"We have just got home from our 10 night holiday in Türkiye at Labranda Alantur.
I wanted to write an honest review as it was our first all inclusive experience as a married couple.
The hotel/grounds/beach front/pools are beautiful, very clean, well kept and all areas are nicely presented.
We booked a bungalow room, which was clean, well laid out and had all the amenities we would need for our stay. The cleaners also did a fabulous job of our room every day. And if you leave a little tip for their hard work they go above and beyond and leave you a little surprise in your room daily. Which was very sweet.
You are likely to be blessed and see the stray cats and kittens roaming around the hotel. Very adorable and they are well looked after by the hotel. At one point we even saw a vet there attending to a sick cat. As an animal lover this was good to see.
The staff at the bars were always very attentive, leaving their station to come and ask if you’d like a refill, whether you were at the pool or the beach seating area. Osman from Neptune Pool Bar & Deniz from Poseidon Pool Bar are great. Welcoming, fun and speak good English. The Cocktails, iced coffees & pool bar snacks are fantastic. Which include things like burgers, chips, chicken nuggets, salad, pasta, pizza, hotdogs, fruit & delicious watermelon slices. (At times these were very much needed I’ll explain more about this later in my review)
Daily there is also a lady who makes delicious cheese Turkish gozleme breads by the main pool. They are also a great added bonus.
Now I’ll get on to the main restaurant.
Firstly, it’s best to take no notice of the boards outside the main restaurant that tell you there is a themed cuisine night. For example, we had Italian night, Turkish night, Seafood night & Mexican night advertised on their boards whilst we were there. Also there was international night (which I presume is all cuisines available) on the alternate nights.
There was never much of a change to what we had every night.
Italian had 1 extra pasta dish, however pasta is every night.
Seafood night they advertised langoustines, sushi & lobster on their Facebook page on the day. This wasn’t true. There was no seafood. Which really disappointed us.
Mexican night had no Mexican food. No fahitas or tacos.
Just the same available as every single night.
The waiting staff were also clueless as to why it was advertised on the boards and on Facebook but not available in the restaurant.
Unfortunately the main restaurant lets the whole resort down in our eyes.
For a 5 star resort we were expecting more from it. Other guests also expressed the same to us saying they’d stayed in 3 star resorts all inclusive and had better food than what was available at Labranda Alantur.
The point of doing all inclusive really is about the food and drink that’s available to you. So it was a real disappointment.
We ventured out a few nights to restaurants nearby to eat as we couldn’t stomach the same food every night.
It’s a big shame.
As I’ve said before the rest of the resort is great, and enjoyable.
The adult only pool is perfect for couples without children wanting a more peaceful experience. However please be aware you will be hassled daily to buy a tattoo or a massage. Again quite frustrating.
Especially at what they call a relaxation pool.
But you get past that once you’ve mastered your best technique at saying no forcefully.
The hotel is situated quite far away from the airport so if you are getting a shuttle be prepared for a 4 hour plus journey.
You drop off everyone along the way and you are the last drop off. Usually very late at night (if flying from the UK/europe) and the only food available after 11pm is soup. We were also told that room service even though advertised as 24hr is Infact not available after 11pm. So after a long travel day food is extremely limited.
If you book any excursions they are also very long travel to the excursion from the hotel. Making an excursion that is advertised at 3 hours a 6-7 hour excursion due to the travel.
All in all we had a great time. But sadly the food did let us down and we were thankful for burgers, chips and chicken nuggets from the pool bar. Not sure if that should be the case at a 5 star resort, and has left a bad taste in our mouths.
Excuse the pun."