Aska Lara Resort and Spa

"Just wanted to write a review on this stay. Firstly the hotel is beautiful and I would stay here again. Experience was amazing and the people are so friendly and kind in the hotel. Especially the transport guys they went above and beyond for us. We went on day trips and made it a memorable one. Thank you to you both. One evening we was at the restaurant and due to the high number of football team (children) we was placed at a table with the children from the football team. We were grateful for the waiter and no fault of his. However, the football team was racially abusive calling us“Africans” and making us feel uncomfortable. We explained that we was placed here due to no tables available and for the football team there was enough room and chairs for them to sit and eat so there was no issues. The boys continued to be rude, racially abusive and disrespectful. We did not report this but challenged this ourselves. The next day people around us reported this which we appreciated but it was too late they left. This was quite a horrible experience that evening. However, the rest of the experience was amazing. The waiters I cannot thank enough and appreciate how attentive they were to us and others. You can see how hard working they are. Especially “Erin” he has high level of customer service and witness leading his team. That is something that was seen naturally within him. Think he needs promoting or given a reward for how much he does. There was a waitress with red hair and quite tall didn’t get her name but she was not welcoming, gave us bad looks and bossing others around like Erin but she was just standing there doing nothing. That is not a team player. Erin handled the situation very well. I am observant and can see he was concentrating on his service but she would be making it hard for him. Overall, I would highly recommend this place. Thank you for having us ❤️"

"I love here and staff member name Gulay is so amazing at security gate help us lot Thank you"

