Alba Royal Hotel

My partner and I stayed at the Royal Alba Hotel from Saturday 28 march to Wednesday 01 April 2026 via On the Beach. We had originally booked another hotel in Lara (closer to Antalya), however, due to that hotel closing, we were moved to the Royal Alba instead. Before I get into the review, it is important to note that m partner and I have never stayed at an all inclusive resort before, so our expectations may have been too high, however, overall, our stay at the Royal Alba was pretty average. The Positives: If you are looking for a resort where you can simply lounge in the sun by the pool/beach 24/7, then this is the place for you. The pool was beautiful, there were just enough sun beds (however, I suspect it would be difficult during peak times) and the hotel itself was very clean and tidy. The room was nice with a tv, two single beds pushed together, air conditioning, a safe and a sizeable wardrobe that could fit my large suitcase in it. The minibar was also included in our all inclusive package and contained Fanta, Cola, still and sparkling water and was filled up whenever the room was cleaned. The bathroom was also clean and tidy. We only visited one in-hotel shop which was a mini convenience store. The store clerks were always friendly and not pushy at all. The price of the goods was also very reasonable, especially compared to the bazaars surrounding the hotel. The Negatives: Although the room was nice, the beds were pretty hard and unforgiving. The room was also very dated and would benefit from a refresh. Although the bathroom was clean and tidy, the bath had these weird chips on the bottom of it. At first glance, I thought it was specks of dirt or mould, but on closer inspection, it seems the floor of the bath has been chipped somehow and revealed what was under the porcelain. I was very glad I had packed shower slippers, otherwise I genuinely don’t think I would have been able to shower in that bathtub. This is included in the pictures attached to this review; however, I also took a video that I could not upload onto Tripadvisor unfortunately. On our first full day (Sunday), we were invited to a meeting with the hotel’s Activities Co-ordinator. He showed us a number of activities we could book (for an additional fee); however, he advised us against more than half of them on the grounds of them either being too far away, or that he had received poor feedback from previous guests. Although we respected the honesty, it was a bit disappointing to hear that all of the things we would have liked to have done (visiting Antalya/historic sites) was too far away for it to be worth it. Because of this, we declined the activities. However, he tried to push us into booking ones which we expressed we were not interested in anyway which, again, was disappointing and off-putting. This included the locations advertised on the hotel’s website. The food at the resort buffet was average at best. Even if we arrived upon opening, the food was often lukewarm and quite bland. The breakfast was the best out of the three meal times, however, this was still lacking. The hotels website advertises multiple restaurants within the resort; Turkish, Cuban and fish. However, the website fails to mention that this is on a daily rotation (not including the weekends), so you have to hope that your holiday lands on your preferred cuisine, which ours did not. It is also important to note that you are only permitted to book the restaurants a certain number of times based on the length of your holiday, so, if you are hoping to eat only at the restaurants, I think this will incur an additional fee if you want to book more than the designated times. For us, we were only permitted to book on one night of our stay which was the Cuban night. Finally, the location of the hotel was also disappointing. If you are the type of person who likes a mix of sunbeds and sightseeing, this is not the place for you as Side and the surrounding areas were lack-lustre to say the least. There are about three bazaars around the resort, each selling the exact same knock-off clothing, perfumes with the occasional tattoo parlour and pharmacy sprinkled in. There were no souvenir shops bar one or two little stands outside some of the stores. There was a severe lack of restaurants around the resort with a Steakhouse company clearly having some kind of monopoly over the area with at least five between the hotel and Side. Disappointed with the selection on offer in the immediate area, we opted to take a day trip to Side, the closest town to the resort. The Mall of Side is somewhere that would have been a good idea; however, the reviews were very poor, citing extremely pushy salesmen which we opted to avoid. Therefore, we went into Side itself, saw the Old Town of Side (archaeological site) and wondered back into the town to see if we could find some souvenir shops and restaurants, however there were very few and there were no fine dining options either. In conclusion, I do not think this resort was for us. We are both in our 20s, however, this resort is clearly tailored towards the older generations, specifically the German older generations as all the staff talked to us in German by default and every guest we passed was German (or at least speaking German). This is not a bad thing in itself; however, the hotel is clearly geared towards an older generation of people, therefore, young couples looking for more than just sunbathing may find this hotel as boring as we did.

Fabulous hotel. Staff all very friendly,and very helpful. The food was was amazing,so much choice at every meal. Rooms spotlessly clean. I would recommend this hotel ,and will definitely go back again.

If you don’t speak German don’t go here. We were the only English couple there and everything revolved around them Definitely not a 5 star hotel , although very clean and nice staff but very tired, probably in today’s world 3 star. Admittedly we were there in the low season but it would have been nice to be told beforehand that 1) Two out of three Al La Carte restaurants were closed 2) The third Al La Carte restaurant was only open for four nights for the week we were there 3) Night club closed 4) Beach Bar closed 5) Buffet restaurant basically German food with very little variation each night 6) Superior rooms only have showers over the Bath, no walk in showers so not suitable if you have any mobility problems. 7) Not one English TV channel 8) Most of the daily entertainment was non existent. This was probably the worst holiday I have ever had and would never go back

They ought to have a sign above the door Alba Royal (GERMANS ONLY) If you're an English person, forget going here. There's no English breakfast. The food is cross contaminated and is the same every night. It's that bad, I felt we were in Germany. Will NOT be going back again. People are allowed to smoke everywhere, so if you're a non smoker, you have to put up with it. The Germans basically take over the place. DON'T GO.

Here as 3 English couples. First the negative Very hard beds and pillows,air conditioning in the communal areas is not maintained as constantly drips on you . Lack of entertainment inside the indoor bars and very bad piped music (Xmas songs in August ) food needs to be hotter . Positive Staff are fab and extremely helpful, food though sometimes cold is very tasty . Entertainment team ok but Rambo is fab . Not very many English guests in the hotel