So how the hell did we manage to find ourselves at the Acanthus and Cennet in Side during the school holidays in August! This has so many no no’s for older travellers with no school age kids that it needs an explanation. Our youngest daughter had been away travelling for a year ending up in Australia. She is going to be basing herself there for the foreseeable, so we wont be seeing much of her going forwards. She came home for a few weeks to see my mum (it was her 90th!) and also to get away from the Australian winter.
What she had forgotten is that the English summer is rubbish so I had the brainwave that maybe we should all go away as it might be the last time it would work out we could all go at the same time. The eldest managed to get the time off and because of the short notice and other commitments we could only manage 6 days. But 6 days in the sun was better than 6 days in the Leeds rain, especially as it meant we could get the old gang back together.
Why The Acanthus and Cennet in Side?
To be frank I didn’t have that long to look into the where. Tried looking on the Jet2 App for anywhere in the Med and all prices were mentally expensive. The exception seemed to be Turkey, where it looked liked there were some good deals. I considered the NG Phaselis Bay, which we had been to last year, but the price was too high and a criticism is that there is nowhere to go for a walk other than in the resort. When I saw the Acanthus and Cennet that was reasonably priced and that Side was an old Roman settlement with significant ruins it made perfect sense.
The long flights weren’t ideal but in truth wherever we went we were probably going to end up losing a day with travel. At the same time it didn’t help that we had to wait over 90 mins for cases to come off at 2am! When are they opening the new airport at Antalya?
Acanthus and Cennet Check In and The Rooms
The last thing you need at 3am is a convoluted check in process. Thankfully the efficient gent checking us in sensed we had had enough for one day and got us checked in really quickly. He even greeted us with that favourite saying that you hardly ever hear “we have upgraded your rooms to pool view” we immediately perked up.
I must admit when making the booking I couldn’t work out why the Pool View Rooms were a supplement to the Side Sea View Rooms. After visiting there I did. If you look at the image of the hotel below you can see the hotel is in the shape of a “V” The Pool View Rooms are on the inside of the V and you also get a view the Sea. The Side Sea View Rooms are on the outside of the V and yes they have a side view the sea, but depending where you are you are also getting a full view of the hotel area of the town called Side!
Knowing what I know now would I upgrade to Pool View? Probably not. The room itself will be identical just the view from the room will differ. Don’t get me wrong the view from our Pool View Room was great but I hardly used it as in truth on holiday you are hardly in your room and you are sat on your balcony even less.
The room itself was amazing and the decor was super modern and the room was super clean. There was plenty of storage space and the bed (and more importantly the pillows) were super comfy. The bathroom was a little small but perfectly adequate and the shower was powerful which is always important. It would have been great to have his and her sinks but that is being a little bit nit picky. The rooms overall were amazing as you can see from the video and images below.
Acanthus and Cennet Hotel Features
As mentioned previously the Acanthus and Cennet Hotel is a V shape (see the image below) with the pool running down the centre. On the other side of the pool is a small area of gardens (middle image) and then you have the prom and the private beach area (final image.). So it is not very big, especially when compared to many other hotels in the area and those that are serviced by Antalya Airport. Is that a problem? Well it certainly wasn’t for us we thought it was perfect, but if you have school age kids especially high school I am not sure this is the hotel for you. It does have a small toddlers pool at the top of the V and there is a kids club, but it looks like this caters for pre-school kids.
The picture of the hotel was taken in the morning so you can see the left hand side of the pool and hotel (pool view rooms) gets the sun in the morning and in the afternoon the left side starts to get shaded and the right side is in full sun. We were in the left hand side (morning sun) and based ourselves on that side of the pool and late afternoon we moved to the garden area to get the late sun or some much needed shade. For all those worried about sun lounger wars don’t worry we never had a problem getting beds by the pool or in the gardens later in the day. There are certainly more beds than people especially as there is also the beach available.
As you look at the hotel at pool level (which is -1 on the lifts) on the left hand side you have the indoor pool (heated) as well as the Spa and gym as you walk up top the top of the V you have the coffee shop as well as a barber, hairdresser and little shop. Between the barber shop and the coffee shop a small corridor leads to the Departure Lounge. This is a great size with lots of oversized lockers to use as well as separate mens and women changing and shower areas. Especially useful as the charge for a late check out room is €25 per hour! Don’t bother paying it the “Departure Lounge” is great.
