TUI BLUE Palm Garden

This hotel is amazing from start to finish. It's like you are welcomed into an extended family. Nothing Is too much for the staff and they walk around with smiles on their faces. I want to thank everyone from the front of house and back of house, that contributed to making our stay enjoyable. The main buffet has a lot of choice that even the fussiest of eaters would find something. The chef selection each night was like eating in a fine dining restaurant. It's hard to believe you were in a buffet. The lady putting it together was friendly and you could tell enjoyed her job. We went to the 2 a la cartes. Levante was our favourite. The food here was incredible. We hired a daybed with service. The food and service was incredible. We were served by a gem of a lady. Ipek was very attentive. The only suggestion for this is all the lunch comes at once. I would have liked it staggered. There was a lot of food. All in all though this was an incredible hotel and would consider coming back. The wee fur babies an her kittens were well looked after. We wanted to take a few home lol

My review is broken into smaller parts Location The location was lovely, and the beachfront setting was wonderful. Even while sitting on a sunbed, we could enjoy stunning views of the sea. The hotel is around 1–1.5 hours from the airport, depending on your mode of transport. We chose to book a private taxi for both journeys after reading reviews, and it was definitely worth it. There are lots of options available, but we pre-booked ours before arriving in Turkey, which gave us peace of mind. The area is also within easy reach of some lovely local attractions. We visited Side, which was beautiful, and spent around three hours exploring the museums and historic sites. We love historic places, so this was a real highlight for us. We took a taxi from the hotel because of the heat, costing €30 each way, which we were happy with. The hotel was able to arrange this for us, too. We didn't take any other trips into the local area during our stay. Sunbeds and the pool area Now for something that I know many people worry about when booking a holiday: sunbeds! I always dread the thought of the early morning sunbed rush, but we honestly had no issues whatsoever here. We often didn't head down to the pool until 10–11 am, and we never struggled to find somewhere to sit. There were plenty of sunbeds available, and we never experienced any sunbed wars! The hotel also has its own private beach area, giving you another lovely option if you fancy spending the day by the sea instead of the pool. Being able to enjoy the beautiful views while relaxing on a sunbed was one of our favourite things about the hotel. Activities and facilities The hotel is packed with activities, and there really is something for everyone. We took part in several of the water activities, enjoyed the aerobics and thought the water bikes were fantastic. We also tried the adventure golf, which is located near the entrance to the hotel building and could easily be missed, so it's worth looking out for! There is even an area specifically for teenagers, although we were travelling as a couple this time. The hotel is exceptionally well catered for families and children, and we would happily bring our own children back, even though they are older now. The separate children's pools, kids' club and dedicated drinks area are all great facilities, particularly for families with younger children. The ice cream offering was another lovely touch. There was ice cream available every day, including by the pool, which was great when you wanted a little treat while relaxing in the sunshine. Rooms and housekeeping The rooms were lovely, modern and very well equipped. Everything was spotlessly clean, the bed was comfortable, and the air conditioning worked perfectly. The housekeeping team worked incredibly hard and were always so friendly. One little detail I particularly appreciated was that there were extra duvets in the wardrobe. If you're like us as a couple, where my husband gets hot and I get cold easily, you'll understand why this was such a welcome touch! The minibar was replenished with water each day, and if we fancied any additional drinks, we could pop over to the 24-hour Grab & Go area in the reception building. This is a really nice touch and makes it easy to grab something whenever you need it. Noise in the mornings One small niggle for us was the noise outside our room early in the morning. From around 7 am, and on some days as early as 6.30 am, we could regularly hear doors slamming, children shouting and crying as families headed out for breakfast. This happened every morning during our stay and did sometimes disturb our sleep. We completely appreciate that this is a family friendly hotel and that young children are naturally going to be up early and excited for the day ahead. This isn't something we would blame the hotel for, but as we were visiting as a couple for a relaxing holiday, we did find it a little frustrating at times. Perhaps rooms in a designated quieter section for couples or adults seeking a more peaceful stay could be worth considering, particularly for guests who enjoy a lie-in on holiday. Staff and service We saw the hotel manager several times during our stay, and he appeared attentive and genuinely interested in checking on the guest experience. All the staff we encountered were friendly, helpful and welcoming, and we really appreciated the level of service throughout our holiday. Another lovely feature was being able to order drinks directly to your sunbed, both around the pool and on the beach. At times, delivery could take around 20 minutes, but we weren't in any rush, so this wasn't an issue for us. If you don't want to wait, you can always pop to the bar yourself. Being able to relax on your sunbed and have drinks brought to you is a lovely extra. Food and restaurants The food at this hotel was amazing, with such great quality wherever we chose to eat. The main restaurant consistently served fresh ingredients across all meals, and the pool bar lunch service was fantastic, too. The baked potato station was something we hadn't experienced at a hotel before, and it was a real treat! It's these little extras that make the dining experience feel special. We also tried the BBQ and the à la carte restaurant. The BBQ was nice, and the setting was beautiful, although we felt some of the food was quite similar to what was already available in the main restaurant. One thing this hotel certainly doesn't hold back on is the quality of its meat! The à la carte restaurant, however, was stunning, and we would absolutely recommend booking a visit. The food was five-star, and the service was just as impressive. It was a real highlight of our dining experience. Evening entertainment The evening entertainment was great, and we particularly loved the live music. It was a fantastic addition to the holiday, and the beautiful setting made it even more enjoyable. We felt it added something special to the evenings and gave us another reason to sit back, relax and enjoy the atmosphere. It's those little experiences that help make a holiday memorable. A suggestion for couples We knew before booking that this wasn't an adults-only hotel, and we absolutely recognise how well it caters for families. However, we did feel the hotel could benefit from a dedicated quieter area for adults and couples. When dining inside the main restaurant, there was a small section for guests aged 16 and over. We felt something similar could work well outside, too. The tables for two were often positioned between larger tables of four, five or six people, meaning we sometimes found ourselves sitting next to families with very young babies and children. This didn't spoil our holiday, and we completely appreciate that this is a family-friendly resort. However, we felt there was enough space to create a designated quieter dining area outside, giving couples and those seeking a more peaceful atmosphere a little more choice. We think this, alongside the option of quieter rooms, could enhance the experience for couples without taking anything away from the fantastic facilities available to families. Value for money and overall experience We genuinely felt this hotel offered great value for money. The quality of the food, the facilities, the beautiful beachfront setting and the standard of service all contributed to a fantastic holiday. We have stayed at various hotels over the years, but this is one we would definitely return to. In fact, we haven't come across many places recently where we have finished a holiday and genuinely wanted to book again, but this is absolutely one of them! We had a wonderful stay at TUI BLUE Palm Garden. The beautiful location, excellent food, modern and comfortable rooms, fantastic activities, plentiful sunbeds, lovely live music and friendly staff all contributed to a really enjoyable holiday. Although there were a couple of things we felt could be improved for couples, neither would stop us from returning. We would happily bring our children here, too, despite them being older now, as the facilities for families are excellent. We would absolutely recommend TUI BLUE Palm Garden to anyone looking for a quality beachfront holiday with fantastic food, plenty to do and great service. We left feeling that we had chosen well, and we would definitely return!

