Ducale Lara

Excellent hotel. Great food options and lovely staff. Would definitely recommend.

Amazing hotel. Amazing staff. Definitely coming back

We stayed here for 10 nights as a family of four and had a really enjoyable holiday overall. Room When we checked in, we were offered a swim-up room for an extra €200. We declined, and in hindsight I'm glad we did. Most of the swim-up pools were in the shade for a good part of the day, so they didn't seem worth the extra cost. The main advantage was simply being on the ground floor. Our standard room was great. The minibar was regularly stocked with soft drinks, lager and bottled water. The air conditioning worked well as long as you remembered to keep the balcony doors closed. The beds were comfortable enough, and although all four of us shared one room, it never felt too cramped. Food & Drink One thing we really appreciated was that food was available almost 24/7. We arrived around midnight and were still able to grab something to eat. Outside the main restaurant opening hours the selection was understandably more limited, but there was always something available. I'm not a fussy eater and thought the food was very good. There was always something new to try, and over the course of the holiday I sampled pretty much everything. The kids happily survived on chicken, pizza, spaghetti, rice and pancakes! While the menu didn't change dramatically from day to day, there was enough variety to stop it feeling repetitive. We're not huge drinkers, but the beers and wine were perfectly decent, and there was a good selection of included cocktails as well. Pools & Activities The main pool was open from 8am to 8pm, with lifeguards on duty and most activities running between 9am and 6pm. There was a swim-up pool bar, although I generally preferred the bar in the building next to the pool because it served bottled Coke. By the end of the holiday, Sandi, one of the bar staff, knew exactly what I was going to order and was already pouring my drink before I reached the bar! 😛 The water slides were open from 10am–12pm and 2pm–5:30pm. One slight frustration was the lack of inflatable rings, which are needed for several of the slides. I suspect this was intentional to help manage queues. One standout feature of this hotel is the adults-only 50m Olympic-sized swimming pool. I brought my swim training kit and managed 4–5 proper training sessions during our stay, which was fantastic. I also joined in with some of the organised activities, including the daily water polo at 11:30 and (yes!) yoga and Pilates most mornings. Esra, who ran the classes, was excellent and clearly had a personal training background. The sessions were a noticeable step above the usual hotel fitness classes. 🧘‍♂️ Housekeeping Housekeeping was genuinely some of the best I've experienced at a resort. Towels were changed daily, bedding was changed whenever required, and the minibar was restocked regularly. A special mention to Fatima from housekeeping, who was incredibly helpful when my daughter unfortunately had an accident during the night. Getting Around We visited the local markets, which were about a 10-minute bus ride away. The fare was around 80p each way, and you could simply pay contactless on the bus. The only downside was that the buses didn't seem to run to any reliable timetable—you just waited and eventually one turned up! Medical Issue During the holiday I managed to get an infected toe and visited the on-site doctor. Due to what I think was a language misunderstanding, she believed it was something more serious and quoted a €145 consultation fee. In the end, she advised me to visit a local pharmacy instead, where I bought some antibiotic cream that sorted the problem. Land of Legends We also spent a day at Land of Legends. By the time we'd paid for tickets, taxis and lunch, it came to around £400 for the four of us. It wasn't cheap, but it was absolutely worth it. It's so close to the hotel, and there is far more to do than you could realistically fit into a single day. Overall We had a great family holiday and would happily return. The hotel's biggest strengths were the friendly staff, excellent housekeeping, good food, the huge choice of activities and, for me personally, the outstanding 50m swimming pool. Aside from a few minor niggles, it was a really enjoyable stay.

We were so looking forward to our stay as our firth time in Lara/Belek. Our first few days were fantastic, then it went down hill. We are currently on day 9 here and have to say we are mega disappointed with some aspects of the hotel. The night time entertainment is appalling. Non existent. A live band? A quiet day on a Sunday in the height of the season? The children’s football at 5, there was one person there (my son). The night time entertainment lets the hotel down. What has really left a bad taste in our mouth is the absolute shocking event that happened today at the swimming pool, THREE GROWN woman absolutely so drunk they had to get taken up to there rooms in a wheelchair after one physically and verbally abused the dr who was trying to help. I reached out to the general manager ( I know this is not the hotels fault) but got a generic text back. I hope these woman are no longer in the hotel as there was children crying and screaming my son no longer wants to spend the last two days at the swimming pool. I am a travel agent and have been to much better hotels in the area, titanic for example. Would not come back.

I would not be recommending this hotel for a couple of reasons. Firstly, you come to Turkey to experience their culture but have been surrounded by very arrogant Russians all week which is not what I paid for. From the moment you arrive to the moment you leave you are being ripped off with them trying to charge you extra money for example, they tried to charge us £39 per person to go to their steak restaurant, also they were trying to charge us £35 per hour for a late checkout of our swim up room, having advised that we had a disabled child at the beginning of our holiday which required us to have a late checkout we were advise to go to reception on the last day we arrived at the time that we were told to, 9am for them to tell us that they had no availability and we had to leave the room at 12 pm for our flight leaving at 9pm. The food was exactly the same every single day with what seemed to have very little thought having gone into the preparation, that’s if you was lucky enough to get your way through the huge crowds of Russians pushing their way through the queues and congregating at the front of the counter taking every single last ounce of food. facilities were okay however the main pool was hotter than a bathtub and once again you struggled to get to the swim up bar as there was only two staff and once again it was surrounded by Russians… the cleanliness was okay but they had an issue with taking the towels out of your room-and not returning them especially the ones that required a card we ended up with none halfway through the week especially when you taken to consideration that we were a swim up room with no towels… the sports bar was closed /not serving drinks because apparently July is not in their season which is laughable when you take to consideration that the World Cup was on. The staff speak very little English reception are pretty much next to useless and give you all the wrong information at best. This is not a five star or four. It’s a three Star hotel.