"We are currently in room 1289 at the Aska Lara Resort and Spa, having come for the February half-term holiday, and are loving it. The family room we are in is really large consisting of a twin bedroom (with shower, toilet, TV, balcony with table and chairs) for the boys and another room with a large bed, shower, toilet, TV, fridge (restocked for free daily with cola, Sprite, Fanta, still and sparkling water and beer if you like it), tea and coffee facilities, desks, balcony with table and chairs and a jacuzzi! Lots of storage in both rooms with a door to separate the rooms too. Great WiFi throughout the room (and indeed hotel complex), shower products, free robes and slippers too. The TV mainly has non-English channels but some of the German channels are in English and some of the others are actually broadcast in whatever language the channel is in plus the original language. If available, you can change the language by clicking Menu on the remote, Language scrolling to Audio to see if you can change it. We've also plugged our portable DVD into the TV to watch films - there are a few options to do this via the scart connector, HDMI cable and 3 in 1 cable (plus prob USB connectors too). The hotel itself is amazing. There are lifts you can look out the glass walls to see the lobby etc (and more enclosed ones should height be a problem for you). The basement level is where the shops, spa, large (and warm) indoor pool is alongside a coffee bar and the main restaurant. We have been incredibly impressed by the food here - there really is something for everyone. Lactose free and alternative milks are provided at breakfast and can be requested at other meals. There are gluten free options (at least at breakfast), vegan options as well a huge array of salads, meats, soups, pastas an ever changing options of mains and more. We tended to eat a lot from the outside section quite a lot - fresh made breads, pizzas, Turkish pizza, grilled meats and fish, Chinese and Indian options too. The ice cream is superb from here too - the vanilla or pistachio having that sort of nougat texture that Turkish ice cream has. The desert selection is amazing and, unlike most of our all inclusive holidays, the cream in the cakes is real cream. There is also an amazing selection of baclava too (and, at breakfast, honey in honeycomb ready for yogurts, fruit, pancakes and more). It obviously gets busy at meal times but there are 4 sections of seats inside the main restaurant area (including the small area with pastries/cakes/breads available at each sitting) plus the outdoor seating area so we never had to wait to get seats. The staff are pretty quick at taking plates, bringing drinks and turning tables around in any case too. As said, the food here is superb (obvs depending on taste). For us, it is the best all inclusive food we've ever had, second place going to the H10 Tindaya in the Canaries a few years ago. The drinks here are plentiful. The alcohol varies and spirits are generally weaker, generic stuff. However, as you are probably gonna drink more, it's gonna have whatever effect you are after eventually. Just treat it as going to the pub with a higher step count (or none at all if the waiter brings it to you!). Plenty of decent seating all around the lobby and bar area too. Should you feel peckish outside of the 4 slots the main restaurant is open (breakfast, lunch, dinner and a nighttime option too), there is a bar on the lobby floor open from 10:30am until 7am serving sandwiches, pastries, puddings and more (as well as hot, cold and alcoholic drinks too). We used it to get sandwiches for a day trip (worth bringing some tupperware for that!). To be honest, the hotel may well provide packed lunches. We tended not to use the entertainment but there was a nightly show/singing act/karaoke which followed the mini-disco. There is also a kids club if you need to relax away from the little ones as well as two films a day in the cinema, a nightclub on site (well insulated - it is situated a few floors below our room and we heard neither music or people once). On site is also a spa (with paid options as well as free options like using the sauna etc), gym, tattoo parlour, hairdressers, playground, activities (darts, boules, indoor curling, yoga etc), a table tennis table, a tennis court, paddle ball court, indoor pool and more. The outdoor pool is massive, surrounded by sunbeds etc. It was too cold for us to venture in (it isn't heated) but people did tend to use it a bit after the sun had tried to warm it in the afternoon. The hotel is one road from the beach and have a beachfront pool and sports area called Wet and Wild. It is mostly closed at this time of year however, should you want to chill at the beach, sunbeds are provided, there's a tap to wash sand off your feet and toilets are within 20 metres of that. There weren't any bars open however, there is a large all-weather football pitch there (think 5 a side or more). As most people thought the site was closed, we had it to ourselves every time we used it (bringing water/canned drinks from the room to aid the kids running around). The site also has half of a basketball court too however, should you want a full basketball court, just use the playground that faces the hotel. There is also more play equipment there as well as fibreglass character from kids films too. The hotel has a cat house and there are cats around at meal times (not many but there are some). They mostly just leave you alone and if you ignore them they'll wander off to someone else who'll drop them some meat. My kids have enjoyed playing with the cats throughout the holiday (indeed, having cats was their only requirement of the booking!). Most hotels here seem to have them (as in Cyprus and the Canaries nowadays). If you don't like cats, as put, they'll wander off or just use one of the bars/eateries on the lobby floor where they tend not to go to. If you are allergic, I'd defo suggest having a shot before you get here. Last couple of tips: 1. To get the bus to the Old Town/Antalya, the easiest (and cheapest) way is to use a bank card on the bus. It costs 41 Turkish Lira (TL) each way which is about 75p. No idea if they take cash. You can buy cards from the shop next to the bus stop which cost 140TL return so are about double the price. If you are going to use lots of busses, the baggage guys at the hotel sell all day tickets for 500TL. The bus number is LOC7A. They seem to run about every 10 minutes and take about 45 minutes to get to town. Get off at the tram tracks/museum and follow the tram tracks to the old town. This area is also the cheapest place to get fridge magnets etc souvenirs. 2. If you like buying clothes, football shirts, shoes etc, pack less than you need and buy here. There are loads of places where you can buy 'genuine' products for cheap. We found a mall a little walk up the road that had four floors and on the top floor you could buy three pairs of shoes/trainers for 30 Euros. Yes they are almost definitely fake but, to be honest, I doubt they will last any less than the shoes I buy for my kids in the UK will. Expect to pay 10 Euros (500TL) for football shirts/kids football shirts and shorts. Most places start higher priced then come down. If your money is tight, haggle. If not, pay a little extra (it's pretty quiet this time of year for the traders!). Overall, we thought the holiday was great, incredible value, Jet2 making it all so relaxed and will definitely come again. Great atmosphere, friendly staff, calm and safe holiday and have loved every minute of it."