Paloma Oceana

This was a lovely family summer holiday to Side, Turkey. The highlights for me were the huge pools, the a la carte restaurants and the ease of booking them through WhatsApp with the Reservation Team. They were so helpful and we also booked with them to go to the offsite Water Park, which is fantastic. That’s a 15 minute bus ride away. The waterpark on site has 4 rides and is also good fun for an hour or so. The bars also stock some favourite brands from home that are part of the All Inclusive package. Location is perfect with just a short bus ride away into the Old Town for shopping and superb restaurants, our favourite was Liman, although quite expensive. We also enjoyed Thyma. There is also plenty of shopping and restaurants right outside the front gates of the Hotel, including an indoor Mall, within about a 20 minute walk, with McDonalds for the younger travellers! The Hotel got very busy during our second week and we had to make sure we put towels out by the pool by 7:30 am to secure poolside beds each day. The animation team work very hard especially @Emre, he’s very charming and very willing to offer any advice or help where needed. He works long hours but is always so friendly. In fact all the staff there are lovely and kind and so helpful. On our first morning there, one of the maintenance staff went off to get us pool towels before the towel hut had even opened. The beach is lovely and so many beds to choose from. The evening entertainment is first rate and provided by proper entertainment teams that come in, not just the Hotel’s Animation team! The amphitheatre is also very impressive, but make sure you get the padded seats to sit on! The buffet restaurant was nice, you know what you’re going to get from an All Inclusive buffet, but there was plenty on offer every day and lots being cooked fresh. Not really any themed nights though. The best thing for me was the freshly squeezed orange juice at breakfast, sooo nice… and other Hotels we’ve stayed at have usually charged for this. And also a couple of things for me, that were not so good; • Probably not the Hotel’s fault but some of the photos on the Travel Agents website show off some beautiful white Villa’s which have their own pool and bar… but you’re not allowed to go into that Private area if you don’t have a Villa. • The a la carte Steak Restaurant’s charges were very high, so we didn’t bother eating there, we went to the Old Town for steak instead. • The late checkout charges are excessive (EUR80) and the indoor pool was closed when we tried to use it on our last day. Not sure if that was a one-off. • Mini golf was very poor and I only saw 3 people playing it once, in 2 weeks. • Unfortunately the Sports Bar wasn’t open during our visit, so not sure if it is ever open.

This is our second visit to this hotel and it is so lovely to see so many of the staff still there, we did visit Paloma GRIDA last year and preferred Oceana so much more my only criticism I would say is GRIDA did theme nights in their main restaurants where Oceana don’t, it would be nice to see something like this at this resort. Rooms are spotless and are cleaned daily, as are the grounds and facilities all around the hotel. Pool areas are great there is something for everyone, kids and adults love the slide area and the visit to the water park at the sister hotel was a nice touch and a good afternoon out. You can usually find a subbed somewhere within the grounds. The pool bar is great and Basir works very hard to provide good service and works tirelessly all day. Curio restaurant is an extra charge but well worth the money and visit, service and the food is excellent, thank you ilhan for making our visit special, his love for his job shows. The bar staff are also great and it’s the little touches they do that make the holiday. We did find the entertainment not as good this year the disco on the beach was good though. Thank you for a great holiday Paloma Oceana