Mostly German middle aged couples here, so the general atmosphere is calm, quiet, sober, and certainly not flashy. Very few Brits. We were the only ones there during most of our stay. This was actually very relaxing indeed for us because of course you don't overhear the irritating conversations of fellow Brits!
The Gardenia is ideally located, an easy walk to the busy central area’s shops, bazaars, markets, bars, harbour, boats, etc, but far enough away from the centre to be quieter. Being a town hotel means the grounds are very compact, so don't be misled by some pictures which show extensive gardens, fountains, etc - these are actually the very nice municipal gardens just across the road from the hotel! Gardenia itself has a pleasant small garden with a couple of tables among shrubbery, but there is plenty of other seating around the sides of the hotel and within the lobby. The pool is clean, well-maintained and quite stylish. The pool area is a nice place to read and relax. It’s sheltered, quiet, with comfortable sunbeds and plenty of parasols. It loses the sun by late afternoon.
Rooms are small but adequate. Ours had a fridge and hairdryer but no kettle. Beds were very, very firm. Air con was quiet and efficient. TV was predominantly Turkish and German, plus CNN and the tediously repetitive BBC World.
Gardenia's restaurant is on the top floor and provides fabulous panoramic views of the sea, coast and the castle, especially if you sit at the tables on the balcony outside. The open buffet style of food suited us very well. There’s a limited choice of hot dishes each evening but these were interesting and different every night of our two-week stay. All the food is beautifully prepared and cooked. The restaurant lighting is harsh and bright, so sadly there is no ambience at all. It closes at 8.30pm so you have to eat rather early. A bottle of red wine cost 30 lira.
The lovely Cleopatra beach is less than half a minute from the hotel, across a quiet road and through pretty ornamental gardens. The beach is excellent, clean, over a mile long, very wide, with fine sand near the water although grittier further back. Lots of sunbeds and parasols for hire, bars, etc. The whole beach enjoys good views of sunset, and is backed by very attractive new parks and a new promenade for walkers and joggers.
Gardenia has a gym, and also hires bikes. Try cycling along Alanya’s eastern seafront to DimCay (flat all the way) and then, if you’re keen, up the beautiful Dim river valley to the barrier dam (some steep hills). Or you can walk from Gardenia up to Alanya’s incredible castle. It’s uphill all the way, but take it slowly and you’ll get to the top in well under an hour. Taxi drivers will try to discourage you from walking by exaggerating the distance and difficulty. The views all way up to the castle are absolutely stunning, and there some lovely places to stop for refreshment along the way.
We paid under 900 pounds for two people on a fourteen night half board package deal from Gatwick through Manos (Thomas Cook). Gardenia was a good choice of hotel and Alanya was an excellent holiday destination.

Although primarily caters for the Germans, we were made to feel very welcome. Felt if you made the effort to talk to the staff they would chat to you. We did'nt feel that the drinks were overly exspensive, but maybe the prices go up in the height of the summer. The food was a little different, but is it not why we go abroad. There are plenty of restaurants to try, but if you only want to eat " english" food then there is a Mc Donalds, Burger King and K.F.C to try. Rooms were clean and not a bad size, air-con worked well. Location was fantastic and the views from the restaurant balcony were breathtaking. Enjoyed our stay so much that we have already booked for next year- can not wait.

I would not give this hotel 4 stars
The hotel is set in an ideal location on the sea front and far enough away , but within walking distance to the town centre. The hotel is clean and MOST of the staff are friendly, although we got the impression that being English was an issue for some of them. Rooms are small but comfortable with a small fridge for a mini bar, which we filled with our own alcohol and soft drinks. There is no tea making facility in the rooms....sadly missed
You need a mortgage to drink the alcoho asl it is so expensive . The food isn't up to much.....Foreign country, foreign food to be expected, but the food in this hotel is definately a big let down, There is a variety of cold salads to choose from both for breakfast and again at dinner(usually the day befores dinner disguised as something else).The hot food was always over salted.
The pool has a water slide which is the only entertainment for the kids (and most adults!!), and like all other hotels you had to fight for you sunbeds.

Be prepared for Turkey tummy and don't forget to pack your immodium tablets.

Overall, not a bad hotel if you're German, Russian or Scandanavian. Definately not geared up for the English. Will not be returning to this hotel. Big NO

Cleopatra Restaurant (100mtrs up the road) Truly recommended. Great food and friendly staff.

