Savoy Ottoman Palace Hotel Review - 1 of 35 Reviews

The Savoy Ottoman Palace is a new, plush casino hotel that ticks every box in terms of, well, plush casino hotels. Paulo and I booked because we wanted a touch of luxury on holiday in a hotel that wouldn't be dull, dirty or in need of new decor, as many older North Cyprus hotel seems to be, according to reviews we read.

Everything feels very NEW, from the immaculate frontage to the gleaming gold and marble lobby area. The architecture is all Moorish arches and swaggers, indulgent and opulant without being suffocating. Staff almost fell over themselves to make us welcome when we arrived (they don't get many English-speaking guests) and everyone was very attentive and helpful throughout our stay.

Our room was just what we wanted; more Hilton than hareem, and with decent air conditioning, much needed for the hot nights we had. We had a balcony overlooking the raised pool area and the grounds to the rooftops beyond. The snug but masculine-styled bathroom was all brown marble and gold fittings, Paulo loved it, and even had scales if you wanted to check how many calories the restaurant was adding to your hips! The calorie intake started with the breakfast (Turkish style or English if you preferred), and you could literally stuff yourself silly if you wanted to. We didn't, but some business guests one morning saw the buffet as a challenge to be eaten through - not a pretty sight..

The evening open buffet restaurant holds an indecent amount of food until 10.30pm,by which time some of the food was looking a little tired. We ate in the Sarayburnu restaurant one night which serves "Ottoman" food, i.e. good Turkish, and Lebanese, which was delicious and remarkably inexpensive by top London hotel prices.

Overall, this hotel is geared towards those wanting to gamble away their life savings in the casino, so we found we had many of the facilities to ourselves most of the time. The spa was great and despite the heat we loved de-stressing in the steamy Turkish bath. Lazy days were spent beside the swimming pool although it was a little disappointing that the 'hotel' beach was in fact the Escape Beach Club, some distance away via the free shuttle bus. On the other hand, the old harbour area was about 7 mins walk away, which was a perfect place for slow boozy lunches watching the fishing boats bobbing on the waves and being overcharged for drinks by overzealous waiters.

There was a wedding party one night, and we worried that the noise would keep us awake until the samm hours, but our room was very well soundproofed and away from the function area, so it was not a problem. We even had the bar's pool table to ourselves for most of one night - amazing!

Overall, a really palatial place to stay at a quite ridiculous price - not sure how long those prices will last, so grab them while you can.

Liked — OTT style
Disliked — money I lost in the casino!

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