Royal TAJ Mahal

Our stay at Royal Taj Mahal was extremely disappointing overall and nowhere near the standard we expected from a so called 5 star resort. The issues started from the moment we entered the room. A glass lamp was hanging dangerously by a single cable from the wall. I was shocked that housekeeping or maintenance had not identified something this unsafe before allocating the room, especially at a family resort where young children are staying. The hairdryer was broken and an electrician had to come into the room during our stay to repair it, which was inconvenient and disruptive. There was also a broken socket near the kettle area, forcing us to move the kettle elsewhere dangerously close to our toddler. One of the main reasons we booked this hotel was because their website clearly states “No smoking on site” due to my asthma. In reality, this was completely misleading. People smoked absolutely everywhere. Around the pool, on the beach loungers, outside restaurants, snack bars, seating areas and nearly every outdoor space imaginable. There was even an ashtray provided inside the room, which completely contradicted their own policy and strongly implied smoking inside rooms is common. Because of the constant smoke exposure, my asthma flared up badly throughout the holiday. I had to repeatedly use my inhaler during both day and night and frequently suffered headaches because the smell of smoke was constantly lingering around the resort and sometimes inside the room too. Another major issue was communication. For a 5 star international resort, the lack of English spoken by staff was honestly shocking. Most staff members were polite and friendly, but communication became exhausting because even very basic English was not understood. Every simple interaction required us to use a translation app on our phones. When asking whether dishes were vegetarian, staff would often respond by offering chicken, pork or other meat dishes, which became frustrating very quickly. The vegetarian food situation was extremely disappointing. Turkey has so many incredible vegetarian dishes and flavours, so we arrived with high expectations. Unfortunately the resort offered very limited hot vegetarian options and most lacked flavour, seasoning or effort. In many cases the “vegetarian option” was simply plain boiled vegetables. During the first few days we practically survived on pasta for lunch and dinner. Honestly, if I wanted pasta every day I would have flown to Italy instead. To be fair, after we complained, some of the chefs did make an effort to provide a few additional vegetarian dishes, which we appreciated. However, the quality still did not come close to the effort clearly put into the meat dishes. It genuinely felt like vegetarian guests were an afterthought. The so called “Indian themed” dinner buffet was another huge disappointment. The resort is called Royal Taj Mahal, so naturally as an Indian family we expected at least some authentic Indian food. Unfortunately there was absolutely nothing Indian about it apart from labels. Simply adding the word “Indian” before rice or curry does not make it Indian cuisine. Another frustrating issue was the indoor pool situation. The hotel technically has an indoor pool, but they refuse to operate it from May onwards purely because of the calendar month, regardless of the actual weather. The outdoor pools were still too cold to properly enjoy during our stay, meaning we barely got to use the swimming facilities at all. It made no sense for a family resort. We had also emailed the resort in advance explaining we were travelling with a young child and celebrating our daughter’s birthday. Despite this, we were allocated a room extremely far away from the main facilities, to the point where we avoided returning to the room during the day because it was such an inconvenience with a toddler. We were not expecting anything extravagant for the birthday, but even a small gesture, a better located room, or simple acknowledgement would have shown some level of hospitality. Unfortunately there was nothing at all. The mocktails were also genuinely terrible. Every drink tasted either overwhelmingly sweet or extremely sour with no balance. Strangely, cocktails and mocktails were available around the clock, yet ice cream for children was only available during limited hours, which seemed ridiculous at an all inclusive family resort. To mention a few positives, the children’s funfair area was genuinely lovely and our toddler really enjoyed it. The resort also had drinking water stations and toilet facilities conveniently available throughout the property, which was helpful. Most staff members were polite and tried their best despite the language barrier. Overall, the resort may look impressive in photos, but the actual experience was nowhere near luxury. Poor maintenance, misleading smoking policies, lack of English speaking staff, disappointing vegetarian food, weak hospitality and several avoidable inconveniences completely overshadowed the few positive aspects of the holiday.

