PALOMA ORENDA

Fantastic holiday of 13 nights at the orenda. I previously stayed at the barut acanthus and cennet so was worried there would be a drop in quality but no! Everything was fantastic! Check in was simple and quick, with us being taken to our room by golf cart. We had a late arrival so went straight to bed. In the morning when I opened the curtains, well, wow! What a view! I had booked a garden view but got an amazing sea view room 1 min walk to the pool or beach. Facilities are great with archery, golf, darts and the aquapark to name a few. Animation were fantastic but special mention goes to Ismail who honestly made our holiday. So friendly and an absolute asset to Paloma hotels. Always friendly as was the whole animation team! Food was a worry I had after being used to barut hotels but it was honestly great. The a la carte, we used the quentine and wabi sabi were excellent. Quentine slightly edged ahead and we decided to visit it twice. The buffet was plentiful with lots of choice and always plenty of seating available. Waiters were very attentive. We usually ate at the beach bar for lunch which did great food, especially the pizzas. Drinks were really good quality. Thoroughly recommend the lavender berry, strawberry daiquiris and margaritas. Service from ferman was excellent too. The guy never stops working! The waterpark is incredible. If waterparks are your thing this is the hotel for you! The waterpark, pools and beach always had loungers available so no sunbed wars. It was my 40th birthday whilst there and the hotel was kind enough to send some gifts to the room. Really nice touch. All in all a wonderful stay and I would be happy to return.

Having been to a few similar hotels in Turkey, I wasn’t sure this would live up to expectations. I was totally wrong. Everything about the hotel is great. There were a few minor niggles - things you’d expect a place of this standard to be all over. That said, I’d 100% return here. We were a family of 10, ranging from age 11 to age 80 and there was something for everyone. Pros- too many to list but I’ll try! Big spacious rooms - family suites with super comfy beds. Double room probably a little small for more than 2 adults and 1 young child. Food - loads of choice at all times of day - plenty to cater for all ages and tastes. Pool - relaxed chilled vibe all day - plenty of games/activities to do all day if you want. Animation team work really hard and are super friendly. Loads of sun beds at the pool and we had no issues getting sun beds together for all of us at 9am each morning - none of this sun bed nonsense we’ve seen elsewhere. Games/activities - loads for all ages - darts/yoga/football - all great and well run Bars - seemed to be a decent choice mostly, with branded options available at no extra cost (we were all inclusive with TUI). Service in the bars and restaurants was great. Especially Tahir and Firman who looked after us all week - they all work so hard on 12hr shifts, but still make time to chat, with constant smiles and banter. A la carte - Wabi Sabi was awesome. Didn’t try the others. Probably the best vegetable spring roll I’ve had. Portion sizes not huge though. Dietary requirements - my wife is vegetarian and there was plenty choice, but all pretty carb heavy. Cons Strange as some people might think this is - I don’t drink alcohol and there are only mocktails/soft drinks - no zero alcohol beers which in 2024 is a bit behind the times. This would probably be a deal breaker for me returning. However, the drinkers in my party were happy with the local beer which is Efes. Becks was also available in bottles. Coffee - not great - at breakfast and in the restaurants the options are generally from an automated machine. If you love coffee and want anything other than a cappuccino you’ll be disappointed. The guys at pool bar were great though and learned how to make a flat white on day 2 of our holiday and had nailed it by the end of the week! Gym - it’s ok, but nowhere near the standard of Liberty Fabay where we went last year. If you’re into your training then make sure you know how to improvise. Overall a great place to spend a week. Hotel was spotless everywhere. Plenty to do. Right on the beach, water was warm in the sea and the pool wasn’t cold either. Staff great. 5 out of 5.

We absolutely loved our stay at this hotel. There was A LOT of positives which I will list below: - hotel is exceptionally clean. The pool toilets were cleaned hourly and I was so impressed by the overall cleanliness. Similarly, the buffet was very clean and staff were very quick to clean plates away. - staff are friendly and very polite and attentive. There was a guy at the bistro who was amazing every single day. - animation team were friendly and lots of good activities put in everyday - rooms were lovely. Comfortable bed and very well presented - food is lovely. Something for everyone. Particularly liked the omelette station at breakfast. - lots to do nearby. We went down to Side Old Town to have a look at all the shops. This was honestly one of the best holidays we have ever been on and I can’t fault the hotel. However, in order to give an honest review I have to mention that we had £40 and €60 stolen from our bags in our room on the first day. My partner had stupidly left his bag on the table which was zipped up whilst we popped out. When we came back the bag had moved and money was gone. We hadn’t spent any money at this point so it was very obvious what had happened. We raised this with the management who came to our room and checked the key card access which showed only the maid and the mini bar staff had entered the room. They offered us free parasailing and free cabana for two days. We were accepting of this offer as we had planned to spend the stolen money on parasailing anyway. Lesson learnt - definitely use the safe or lock items away in your suitcase to avoid this. This experience was a shame as we absolutely loved the rest of the holiday. It was very unsettling to have money stolen but the hotel dealt with this well and amazingly this did not ruin the holiday.

Overall stay was amazing! Staff were very helpful and accommodating especially Onder who provided excellent cabana service for us all week. Which we would definitely recommend but it is at an extra cost, the food and drinks service comfort and views we’re definitely worth it. Can, Ismail and watermelon guy (animation team manager - can’t remember name) were a great addition to the holiday experience. You could even have food and drinks 24h a day if you wanted and also room service. Along side this you had a swim up bar - which we very much enjoyed! The pools weren’t overly busy and you always had space to swim. They kept pool activities to a dedicated pool. You also had a selection of shops on site - very handy. And also a SPA, photo and opticians service on site! The cleanliness levels were a 10/10 from the grounds to the bathrooms. A fanatic variety of food, seating and space from the main restaurant - the only bit of feedback we would give is to be more specific when labelling what meat is included in the dishes as some only state ‘meat’. If you have any allergies, you get taken care of really well and get given an option to have a special menu made for you and also get given a translation sheet to hand too chefs if needed. Very reassuring. As to the a la carte restaurants, the Chinese option we would really recommend. Unfortunately the steak restaurant wasn’t as pleasant, seeing as you have to pay extra towards part of this menu we didn’t feel it was worth the extra €100+, we feel we would of had a better meal in the buffet restaurant. They had a good choice of entertainment, it stared at a reasonable time each night. And was very enjoyable and carried on in a different bar on-site which went on till 1am! The rooms were very spacious- our double sea view room was lovely but had a somewhat open planned bathroom. Would be good for couples but something to be mindful of if your not. In the room we also had a well stocked mini bar. Bed was comfortable and linens were changed everyday although we did hear a random noise coming from our air vent a couple times over the week. Overall an amazing stay with beautiful grounds and we would definitely return in the future and recommend - thank you!

What can i say. Lovely Hotal, lovely staff, good food, some good entertainment. Lovely beach, Would we go back, thats a yes! Always used to stay in Riu Palaces where ever we went, but this is our second Paloma hotel, and they are altogether a niser stay.