Farzan and I visited Turkey, or Türkiye as it’s now called, in June 2022. This post will cover our experience in Antalya at the Akra resort, and I have a post on Istanbul and Cappadocia up as well. This post is not sponsored or gifted by Akra – I’m saying that because I’ll be talking about the resort a lot and want to make it clear that we paid for our stay out of pocket and these are my honest thoughts.
This was the first time Farzan or I had taken a pool/beach vacation. We normally enjoy visiting bustling cities with lots of good restaurants and sights to see. Growing up, when I travelled with my parents, we usually also took trips to big cities. In Antalya, we stayed at the Akra resort and it was four days of poolside chilling and ocean views. We didn’t actually do much – we basically just relaxed for all four days and it was GLORIOUS. We were able to relax fully, and it felt nice to almost get the slightest bit bored by the end of the fourth day so that going back home and ending the vacation didn’t feel terrible. We decided that we will always try to do a couple lazy days (ideally beach side) at the end of our vacations to recover and recharge before heading home.
Resort
When we were looking at hotel options for Antalya, Akra was one of the nicer and more expensive options. We chose it because it was along the water and seemed to have nice views. However, in retrospect, the photos on the website do not do justice to how gorgeous the property is. I actually didn’t realize we were booking with a resort and not just a regular hotel until we got there. We didn’t book an all inclusive type deal, but I say it’s a resort because there is a massive poolside and beachside area along with multiple restaurants and areas to hang out. Basically, you can stay on the property for multiple days without running out of things to do. We also had breakfast included every morning, which I think is because we booked a honeymoon suite, but the breakfast buffet situation was actually incredible. There were so many types of fresh fruit out, detox juices, ten types of flavored honeys, so many different types of pastries etc. And breakfast was open from 6 AM to 12 PM, which is honestly a longer time slot than I’ve seen at other hotels, and you could turn it into brunch if you wanted to. The breakfast that was included was actually better than the restaurants at the resort, IMO.
We took advantage of the health facilities at Akra as well, which made us feel good. There was a very nice gym with every machine you could think of, as well as free yoga and pilates classes during the day, which we attended. Besides the gym, pilates studio, and pools, there was an entire separate spa area in the hotel for massages, facials, hammam, sauna/steam room, and other spa services. We did something or another each day that we were at the resort, and it was just what we needed. I found a nail salon a five minute walk from Akra called Riz Beauty Salon and got the best gel manicure of my life, also (it took two hours though, so beware). The prices for a massage or facial etc. at the resort were basically the same as the prices in NYC or another major city, so it’s not super cheap or anything. I’m sure you could find it for way cheaper outside the resort, actually, but we didn’t look.
Restaurants
7 Mehmet was an incredible find- one of Farzan’s co-workers recommended it to us. It’s actually on many lists of ‘best restaurants in Turkey’ that you can find on the touristy websites. We went every day during our stay in Antalya (so four times). It’s pretty much all outdoor seating with a beautiful view and incredible food. We enjoyed the kofte with onion a lot – best quality and best tasting kofte I’ve ever had. I didn’t order the kofte in Istanbul much – sometimes it came in kebab platters but I was never impressed with the quality. Besides the kofte, the sea bass was good, as was the shrimp skewer and the chicken skewer (had a nice cajun flavor). We didn’t love the lamb tandir or the lamb shish kabab much, unfortunately. We tried most of the desserts also, and the keşkül was by far our favorite.
Fish Restaurants – Nejat Balik was great. If you aren’t a fan of fish (we aren’t), I recommend getting the sea bass (levrek) grilled to share. It doesn’t have a fishy flavor because it’s so fresh, and sea bass has a milder flavor than other fish like blue or red fish. We were at Nejat Balik and I mentioned to Farzan that we are at a fish restaurant and it doesn’t smell like fish at all. That’s how you know the fish is so fresh and good. Lara Balik and Serpme Balik are the two other restaurants I got recommendations for and I’m sure they are also great. I was also told that the fish in Istanbul is even better than that in Antalya, so if you have the opportunity to have fish in Istanbul, do it. We just aren’t big fish people so we don’t seek it out, but we really liked the fresh sea bass in Antalya.
Restaurants at the Akra Resort (Pablito, Urban Social, Panora, etc) – As I stated earlier, the breakfast was very impressive. For dinner, I really recommend leaving the resort. There was a restaurant at the top floor called Asmani which we weren’t able to get a reservation for, but I’m not mad because I guarantee 7 Mehmet is better. We had lunch at some of the resort restaurants (mostly Pablito) and we weren’t super impressed. I recommend ordering the Italian dishes if you eat at the resort restaurants and skipping the Mexican and Indian dishes. It seems like the chefs at the resort are good at some things and not so much at others. The fresh juices and desserts at all of the resort restaurants were great, however.
Things We Missed
I’m slightly embarrassed to say that we didn’t make it to see the old city or any of the famous waterfalls in the area. We literally couldn’t be bothered to stop relaxing or make the 45 minute trip out to those sites. I’m sure we’ll be back to Antalya at some point and we’ll try to make it out to those famous landmarks next time.
