reason — to relax and enjoy themselves.
Getting out and exploring
The location worked really well for us because it’s very easy to explore independently rather than feeling you have to book organised excursions.
There’s a bus stop just outside the hotel, and we used the local buses to visit both Side Old Town and Manavgat market.
Both journeys took roughly 20–30 minutes and cost around £1.50 per person each way, making it really easy and inexpensive to get out and see more of the area.
Side is definitely worth visiting. The ancient ruins, Old Town and Temple of Apollo make for a really enjoyable day out, and it’s incredibly easy to reach from the hotel.
There are also local bazaars and shops just around the corner, along with a small Migros supermarket and plenty of pharmacies if there are things you want to pick up before travelling home.
One thing that surprised us was that almost all of the tourist shops displayed their prices in euros rather than Turkish lira.
If you’re paying in lira, it’s worth checking the current exchange rate yourself when asking them to convert the price. Most places were absolutely fine, but it’s something worth being aware of as the rate used can make a difference.
One negative
Unfortunately, the one issue we did have with other guests came on our final night. New guests had moved into the room next to ours and were playing extremely loud music late into the night.
It was particularly frustrating as it was our last night and we were travelling home the following day. We eventually had to speak to reception and Guest Relations, who dealt with the situation and the music was stopped, although unfortunately it was nearly 1am by then.
This wasn’t really the hotel’s fault and they did act when we raised it, but it was a shame that the behaviour of the guests next door spoilt our final night after we’d had no issues throughout the rest of our stay.
Overall
Overall, we had a really good family holiday at Arcanus Trendline Side.
There’s plenty of food and drink choice, a fantastic pool, good slides and facilities for families, easy access to the beach, and it’s straightforward and inexpensive to get out and explore Side and Manavgat.
One of the biggest positives for us was the standard of service throughout the hotel. We’ve mentioned a few people who particularly stood out because of the interactions we had with them, but we genuinely didn’t encounter a bad member of staff anywhere. Everyone seemed to work incredibly hard and that made a real difference to our stay.
Despite the unfortunate experience with the neighbouring room on our final night, it didn’t change our overall opinion of the hotel or what had been a really enjoyable holiday.
We’d happily recommend Arcanus Trendline Side, particularly to families looking for an all-inclusive where you can either spend your days relaxing around the hotel and beach or very easily get out and explore the local area"