Ok so I stayed in this hotel in July 2010 It was me and a friend and we are 18 and I had mixed feelings when I read other reviews so here goes.
Location and Things to do:
Location was FAB. Beach opposite the hotel. Beach was nice, not sand though, very small stones which get everywhere but it was a lovely beach, very clean. Bed was 4 lira and umbrella was another 4 lira but cheap for the whole day. Very nice breeze on the beach.
Clubs were not far from hotel. Turn left outside hotel, walk down the road, then turn right onto the main road with shops. You can see the bus stop when you join the main road. Buses are every 15 mins so 8:00pm, 8:15pm etc and its the bus with all the writing in different colours in the left corner of the windscreen. Costs no more than 2 lira ask for centurm, but sometimes you didnt have to pay because it was so busy! The stop is hard to find but there is a statue on the right hand side of the road, get off there and walk right, you will find all the clubs,
Clubs were so much fun!! Go on the bar crawl with thomas cook, get loads of free drinks and they take you to the best places! Any drinks and alcoholice dribnks are VERY expensive! soft drinks are 6/7 lira for a small, shots are between 8-12 lira. very very expensive. So we bought vodka in a small bottle and put it in out bag, then mixed it with cokes we bought! You dont have to pay to get in the clubs which is good! Taxi from clubs to hotel was 9 lira, only use the yellow ones!
Water park about 5 min walk. Turn right outside hotel, then left, walk all the way down until you see a crossing. Turn left, walk all the way down then turn right, its next to a burger king! 15 lira for entry and a meal with drink, very good! sunbeds uncomfortable though!
Outside the hotel turn right then left, there are many restrants and shops along this way, keeping going and cross the road straight ahead, again more shops and restrants. If you keep going you will find BIM a supermarket, go there to buy crisps, coke, juice etc, so cheap! 1.45 lira compared to 3/4 lira in the little market shops!
Only bad point is that the transfer time from airport is 3 hours and flight times are at awful times, thats the only draw back but I heard that they are building an airport there soon.

Hotel and Staff:
Hotel itself is quite nice. I would give it 4 star for rooms, Always cleaned however the maid would never clean rubbish up unless it was in the bin! Towels changed every few days and bathroom was very clean. Air con was free which you really need to use as it gets very hot. There is a fridge in the room. They put drinks in it but you can take them out and put your own stuff in there, as long as you put the drinks back before you leave they do not mind and do not charge. Only annoying thing at night is sometimes the hotel opposite would have entertaiment til quiote late and if you wanted to get to sleep this was impossible because it was so loud!! Safety deposit box is 49 lira for 2 weeks and you have to give a 30 lira deposit which is annoying but you get it back. Swimming pool again 4 star. Small and gets busy now and then but it is always clean, beds are comfy, pool is nice and cool with an awesome pool slide!!
Women staffd were very polite and helpful, men staff were very rude!! Not that friendly because we are english. They much prefer germans! By the way they are everywhere, english are definatly rare in alanya and this hotel, so sometimes you feel left out and not as welcome. Germans in this hotel were VERY rude. save sunbeds but dont use them until the end of the day, push in line for food, they were a bad point to the holiday

Food:
Food not so great. I am not a fussy eater but it was odd food! You didnt no what most of it was and if it had a label it was mainly in german. As Alanya was mainly for germans it food was catered for germans. Breakfast was lots of breads, cheese and cold hams. They had butter and jams and had fruit. Tea coffee and they had about 3 types of juices which were so nice!! Hot food was always fried egg, pankcakes and ommlettes, some sort of potato (so chips wedges etc) boiled egg and some weird stuff that was horrible and i cant explain! Dinner was not that great. They had bread, cheese, ham, cold pastas and lots of salad. Hot food was always some rice, beef, chicken, somtimes potato, pasta, spag bog. Desert was watermelon, every other day ice cream and weird gloop and cake things. Any drinks are NOT included for dinner, you have to pay for drinks! This was annoying as thomas cook told us they were included, but they are not and they are very expensive! 7/8 lira!!

Trips and tour rep:
Our tour rep Shannon Smith was AMAZING! So helpful and honest. She told us everything about nightlife (buy alcohol in shop and put it in your bag when you go out and mix) , the shops, the water park (they did a trip back to antalya so 3 hours away for £40, she just told us the one local and that was £15 with food!) so she was so helpful in saving us money
We did the tuekish bath with thomas cook because we had heard stories of men touching women in the wrong places in the ones local to us. Our tour rep agreed. Turkish bath is so relaxing and it makes your body feel better, Get it at the start to help your tanif thats what you want. We went on the market trip with cruise. Cruise was about 2 hours with a stop of at beach, lunch included, then went to market,. then went to visit a massive waterfall. Only £20 and it was all day. Haggle at markets!! One lady askled for 25 lira for one silver braclet we got 2 for 5 lira! There is a castle/tower right near the hotel but we didnt have time to see it.

Overall:
If your fussy with food dont stay at this hotel, go self catering and eat out (food was better and you could get a cheese burger and chips for 9 lira, lasange for 12 etc. Germans are annoying but they are everywhere! Turkish men do say things to you if your a woman like i am single sexy ladies! I want your lips! etc but if you said no they would leave you alone so you left safe at all times day or night! We had a great 2 week holiday and I would recommend the resort alanya to anyone, the hotel building to anyone but the food and staff wasnt the best!