As this is a foodie hotel and one of the main reasons we decided to stay here, I will start my review with the food. In short, it’s amazing. The main restaurant was consistently good every night. Each night had a “chefs plate” which was carefully put together for each guest. There are several live fooling stations, pasta, fish, a bakery for pizza and Pide and my two favourite areas the slow cooked meat (a very happy chef (name began with C) in this station didn’t catch his name but always smiling and wants to give you more food than you can handle). Then the outdoor grill section which cooked delicious kebabs each night. The desserts were delicious too lots of traditional Turkish, baklava, Noah pudding with beans not my fave, but tried it. Delightful chocolate mousses and a whole range of sweet treats from around the world. There’s also an outdoor sweet live cooking station that does different things each night. Because we had a 10 night stay we had two Al la carte restaurant visits. Levante was a lovely 3 course meal with fantastic staff very friendly, I paid for a Turkish wine with this meal made near Cappadocia, it was a great accompaniment. Most of us had lamb rack with delicious veg and sauces. Second Al la carte was a beach bbq, an outstanding location listening to the waves and such a great selection of bbq meats, we had entrecôte, quail (delicious) and a whole selection of kebabs. The chefs here Ali was pleased to speak with us about the cooking process. One slight criticism is the difference inks available on the all inclusive, cocktails were sadly restricted, with many of them being extra. If I could offer feedback it would be to expand the inclusive cocktails. That said we had a nice time in the bars. Yilmaz and his colleague really looked after us in the lobby and Batuhan in The Bar. The location of the hotel is beach front, its pebbly so take beach shoes. It’s 20 mins from Side and will cost about £50for a return trip. There’s a shopping centre right outside the hotel selling everything you could need and a good leather bag shop over the road and a row of shops. It’s a family orientated hotel, so there are lots of families and it seems to cater for them well. We were two adults with two adult children and were happy enough but I could see how couples might want something quieter. Rooms were clean and quiet, overlooking beautiful gardens. Birds in the day, bats at night, we saw a tortoise, frogs small lizards and the hotel is home to a number of cats which were all beautiful. One mum cat just had kittens. Overall a fantastic stay, food was definitely a highlight. Thanks to all the staff.

We had such a lovely stay at TUI Blue Palm Gardens I can’t recommend it enough! The hotel itself is fantastic, spotlessly clean everywhere, and the grounds and gardens are absolutely amazing so beautifully kept and peaceful. The food was exceptional so much choice and everything tasted delicious! Even though I eat meat, I was really impressed with the vegetarian options too plenty of variety and really tasty meals. The hotel staff were all excellent professional, friendly and great at what they do. A special mention goes to the TUI Blue Guides they were fantastic! Kübra in particular went above and beyond for us. She’s an absolute credit to the team such a fantastic guide and made our holiday even more special. We’d definitely love to come back! Thank you for a wonderful stay. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

What has happened? we came 3 years ago and it was really relaxing. The hotel itself is still lovely- but there are more screaming toddlers and crying babies than adults. It’s so noisy all the time… and has become 99% German . Love all the group exercise classes.