First of all, thank you. The rooms are wonderful, spacious and clean. The food is excellent and delicious, and all the staff are very good – the waiters, the animation team, the fitness center, the gym – everyone is helpful. Actually, this hotel deserves 6 stars. Thank you for everything, best holiday.

I would like to complement and recomend the hotel to anyone that is looking for a good place to stay in Side. I would like to start mentioning the staff. They are fantastic! The housekeeping, restaurants, cleaners, are outstanding. The reception could be more friendly, one or two of them are quite rude, however, just do your check in and go to see the others around the hotel, they are great! The team at the upstairs bar opposite the reception is Outstanding . Mecit and Melisa are the most friendly and helpful people ever. Mecit skills to do cocktails is AMAZING, he can make anything, and Melisa can speak a great English’s and can give you information and is super friendly, she makes sure that you get enough drink and is super helpful. I really enjoyed my evenings by this bar talking and being looked after them! Thank you! The hotel is huge, the bedrooms are maaaasssiive, with a very nice shower, big and comfortable bed, plenty of extras for you to use. The SPA is lovely, clean and the indoor swimming pool is warm and very clean. The outdoor area is amazing and just at the beach that you can walk all the way to the old Town if you have time and energy. Outside the hotel you can get a van that also can take you to the old town for €2.50, you don’t need to spend money on taxi, it is safe and quick! Plenty of shops around. The food is delicious and a great selection. I wish that I could mention all the names in here, as a lot of great staff that will remember your favorite drink and food from the first day! Have a fantastic stay!

This hotel is in a good location, right by a busy shopping area so you can get souvenirs, fake clothing and handbags/shoes. Plus you are only a €15 taxi ride to Side Old Town which is well worth a visit. The hotel is spotlessly clean - the room, pool area, beach and the restaurants(s). Our room was huge, with a huge bathroom area that doubled as a dressing room - all our clothes storage was in there. For a family of 4 we had a double bed, a permanent single bed and a fold out single bed. Now for other areas you should be aware of before booking - this is a German tourist resort, and I don’t mean they are the majority. I mean we were the ONLY British tourists there, staff only spoke to us in German and we felt quite isolated. If you want to go here for your kids to socialise and make friends, perhaps think again! Staff at the Royal Taj Mahal work really hard, but there was a night my husband wasn’t feeling well so didn’t join us for dinner. As a female, I was almost ignored - took ages to get our drinks, or to get plates cleared. This was by the same server who we’d had the previous night (who we tipped!) and was all over my husband offering him extra drinks as he was nearing the end of his beer etc the night before. This also extended to the reception area - twice I was ignored as a female in favour of a male German tourist despite them seeing me waiting there. Was it because I was female? Was it because I was British? Who knows, but again not what I would have expected from a 5 star hotel. The other thing to note, I love eating outside when abroad. The terrace area is TINY and we could never get a table. For the size of the hotel, there was only a handful of tables outside. Compared to the hotel we stayed in last year, where everything was outside, I found this disappointing. The restaurant was chaotic at dinner time, we soon learnt that if you delayed going down by an hour (it opens at 7pm, we delayed going down until 8pm) it was a far nicer experience, less crowded and easier to find a table (inside table only, never could get an outside table in the evening!). Overall I thought this was a great hotel, the pools were plentiful, beach lovely and the kids enjoyed the waterslides. Would I return? Probably not, the service wasn’t up to the standards I would have expected from a 5 star resort and we should have returned to the hotel we went to last year - AQI Pegasos Resort - at this resort there was a huge diversity of different nationalities, and the staff bent over backwards to welcome EVERYBODY. Sadly the same cannot be said for Royal Taj Mahal. Bottom line, clean and spacious rooms, brilliant facilities, great location but service lets it down - hence 4 star review.

The Taj Mahal Palace has a good location and historic charm, but our stay was disappointing. The hotel is older, rooms show signs of wear but are clean, and the main dining hall is overcrowded, noisy, and the food is mostly low-quality — pasta, soups, desserts, and fruit were particularly weak. Beach food is just convenience food, and all sunbeds are taken by 10:00 AM every day. Despite the friendly staff and pleasant pool, the overall experience did not meet expectations. Based on this stay, we will not visit again.