As you make your way around to the right hand side a large part of this floor is taken up by the Buffet Restaurant and just before you get to the buffet there is the Lavanta A La Carte which is Italian focused and needs to be booked. Taking the lift upstairs near the Lavanta Restaurant (or walking if you are trying to get you steps in) you arrive at the entrance to another A La Carte the Safran, as well as the main lobby bar which looks over the entertainment area, pool bar and beyond to the sea. You can’t quite get the sun set as it gets hidden behind the left hand V but its a lovely large bar and is a great location to relax in pre and post evening meal.
Moving back around to the top of the V you will find the spacious reception area, kids club and concierge desks and that is about it. You can walk from one end to the other in a couple of minutes but it packs a lot into its footprint. That includes four A La Carte’s, there are two more in the grounds one of which is a specialist fish restaurant Roka and three bars, you really don’t need anymore.
The pool as you can see is massive, plenty or room for everyone including those wanting to play ball games or just float around on an inflatable. It has the same depth across the entire pool which is 1.4m so easy to stand up in for adults not so easy for pre-teens. As I mentioned there is a toddler pool at the top of the V and that is where most people with toddlers based themselves and why we based ourselves at the other end of the V!
This pool wasn’t heated but the pool in the Spa section is and it is also pretty large too. That also has a separate toddler pool which I though was a jacuzzi and even asked where the buttons were to get it working were, I had to make a very sheepish exit!
Towels are readily available and are not rationed and you can find them at the end of the pool at the left hand side as you look at hotel image below.
Food And Drink At The Acanthus and Cennet
This is where the hotel truly excels in my opinion (and that of the rest of the family as well tbh) they have cracked the holy grail of hotel cuisine, more on that later, lets start with the drinks.
Your first drink of the day is going to be from the pool bar, which as you look at the image of the Hotel it is just behind the parasol on the right hand side. Now those that have been paying attention will remember that we sit at the left hand side of the pool so to get a drink we either have to a) walk around a massive pool or b) wade across the pool which when its in the 30’s is not a bad option. For those wanting to stay dry there is another option. All the parasols have a QR code which brings up the entire drinks menu and allows you to order and a few minutes later the drinks are brought over to you. There is everything you could realistically want, including local draft beers on tap (Efes) and a wide selection of international bottled beers (Heineken was my go to bottle.) As the day wears on I can also recommend both the house dry white and rose they are both stunning. I would go as far to say that when you go to the A La Cartes and are presented with the additional cost wine menu, don’t bother stick with the all inclusive options they are great and the red is fine as well.
For reference the entertainment area is at the side of the pool bar and to be honest we are usually late diners and happy to go to the lobby bar afterwards so the entertainment passed us by a little bit. The exception was the Drifters tribute who had the place absolutely rocking and well worth getting a good table for.
I am not a cocktail fan, but the rest of the family are and they made a good effort at trying as many as they could with no complaints from anyone. What I am partial to is a little sun downer gin and tonic. My go to is Bombay Sapphire (readily available across the hotel) and the tonic is bottled Schweppes. Be warned and you may want to learn the Turkish for “small gin please” as they are very generous with the measures. A favourite spot for sundowners was the terrace area of the lobby bar where you have a great view of the beach and sea, perfection.
Right onto the food and what the hell is the holy grail of hotel cuisine. The food in the buffet was hot, not warm hot. They have lots of stations where they cook food for you from scratch (fish, steak, Italian) which you would expect to be hot but all the other side dishes are also hot. I have stayed at hotels that are 2/3 times the cost of this hotel and the buffet food is cold. The NG Phaselis Bay where we paid more for 2 people that the 4 here, we stopped going to the buffet for this very reason.
To be perfectly frank, if you were to say that they shut all the a la cartes at this hotel I would not mind in the slightest, because the buffet food is so amazing. There is also a different theme every night so there is a massive amount of variety. True story incoming, one night after visiting the Italian a la carte we walked through the buffet to get to the entertainment area and the food looked so amazing we sat down and had a little “snack.” Don’t judge us!
