Ramada Resort Lara

General atmosphere:

If you’re looking for a peaceful, relaxing holiday, this isn’t it. It felt less like a resort and more like a chaotic fever dream. Let me preface this part by saying I am a former teacher and have a significant amount of patience when it comes to young children, however the hotel was overrun with badly behaved kids with a severe lack of parenting to be seen. Unless you’re particularly fond of being surrounded by endless unsupervised children from sunrise until bedtime, this probably isn’t the place for you.

We spoke to a multiple other guests throughout our stay (some of these also being families) who shared these sentiments. It was only the children with no grace and decorum, but the adult guests too. To give an idea of the people you may encounter, we witnessed one guest in the buffet put his hand down the front of his shorts, smell said hand and then use that same hand to operate the juice machine all in rapid succession - diabolical behaviour. You’d think it was most people’s first day on earth.

Unfortunately, the entertainment was another low point. The entertainment team were lovely, but the activities and evening programme were painfully uninspiring. After several nights of bingo and watching one particularly committed guest repeatedly curl a dumbbell to failure (?), we found ourselves leaving the hotel just to escape the boredom.

Outside the hotel isn’t much better. Lara Beach feels expensive for what it offers, with prices often not far off London despite a much poorer overall experience. The immediate area is dominated by a busy road lined with tacky shops and cafés, with very little charm, and it’s quite a distance from Antalya’s more interesting areas.

Pools:

The pools deserve a special mention—and not in a good way. Every family seemed to arrive armed with multiple giant inflatables, despite the pools simply not being big enough to accommodate them. It was virtually impossible to stand in one spot for more than a few seconds without being barged into by a child or hit by an inflatable, let alone actually swim.

Despite signs stating that reserving loungers isn’t allowed, people were claiming them from 5am. The beach pool is definitely the calmer option (although still the lesser of two evils), but even there you’d need to arrive before 9:30am to have any chance of finding a bed.

Also, the music around the beach pool in particular was genuinely deafening, making it impossible to relax, read or even hold a conversation.

The aqua parks at both the hotel and beach pool somehow managed to be both noisy and ugly, adding to the sensory overload rather than improving the experience.

Food & Drink:

The food was another disappointment. Everything was edible but painfully average, with very little variety and many dishes tasting remarkably similar. Even the à la carte restaurants left a lot to be desired. Drinks were equally inconsistent— one would taste solely of alcohol, the next like fruit juice, however the spirits are definitely being watered down as not once did I feel even remotely tipsy, let alone drunk, after several cocktails.

Unfortunately, concerns about the food went beyond the quality. During our stay, my dad—who very rarely gets ill—spent the final three days of the holiday suffering with symptoms consistent with food poisoning. Whilst I obviously can’t pinpoint the cause for sure, what I witnessed in the restaurant certainly didn’t inspire confidence. On more than one occasion, I watched a chef pick up stray spaghetti that had fallen onto the countertop around the serving trays with his bare hands and put it straight back into the dish. I also saw dropped chips gathered up and returned to the serving tray in exactly the same way. That sort of food handling is simply unacceptable and raised serious questions about hygiene standards. On the flip side, the housekeeping team did a fantastic job throughout the hotel, keeping everything remarkably clean despite the amount of mess left behind by some guests. It’s a shame the same standard didn’t appear to extend to food hygiene.

Rooms:

The rooms were one of the stronger aspects of the hotel. They’re relatively modern, spacious enough, with comfortable beds, effective air conditioning, free safes and good daily housekeeping.

Hunting for anything more positive to say and coming up short…

We have been to Lara beach and number of times and can say Ramada Hotel is great value food and drinks are better than the 4 star rating most give and I say this with experience of the 5 star ratings in the same area