Swandor Hotels & Resorts Topkapi Palace

Really lovely hotel, good food, plenty of bars. Having a fab time - entertainment round the pool is good and love the night club

Great hotel. Highly recommend. It is so big! I have never experienced anything like this. Entertainment everywhere. Great shows. The buffet is honestly massive. I have to give a shoutout to Sinan and Evva, they are so welcoming and always happy to help out. We are booking to come back which is a first for me and my wife.

Swimming pool and slides - Excellent! There are pools and slides for all ages. My 7 and 10 years olds could go on most slides (some of the slides depended on which lifeguard was working). The swimming pool was huge, a lovely temperature, clean, and there are often activities you can join if you wish like the pool inflatable course, water polo, water aerobics, etc. There’s also a great smaller kids pool and also a quieter pool for those that want a more peaceful vibe. Beach - Excellent! Beautiful warm water, sandy beach with a few stones here and there, plenty of deck chairs and even a few fridges filled with cold water. Entertainment - Excellent! Various activities throughout they for kids, teenager and grown ups. Lots of evening entertainment to choose from. Kids club - Excellent! I’ve been to 4 all inclusive holidays and the kids club here was by far the best. It’s open until midnight, no need to book, the staff are amazing, there’s plenty for the kids to do and brilliant entertainment there in the evenings. Food - Good enough, but not great. A huge selection of food to choose from, catered more for Turkish and eastern cuisine, but my family found most of it bland and low quality. The puddings felt like they were just different combinations of the same ingredients/flavours. This was the first all inclusive holiday where I wasn’t excited about the meals. One good thing is that you could always get food at any time of day. Drinks - Very good. There are various bars throughout the hotel. They make okay cocktails. My kids loved the mocktails and milkshakes. Room - Initially not good, but then (after some complaining) made better. We booked a “Superior Deluxe room” room for 2 adults and 2 kids (aged 7 and a 10). When we arrived, the room was were decent and clean, but we discovered an issue… one of the beds was actually just a short sofa, over which had been placed a sheet, a duvet cover (but no duvet) and instead of a pillow, a pillowcase had been placed over one of the sofa cushions. We weren’t impressed. We had booked through Jet2, and their advert didn’t state that one of the beds would be a sofa bed. We only found out when entering the room. Our 7 year old slept on it the first night, slept terribly saying it was hard, and so the next day I went to reception and they offered me a bigger room (with an actual bed instead of a sofa) but for €50 extra per night. I complained that I thought it unfair as it wasn’t made clear to me that the room would have a sofa. The lady didn’t do much to help. I didn’t want to pay extra so declined to upgrade. My 10 year old slept on it that next night and slept terribly. So in the morning I went to reception again and this time they said they couldn’t do anything and to speak to one of their Guest Relations. I went there and tried to explain the situation, and the lady kept interrupting me when I was trying to talk which I found frustrating and quite rude. She didn’t let me explain before butting in. She then insisted that all rooms had sofa beds, and when I asked “so you don’t have any rooms with beds for 4 people” she said no… and I know she was wrong as reception had shown me the room upgrade options the day before. Ironic that most of the staff around the hotel were lovely and hard working, but the guest relations lady I spoke to was so unhelpful! She then said that if I needed help then I should speak to my rep. I found the Jet2 rep nearby, explained the situation to him… he was very nice, asked me to wait a few minutes while he went to investigate and he came back a few minutes later and explained that he’d managed to get me a free upgrade to a room with 4 beds. He walked with me to reception where a manager was waiting and she explained that as a special exception she would upgrade us to a better room. She did also say that there were staff who could help me write a good review for them which I found amusing. The new room had beds for the whole family and we were very comfortable there for the rest of our holiday. The room had decent air con, a mini fridge with free drinks and snacks, it was clean, a little rough around the edges in places but generally decent. One great thing was that with both rooms, we hardly heard neighbours or people outside which was nice. Staff - Mostly excellent, but some frustrating. The entertainment staff, catering staff, bar staff, lifeguards and cleaners were all truly excellent. Always upbeat and happy to help. I found the reception staff a bit cold and unhelpful, and (ironically) the Guest Relations person I spoke to for help with my room was really quite unhelpful, annoying and borderline rude (see above). Excursion - Very good. The hotel has various club reps through which you can book various trips. We booked a pirate ship trip, which involved a few stops including one at a waterfall, swimming off the back of the boat, a delicious free lunch (tastier than the any of the food I’d had at the hotel), and then a foam party which the kids loved. The staff were brilliant, helpful and fun. Swimming off the back of the boat was amazing. I’d highly recommend a trip like this. Shops and extras at the hotel - Crazily overpriced! While almost everything in the hotel was free under the all-inclusive deal… the things that were not free were ridiculously overpriced. Examples include: - The hotel shop wanted €50 for Nivea kids sun lotion which only costs £8 (approx €9) back home in the UK. One day my family went on the bus to the shops near the hotel and I picked up the same lotion for 900 lira (approx 18 euros) at Migros supermarket. - Another hotel shop quoted my son €70 for a toy which costs £9 (approx €10) in the UK. - The wine of the day at the restaurant is €60. - I was quoted €35 for late checkout. Only after paying did I discover it was actually €35 per hour. Quite annoying that the reception staff didn’t tell me it was per hour and they had charged me for 3 hours. I immediately got a refund. Quite annoying. - Arcade games are about 4 times the price as what we pay here in the UK. - In the evening, small remote control boats are put out on the pool. They look lovely! We were quoted €9 for a go which seemed way too expensive. These are just a handle of examples. I think the hotel would sell considerably more of these kinds of things if they just set normal prices. ------- Overall - A very nice hotel and we really enjoyed our time. Most aspects were excellent. It was just a few things that stopped me giving this hotel a 5 rating.

Fabulous hotel. Has everything you need to make a great holiday. Something for everyone. The pier was a definite highlight for us. The only negative and no fault of the hotel, was the constant inhalation of cigarette smoke. Couldn't seem to get away from it, which resulted in sore throats. Would we return? Yes.. but would bring extra throat lozenges next time!