I just returned form a two week holiday in Side and stayed at the Acanthus. I am in mid thirties and went with my girlfriend.

Firstly I must point out that this was a relatively cheap holiday so my expectations were not as high as they would have been ordinarily but all future visitors should know that this is simply not a four star hotel, as they claim.

We arrived very late (about 3am) and were dealt with a "nightwatchman" type at reception who clearly did not speak English to any standard as my very simple questions of him upon arrival where met with a blank stare and ignored. I decised to wait until morning to ask about the hotel rather than soldier on with the uncomprehending chap in front of me.

We were shown to a room which was very small and oddly shaped and had a view over the car park and goods loading entrance. This was totally unacceptable for a hotel of any kind of standard. Needless to say the unloading of pallets of food and drink at 8.30am the next morning was unwelcome to say the least, particulary as it sounded like these Turkish delivery men where in the room.

I spoke to reception in the morning and told them that this was not acceptable and asked to change rooms. Luckily the day staff are much better and where pretty accomadating and eventaully we were able to change to a better room overlooking some grass and with a (very) partial sea view. I should stress that this was not a great room but was much better than the first that we were allocated.

We were one of the lucky one's though as there were a considerable stream of people complaining about there rooms pretty much everytime I passed reception and the vast majority of people where not able to change their rooms as they were told the hotel was fully booked.

Now I am no leisure industry expert and am not in the business of hotel design but even I can work out that if you build a hotel for these type of holiday, people are not going to be happy if they are overlooking a car park and are woken up by the incessant jabbering of delivery men, hotel employees, etc early in the morning.

If I had not been able to change my room my review of this hotel would have been considerably more scathing.

As others have pointed out this hotel seems to aimed at German retirees as the vast majority of guests are Germans over 60. This was not an issue for me as I wanted a quiet break but if you are looking for a lively hotel with a lot going on or have children and are hoping for a kids club and that sort of thing this is not the place for you.

The hotel has a nice (if small) section of private beach. However I am afraid to say that the old cliche of Germans putting beach towels down on sun loungers at the crack of dawn was demonstrated in all its glory. Everyday we went to to the beach EVERY SINGLE sun lounger had a towel on it (although very few actual people where sitting on them). I can only assume that our elderly Teutonic fellow guests where living up to their reputations. This meant that we used the public beach next to it which always had free sun loungers. This was not really a problem as you could hire the sun loungers for about the equivalent £1.50 a day. However it was annoying to see people putting towels on sun loungers that they were not even using.

Also the hotel provides you with beach towels but charges you for replacing the beach towels on a daily basis (about teh equivalent of £1.50). I don't know about anybody else but I have never come across such a thing and found it a very petty and cyncical attempt to drag a few extra quid out of its guests.

Also the cleaning staff seemed loathe to replace shampoo and shower gel and I had to resort to going to reception to collect refills and leaving notes for the cleaning staff to replace this stuff. Again I have never come across cleaing staff not repalcing obviously empty bottles of shampoo. I suspect that the hotel management had instructed the cleaners not to replace these unless specifcally asked in order to save a few pennies. Otheriwse the cleaners were fine and did a good job.

Another very wierd thing about the hotel is its seating policy for meals. I know that others have already remarked on this but basically the surly head waiter, who appears to be allergic to politeness, allocates you a table and you CANNOT move to another table for the rest of your stay. We were sat on a table with a German couple who were perfectly pleasant and civil, but the fact remains I would have liked to have had dinner at a table with my girlfriend and not with my girlfriend and two strangers. I cannot understand why the hotel does this and it seems designed as a rule for sake of having a rule rather than to serve any practical purpose.

My questions as to why we could not sit on a table for two (of which there were many available) where met with the nonsensical reply of "but that is not your table". Flabbergasted!

Lets just say the surly waiters do not like having their authority questioned.

The food is okay but very little Turkish food was on offer and whilst the food ingredients are of a decent quality they do tend to err on the side of bland in thier preparation. I suppose that is what the majority of their guest seem to want and appreciate but it was a little disappointing considering the flair and quality of spices and flavours usually used in Turkish cooking.

In short the hotel is fine but has a number of annoying rules that in themselves are not big issues but do start to annoy you after a while.

Also I cannot stress enough the quality of your experience will be enormously determined by your room allocation. Get one of hte many rooms overlooking a functional part of the hotel and, I'm afraid, it game over unless you can change.

All in all a decent hotel and worth it if you can get a good cheap price but otherwise I would look elsewhere.

Spent 2 weeks here in June.Bedrooms very small, balconies tiny and food of poor quality. Reception area is dated and full of artificial flowers. Air con is limited and on a timer and is switched of regardless of outside temperature. Had a few sleepless nights when temperatures soared and even complaints to the management fell on deaf ears.The private beach area serves the 2 hotels and you have to be down by 7am to get a sunbed. They are all very tight together with little room to move the sunbed about. The grounds are spacious but once again the sunbeds are gone early.The reception staff were not helpful in resolving issues .Overall a very average 3 star hotel.

