In September, we spent 10 days at Richmond Ephesus Resort. This was our third time staying at this resort, and I can compare it to our previous stays. As always, the staff at the reception were very welcoming. We arrived around midnight, and there were midnight snacks available in the restaurant. There's also an option to order food to your room; the menu is available at the reception.
This time, we had a room in one of the bungalows, which had its pros and cons. The pros include a bigger room compared to the rooms in the main hotel building, and there were only four rooms on the floor. The bungalows are also close to the beach and the silent pool. However, the cons include the room needing some refurbishment, especially the bathroom, and the main air conditioning engine being located on the roof above our room, which was really loud.
As in our previous stays, we loved all the food served in the main restaurant. Everything was fresh, and the menu changed daily, although some dishes were repetitive. At breakfast, there were two cooking stations on the terrace where you could order pancakes, crepes, waffles, omelets, or scrambled eggs. There was also a lovely old lady making fresh gözleme, and she later made gözleme at the hotel beach bar in the afternoon.
The lunch in the main restaurant had a good variety of hot and cold dishes, as well as desserts. In the evenings, at the restaurant terrace, there were three or four live cooking stations where the chefs prepared köfte, pasta (mainly for kids), lavash, grilled chicken/turkey/fish, and roasted/grilled vegetables. So, there was always something to choose from, and someone would have to be very fussy to complain about the food.
The food at the beach bar was repetitive – good, but with mostly the same choices every day, such as grilled chicken/turkey with vegetables, some pizza, and lavash, fruits, and sandwiches. There was also an option to order freshly made waffles. Between 5-6 pm, there was a good selection of cakes.
The alcohol – I only drank red and white wine, which were quite good. The beer wasn't the best, and neither were the cocktails at the beach bar. On the other hand, the Turkish coffee was made to order by a lovely girl at the beach bar, and of course, the Turkish tea was a total win.
As in our previous stays, we mostly stayed at the beach (huge and with beautiful sand) and the silent pool. There was no problem finding free sunbeds in the morning or afternoon. Unfortunately, this year, I noticed that some people were putting towels on sun loungers really early in the morning and not showing up for half a day, which was quite annoying. This wasn't a daily practice, but it was noticeable. In our previous stays, this never happened.
The hotel grounds were clean, spacious, and had lots of places to sit down and relax. The beach bar was quite busy in the evenings, but there were always free tables and chairs. The staff were helpful and friendly, always happy to talk.
Overall, it was another amazing stay at the Richmond Ephesus Hotel, and probably not the last one.