Swandor Topkapi Palace

"Came with 2 teenaged boys 26th Oct and go home tomorrow 5th Nov Never been to Turkey before so was apprehensive as a new place to visit Overall we had a brilliant holiday and would come back, maybe to another hotel purely down the location as the Swandor is far away from anywhere to have a stroll if you wanted to escape the hotel for a small time. Highlights .... The buildings , grounds and any areas are very well designed and maintained It is a stunning looking hotel We had a duplex room so it was great having 2 bathrooms and ideal for 2 older lads. Stairs a little sketchy for young ones Room service was brilliant just remember to flick the light to red at night and then green when ready for room service Mini Bar was brilliant even though some Doritos I've never seen anywhere If you ran out of anything either use the app or just call 5555 and sorted straight away Lads loved the slides The Pier was beautiful especially sunset Entertainment was brilliant Food was overwhelming as it was huge but great you can have late Breakfast or Dinner as well Not so good points for us anyway or things can be improved... Hard to find out what's going on, nothing announced so you can easily miss things especially for the lads. Communication would be better. It's a big site so you miss out on things No sport on the TV at any point, Irish Bar was mentioned as a sports bar but only opened once in our 10 days Tips Book into the free Al la Carte as soon as you can You can also eat for free at lunch so don't miss out Don't forget to go for ice cream at the Patisserie 3pm til 6pm Massive issue for us was the smell in the evening, acrid rotten smell from burning rubbish somewhere near by. It filled the rooms and made us feel sick at times. The rooms are warm and you couldn't have the door open it was that rancid Overall would we be back, yes but possibly not the Swandor"

"We stayed here as a family of 8 (including 2 kids) and we all really enjoyed our time here. • I really enjoyed the food. Like other reviews have said the main restaurant is massive but it's required as it was quite busy due to the half term holidays. I think they should look at doing theme nights however to add some variety • They have a good selection of name brand spirits included in the all inclusive. I tried a couple of cocktails too which were quite nice too. • The room was clean and a good size. They restock the mini bar every day and it includes some fizzy drinks and snacks. • They have a Kids Club which was really good to keep the kids busy. We only saw 2 shows in the evening during our stay but they were both enjoyable • Pools were clean and I found there ere plenty of sun beds available. Be mindful that the main pools are fairly cold but you can find a warm pool elsewhere in the resort • If you love cats you will love this resort! Whilst we enjoyed our stay overall there are a few things to watch out for. Firstly, the shop on site is ridiculously overpriced so make sure you don't forget anything essential before coming. And when I say overpriced I really mean it. Of course you expect to pay a bit more premium in a hotel shop but the prices seem to be double if not triple more! Really poor and extortionate from them. Secondly I would not recommend going for a massage here - at least based on the experience I had. The masseuse left the room several times without saying anything during the message and immediately after it was finished she went on her phone to check some messages. I thought that was extremely unprofessional. The massage itself was mediocre too. Perhaps you may have a better experience with another masseuse. Lastly, be mindful that there are no local shops nearby. You can easily get a bus/taxi to the shops but they are too far to walk of that is something you are looking for Overall I would recommend staying here especially if you are a family travelling with kids."

"The hotel is rated as 5 star but I would say that 4 star is more appropriate. I say this because the standard of furnishings and décor is quite basic (and somewhat outdated) and more importantly, the cleaning of the rooms and the communal areas was not up to 5 star standard (IMHO). Our room was not thoroughly cleaned and there was some chewing gum stuck to the furniture in the bedroom! There are empty drink glasses left on steel trolleys everywhere in the outside areas, which is very unsightly and not something you would expect in a 5 star hotel?! We were there at the end of October and the hotel was very full of (mostly) Russian guests taking full advantage of the all-inclusive cheap liquor and ersatz cocktails. At all of the bars there was always a queue to get a drink and sometimes these bars ran out of certain drinks and some of the staff are clearly overworked and quite grumpy/unfriendly when serving you. This might be OK for people wanting a cheap "all inclusive" deal but as I said it really isn't a "5 star" experience. One positive was the buffet food - this really was good and the hotel clearly has some good chefs."