I got back from a holiday in Hotel Acanthus last week. I am 24 years old, and I was with my 22 year old girlfriend, both from England.

On arrival the lobby was really humid, and when we were shown to our room we were initially disappointed with its small size and view of only the neighbouring houses. We did specift a double room on an upper floor though which is what we got. The room did have a really nice bathroom though, with a great shower/bath. The bed was rather firm which I liked but I know other guests did not appreciate it as much.

The small size of the room made the air conditioning really effective, and the daily maid service was really really good (left rose petals on the bed, left the bed sheets in romantic patterns), and eventually we both came to really enjoy using the room, even though we were hardly in it with so much to do. However, the air conditioning was not on 24 hours and although it was on throughout the night, we woke up some mornings really hot which was not so enjoyable.

The food was really good. My girlfriend is a fussy eater and was worried about the reviews about German food being the only option. The truth was, there was an excellent choice every day and we had planned to eat out a lot more than we did because we simply really enjoyed the food there. We ate salads, cold meat and fresh fruit with most meals too so there's no need to worry about the food being washed in dirty water.

The staff were excellent, from the lobby to the restaurant. The Turkish have a great sense of humour.

There was a majority of German guests in the hotel, but they were all very nice. We sat next to a couple with a young child and he always played with the other kids, despite the language barrier!

As you walk out of the hotel, you walk past the lovely outdoor restaurant, and have a great view of the ocean between refreshingly shady palm trees. The beach was really clean and we only got hassled once on the beach for services despite spending almost every day on the beach (I found this amazing!). The water is not crystal clear due to the high salt level but it was really refreshing to swim in. One great thing about swimming here was that a line of buoys surrounds the bay so if you ever got swept out, you could pull yourself right round to the shore again (not that the tide was very strong in the bay).

There were parascenders contantly going across the sky, something we never got round to trying. There was an accident whilst we were there, so its not completely safe.. However, people were doing it all day long, with several boats out at once. My advice would just be, if you feel the harness isn't safe, don't go up!

The waterfront is full of various bars and restuarants the whole way along to SIde town. SIde town itself is amazing, a lot less busy than the beach area.

Back to the hotel.. the swimming pool was small but really clean and relaxing to sit around. There were always seats too because most people tended to go to the lovely beach instead.

We were half board but we had 3 or 4 lunches in the hotel due to the good value and good food. We found one salami sandwich fed both of us due to it coming with a healthy portion of chips! Also the pizza is enough for two, espicially when the weather is so hot.

Drinks are the only expensive thing, but you'll have this problem everywhere in Side. The free wine with the meals is really tasty and they fill it up as soon as you finish the glass (great service). However, I would advice going all inclusive if you are big on drinking!

I really enjoyed the entertainment but it's really hit and miss. Its rough around the edges but really interesting, espicially the Indian Yoga and Turkish Night. There is so much to do in the evenings anyway, and if you are interested in going clubbing, the hotel staff arranged trips to the local night club (which was a realy impressive conversion from a castle). We didn't go, but they had groups of around 30 young people when they went.

Overall, a great holiday, and the hotel and its staff really made Side even more enjoyable.

Travelled 18 May, first week was cool in evenings (needed cardigan/jumpers) second week alot warmer. Hotel was in a great location, right on beach. 2tl for replacement beach towels and 2tl for use of mattress on sun beds each day at the hotel but if you walk just a few yards you can get them for free in front of various bars, we used a great one called the Shanty Beach where they were very friendly and couldn't do enough to make our holiday special and they are reasonably priced too for food and drink, they serve you on the beach or in their bar - Abraham is such a show man!
I will say that this hotel has mostly German guests, being English we found we were VERY much in the minority. When you first go for your meal you are shown to a table which are outside, which you will use throughout your stay, waiters are friendy but don;t always speak English (mostly German) the food was excellent, but beware if you have young children that like English food as there wasn't things like burgers, sausages etc. although they did do chips occasionally. The wine was free with the evening meal which was very nice, the waiters came round topping up our glasses on a regular basis!
The air conditioning was not up to much, we found it didn't keep us cool enough at times although it is free! There was a hair dryer and free safe and a mini bar in the room (no kettle). There was a sign in room saying we couldn't use our own electical items. Bed linen was changed regularly, if need clean towels put them on the floor and maid replaces them.

There is a new promanade finished last Feb where you could have a lovely stroll along, day or night to many bars/restaurants as you walk into the main town of Side (about 30 min walk away). Main town of Side is very busy with lots of shops, prepare to be hassled! We found the restaurants there where extremely pricey - meal for 4 of us with 1 bottle of wine ended up 274 tl, great views though! The harbour and Apollo temple is well worth a vist.
The beaches are lovely and just go on and on, there are ample sun beds. For families with young children beware as there are dips as you walk in the sea and the sea was rough at times. A few water sports which were good - parasailing 60tl for one person or 80tl for two, jet ski's and banana boat. We went on a trip to the Manavgat waterfalls which is well worth a visit and i also swam with the dolphins which was excellent (£70 a must have). I would say that i think this hotel would be better for couples or family with older children.