"The four-star hotel in Okurcalar near Alanya does a good job with the main things: the sea, greenery, and children. The number here is up to luck, but most of the money guests leave is not at the reception, but with the hotel guide.
From noon to five in the afternoon, the ice cream never runs out at the Club Aqua Plaza snack bar. They are given in packets or sprinkled with balls, and no one counts the portions. A lot can be understood about the hotel from this detail. They know how to delight children and feed adults well here. Worse with what you need to invest money in: with the internet and some rooms.
By Turkish standards, Club Aqua Plaza is small: four stars, 133 rooms, the building was built in 2000. The hotel is on the first line in Okurjalar. It is a quiet resort village 35 kilometers west of Alanya, a 30-40 minute drive away. To Antalya airport is about 90 kilometers, to Gazipaşa airport 75-80. On online maps, the hotel has 4.3 out of 5 stars based on 440 reviews. On the Russian review site TopHotels, the average rating is 4.08, and 81% of guests recommend the hotel. We spent our vacation here and consider these figures honest.
You should come here first and foremost for the sea. The hotel has its own beach about a hundred meters long, with sand and pebbles, and there is a pier. Sun loungers, mattresses, and umbrellas are free, towels are provided against a deposit. Lezhakov was available to everyone, and that doesn't happen everywhere on the Turkish coast. The territory is green and well-kept, which is a strong point for a hotel of this class.
The second reason is children. The hotel has a water park with seven slides, on which a child can spend the whole day. The mini-club accepts children from 4 to 12 years old from 10:00 to 12:30 and from 14:00 to 17:00. While the children are there, parents can relax by the pool. If your child is of the right age, that alone can outweigh many disadvantages.
They feed on an "all-inclusive" system. The kitchen is hearty and without experiments. The simplest breakfast: three or four egg dishes, baked goods, fried vegetables, two soups, french fries, one or two meat dishes, and pasta. Whoever overslept can come for a late breakfast from 10:00 to 10:30. At lunchtime, one to three more meat and fish dishes are added, and the baked goods increase. The richest dinner: five to seven types of meat and fish, cakes for dessert. The fruits were watermelons, one or two varieties of grapes, peaches, nectarines, pears, and apples.
It is hard to stay hungry between lunch and dinner. The snack bar has two types of pizza, burgers, shawarma, french fries, and kumpir - a large baked potato with fillings. Bars by the pool and on the beach serve both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Local alcohol is included in the price from ten in the morning until midnight. Freshly squeezed juice, Turkish coffee, and imported drinks cost extra. From 11:00 PM to midnight, night soup is served.
The waiters in the restaurant and the bartenders worked quickly and kindly, and this determined the mood of the whole vacation.
The hotel's weak point is the rooms. They did renovations in them, but the result is very different: you can end up in a fresh room, or in a noticeably older one. For the numbers, we put four for the hotel. Simple advice: when booking, ask for a room after renovation and don't take "economy" if you want a balcony.
The second weak spot is the internet. The Wi-Fi in the hotel provides about 1.5 megabits per second. This is enough for messengers, but not for video and work calls. There is no signal on the beach at all, although guests who stayed here a year ago say that it was there then. People complain about the weak internet on Tripadvisor too. If you need to be in touch while on vacation, buy a local SIM card right away.
You can lose the most money here not in the room and not in the bar. Tours with the hotel guide cost two or three times more than if you buy them yourself. Refer to these prices: Green Canyon - $20-25, boat trip - 15, rafting - 15, Tazy Canyon - $20-25, Pamukkale - 35. The numbers are confirmed: even on aggregator sites, Pamukkale from Alanya is sold from $36, and rafting is about $20. You should also know about Pamukkale: the group trip takes 12-13 hours, and you will spend most of the time in the bus.
The same story with the hammam. The hammam in the hotel is free, as are the Finnish sauna, steam room, and salt room. But they ask for 50-75 dollars for the procedures. In Alanya, they cost about 15 dollars. We went to a hammam in Okurcalar and paid 25 euros.
Water activities at the hotel beach are about one and a half times more expensive than at the neighbors'. We found normal prices at the rental places on the left, if you face the sea. A banana costs 15 dollars for 10-12 minutes or 30 dollars for half an hour, a "pill" costs 25 dollars for 10-12 minutes, and an ATV costs 60-70 dollars for 15 minutes. A parachute flight over the boat will cost $60–70 per person and $100–110 for two. There's a catch: they might refuse, saying that your hotel's guests are not accepted. Helps remove the "all-inclusive" bracelet or come with acquaintances from the neighboring hotel. Similar prices are easy to find online and book in advance.
You don't have to go far for groceries. Across the street, within a 10-15 minute walk, there are two bazaars: SOXO and the second, bigger. The cheapest groceries and household items are found at the Migros supermarket in the far corner of the large bazaar.
Club Aqua Plaza does not try to seem bigger than it is. This is an honest family hotel: good sea, green area, water park, mini-club, and diligent staff. It will suit parents with children aged 4 to 12 and everyone who is going for the sea and tranquility. If you have to work while on vacation, want noisy parties, or need a guaranteed new room, it's better to look for another option. Our assessment matches the guests' assessment: 4.3 out of 5. Five for the sea, beach, and service, four for rooms, three for internet. It's easy to overpay here, but not for the package, but for excursions, hammam treatments, and banana boat rides."