Talking of the a la cartes of the 4 we went to 3 of them. Mrs K is not a fan of fish so we didn’t book that one. There is no additional charge and at midnight every night they release the times for the next 2 days and you are able to book them directly on the app. That is if you are all staying in the same room. If like us you are a party split over 2 rooms you have got visit the concierge for them to book for you. So you are at a disadvantage to those people who can book from the app. Shouldn’t have been a big deal as the buffet was so good but it was our 29th anniversary whilst we were away and we tried unsuccessfully to get into Safran which does an amazing chateaubriand (make sure you book just not when we are there!). The Italian was fine we had a nice outside table but nothing leaps out from memory. We also liked the Miason Plage restaurant which was table service but you don’t need to book and has great pizza and pasta options. If you sit in the booths you also get a great view of the entertainment.
Apologies for the limited amount of food pictures I was too busy eating as opposed to photoing the food. Two pictures that stand out are of the Beef Wellington (from the buffet) and Chateaubriand from Safran.
Changing Money At The Acanthus and Cennet
Due to the last minute nature of the holiday I didn’t get chance to get any currency before departing. Since I was only looking for a bit of spends and some tip money I thought I could organise it at the hotel. Firstly there isn’t a cash point and secondly I had brought some sterling with me but the hotel doesn’t offer currency conversion but what it will do is break down big notes from the currency you have to smaller denominations. Since I didn’t have any Lira this didn’t really work for me.
The reason I am including this section is if you come out of the hotel on the prom and turn left (toward Side) after about 250 yards there are a bank of ATM’s. I must admit I thought they looked a bit dodgy and googled them before using. There are some horror stories of people having cards skimmed and also of large charges. So walk past these ATM’s and at the next left (at the side of the grass) turn left and after about another 200 yards you will find a bank on your right hand side.
There was no charge on my debit card withdrawal and I would have changed the large notes in the bank but it was shut for lunch and reception at the hotel were happy to change the big Lira notes to notes for tipping for me.
Things To Do Outside Of The Hotel
What a privilege it was to be based so close to the site of a major roman ruin. The old town has a theatre which held 15,000 people as well the temple dedicated to Athena. It was only 2km from the hotel but we never got there! We only had 5 full days and we were happy catching up with the girls and relaxing. Also it was mid 30’s and walking 2km was not high on our list of priorities. Maybe next time …….
The youngest was keen to go paragliding and no one else was keen at all so like any soft dad I agreed to go with her. We went from the water sports area on the left as you come out of the hotel (not far from those dodgy cashpoints!)
I have got to admit I was not looking forward to it and even said to her on the boat “I don’t think I can do this.” For some reason as you get older everything that you would do in a heartbeat when you were younger fills you with dread! As you can see I summoned up the cahones to do it and have got to say it was amazing. You feel super safe and are up for approx 10 mins and get an amazing view of the resort. On a positive note we got a great view of the old town and that 15,000 capacity theatre!
Summary and Would We Go Back To The Acanthus and Cennet
Probably comes as no massive surprise but yes we would go back in a heartbeat. If fact Mrs K has a landmark birthday coming up and we have booked to go with my sister and brother-in-law (so we are still going to have the problem booking a la cartes!)
Its not just the great location (we promise to get to the old town!) and the amazing food and drink and the fact that although it isn’t adults only it almost is in its set up. Its not too big but also not too small that you feel there was something missing.
Its because (warning cliche incoming) the people are amazing and they genuinely care. I only took this photo as a joke because he was having his photo taken with another family and after they left I asked him why he never had his photo taken with me. I am glad I kept it because he epitimises why this hotel is so special.
As you come into the buffet the first alcove on the right is adults only so obviously we went in there for every breakfast and this is where Ferhat was usually working. He quickly knew all our drinks and was attentive to us and everyone else in the section arriving just before we needed a top up. He was proud of his job and also proud to work at the hotel and told us how he was sent to specialist language classes provided by the hotel to improve his English (its already amazing btw)
He was just one of an army of staff that want to make sure your holiday is amazing and they succeed on every level. So book it you won’t regret it, just don’t bring any kids with you!
