Trendy Aspendos

We really enjoyed our stay at Trendy Aspendos Beach Hotel. It was our first family holiday abroad and both of our children’s first time on an aeroplane, so it was a very special trip for us.

Turkey was an amazing choice. The weather was fantastic, and there were plenty of pools for the children to enjoy. They even learned to swim during our stay! Even in mid-June, we were always able to find quieter areas when we wanted to relax. The large slide pool was especially peaceful when the slides weren’t operating, which suited our family perfectly. My children absolutely loved the children’s slide pool as they could both stand up in it comfortably without needing their inflatables.

The hotel is definitely geared towards its German guests, which is understandable as they clearly make up the majority of visitors. However, this did create a language barrier at times. It also meant that, while the buffet offered a huge variety of food, it wasn’t particularly inclusive for UK guests. We love trying new foods and experiencing different cultures, that’s one of the best parts of travelling. But, I do feel that hotels welcoming guests from many countries should try to cater for everyone. The same applied to the evening entertainment. Although our children enjoyed watching the shows, everything was conducted in German, so they couldn’t really join in with the children’s dances on stage each evening. At 6 and 3 years old, they would have absolutely loved to take part. Thankfully, this didn’t stop them making friends with German children who also spoke English, which was lovely to see.

We paid extra to book a cabana for two days during our stay, and it was worth every penny. A special mention goes to Ahmet, who was fantastic. He was one of the few staff members who spoke excellent English, and he couldn’t have been more attentive or helpful. He was brilliant with our children too and really made those days extra special. If we had any reason to come back to this hotel, it would be for him. I also emailed the hotel while I was there and asked if they could put a note in our room to say happy Father’s Day to my partner. This was missed however, it was picked up later in the day when we had our cabana and we had a cake brought to us. When we got back from our day out at the Cabana we had a gorgeous swan made out of towels and our sons blanket on our bed with a happy Father’s Day note and a bowl of fruit. This was a nice touch.

Our favourite place to eat was the snack restaurant, where we could get freshly made wraps each day. This is coming from a family who aren’t picky eaters at all, we genuinely enjoy trying different foods. Our choice of à la carte was the Chinese restaurant which was also amazing. Something that disappointed us was the coffee. We’re huge coffee lovers and expected the macaron café to serve high quality coffee, but unfortunately it wasn’t to our taste. Again, I understand if this is authentic Turkish coffee. The nearest Starbucks was about a 30-minute drive away, although this certainly won’t matter to anyone who isn’t a coffee fanatic! We enjoyed the sushi night in the main buffet restaurant the most, we also loved the Gozleme made by the lovely lady daily. We only discovered these about 6 days in but they were beautiful.

We visited Side Old Town three times during our stay, including twice for evening meals, and absolutely loved it. It’s somewhere we would happily return to. We also visited Manavgat Waterfall and went on a boat trip booked with our Tui rep, which was beautiful and well worth the trip. If shopping is your thing, there are bazaars literally everywhere, including just a couple of minutes’ walk from the hotel, so you can shop till your heart’s content. It’s not really our scene, but we still enjoyed wandering around and soaking up the atmosphere.

Overall, I can completely understand why this hotel has a five-star rating. Although it is an older hotel and you will notice some general wear and tear, it is immaculately clean and exceptionally well maintained. We had a wonderful first family holiday here and made some amazing memories that we’ll always treasure.

Nice clean hotel.. entertainment throughout the day. Notably the foam party on Monday is great!! Plus the Stunt show the same evening, featuring rollerbladers, bmx and scooter tricks followed up by motorbike in a cage.

If you like the odd quality drink Turgut the bar tender/mixologist in the Roma Bar is fantastic. Everyone loved the cocktails from there..

Food is good in all of the places to eat.

Only real downside is it’s a little far from town.

I have no concerns staying somewhere multi cultural. But the German guests here were quite frankly rude and ill mannered. We were a large party of 20 people so yes our presence was known. But the constant complaints and moaning was unnecessary. There is a lovely large pool area. We were moaned at and reported to the lifeguards for jumping in. In my view, don’t take a sunbed inches from the pool edge if you have a problem with getting splashed. A few days later, the pool rules get changed to say “ no jumping” into the pool. My daughter went by a German lady and she was kicking her legs as she swam. The lady shouted at her and made her cry and reported her to the lifeguards… for swimming!! A young German boy started shouting “English go home” and was sticking his middle finger up at us. Was this addressed when we reported it? Nope There is definitely favouritism towards the German residents at this hotel. But, the food was nice, the drinks were generous and everywhere was clean and tidy. The entertainment was good and the weather was cracking. Just a shame the residents let it down.