Arum Barut Collection

A fantastic stay at Barut Arum – we’ll definitely be back! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was our fourth time in Side, and I’d always wanted to stay at a Barut hotel, so we finally bit the bullet and booked the Barut Arum. We were absolutely not disappointed!

It got off to a bit of a rocky start with a cock-up regarding our rooms booked through Hotels.com, which ended up costing us quite a bit more money than expected. However, we were eventually given a lovely two-bedroom suite (room 2164). It was spacious, spotlessly clean and perfectly located right by the pool. The room was well equipped with shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, bathrobes and slippers, and the minibar was generously stocked and replenished every day.

The whole hotel is spotlessly clean, and you can really see how hard the housekeeping and gardening teams work. The pool area was lovely. You do need to be up fairly early if you want a poolside sunbed — around 7:30am seemed to be the sweet spot! If we were later, we could usually find a bed on the grass. The pier is also fantastic, with amazingly comfortable padded sun loungers.

The sea is quite rocky directly in front of the hotel, so not many people seemed to swim from the beach. However, you can access the sea from the top end of the pier via the steps. Top tip: if you want to walk into the sea, turn right past the volleyball nets and you can get in there. The bottom is more slate-like than sandy, but it’s much easier to get into the water.

🍴 Food

The food was amazing — probably the best we’ve had in Turkey. There was always plenty of choice, everything was warm and there was lots of variety. My son particularly loved the pasta station!

For lunch, we usually ate at the Petunya Restaurant, which overlooks the sea and has a huge menu. A massive shout-out to Emre (I think that was his name!). Within minutes of sitting down, he would bring our drinks without us even ordering. Such a lovely man who clearly works incredibly hard.

We didn’t eat at the burger restaurant, so I can’t comment on that.

The à la carte restaurants — Turkish, Asian and international — were all lovely. We had no problems booking them. We went to Guest Relations on our first full day and managed to get four bookings during our ten-night stay.

🎉 Entertainment

The entertainment team were great and, importantly for us, didn’t constantly pressure you around the pool to join in.

My son particularly enjoyed the water polo, and Tolga from the entertainment team was fantastic.

We also experienced two pool foam parties during our stay, which were brilliant — foam, inflatables, dancers, balloons and live music. There was also live music at the beach bar in the late afternoon, creating a really chilled-out holiday atmosphere.

We only watched a few evening shows, including the Michael Jackson show, which was fantastic, the fountain and laser show, and a group of singers at the beach bar. All were excellent.

🛍️ Location

We love having a mooch around the shops, and the hotel is well located for this. Come out of the hotel and turn right and there are shops nearby. Turn left and walk for around ten minutes and you’ll find even more.

Kumköy is only a short taxi ride away — around €12 for us — and has a huge selection of malls and shops.

It’s around a 45-minute walk into the beautiful old town of Side, although be warned: doing that walk in August is HOT! 🥵

⭐ One little improvement

If I could suggest one thing that would make the hotel a super impressive five-star experience for me, it would be having some fridges around the hotel with bottled water and drinks, as there could be a queue at the pool bar.

I’d also love to see a few ice cream fridges dotted around the pool areas, as we’ve had this at other hotels and it’s a lovely little touch.

❤️ Overall

Despite the rocky start with our room booking, we are so pleased we chose Barut Arum.

The cleanliness, food, staff, entertainment, facilities and location all made for a fantastic holiday. There’s a really lovely atmosphere throughout the hotel, and the staff work incredibly hard to make sure everyone has a great time.

We absolutely would not hesitate to return and will definitely be back! 🇹🇷❤️

Thank you, Barut Arum, for a brilliant stay!

Note avoid SunExpress. Antalya airport was a shambles due to an IT issue, three hour delay and none of our bags arrived back at Manchester along with the whole aircraft’s and we still don’t have them back!

Great hotel! Good location, excellent staff, fabulous food and drinks. The evening entertainment is good quality, with a music group every night in the pool bar.