That has delivered with it a glut of luxury motels – Aman, Mandarin Oriental, and a especially unpleasant Hilton lodge all occupy top spots upon pine-flecked hills over luminous blue bays. Still, it’s the Turkish-owned Maçakizi that’s the pick out of the bunch. While no longer the most luxe (though excessive-cease however), its greater amenable price point (double rooms start from €425 ($475) in low season and €595 ($665) in high season consisting of breakfast and dinner) and unassailable popularity as the first-class seaside membership in Bodrum make it the maximum compelling choice.
Set at the northern tip of a gorgeous bay close to the trendy village of Türkbükü, Maçakizi climbs its way up to a steep hill over four ranges from waterside decking and bar to the open-air restaurant, pool and spa, and villas and suites. It’s a triumph of making plans and implementation. Gorgeously landscaped grounds bursting in coloration from magnolia and oleander-wealthy gardens conceal a tangle of stone stairs and walkways snaking their way to the water’s side, connecting everything like arteries to a beating heart.
Among them sit down fifty-three easy but at ease rooms and 21 suites, many but no longer all providing ocean views. Beds are large and at ease, doused in feather smooth covers and Rifat Özbek-designed cushions. My significant Bose TV sits unused on the wall as I choose my small non-public terrace views. Bathrooms are travertine tiled with rainforest showers and Acqua di Parma toiletries.
Sensibly located near the rooms sits the ethereal breakfast pavilion alongside a quiet, abandoned pool – a conundrum fast replied when compared to the waterfront putting. Below is a spa offering a hammam and massage and a fitness center so buried in the back of vegetation that it looks like running out in an airconditioned rainforest. One tier down emerging from the greenery amid silver-leafed olive timber, the open-air al. A. Carte eating place is fashionable however comfortable. It serves a mixture of the Mediterranean and Turkish delicacies with a current twist below the watchful eye of head chef Aret Sahakyan, who’s labored with the owner for extra than 25 years.
Daily, sparkling and flavorful breakfast and lunch buffets invite citizens and day visitors to glide in and out as starvation demands, retaining matters humming however in no way too busy. Don’t omit out at the manti floor pork dumplings and everyday octopus, which pair superbly with a great worldwide wine list along with wonderful Turkish wines, in particular, the ones from the close by Urla Winery. As darkness descends, tender lighting and candles upload beauty and surroundings. The carrier day and night is, in a phrase, wonderful.
But it’s the expanse of wooden boardwalks connecting warm waters to rows of cushioned day beds to a massive significant bar that are Maçakizi’s superstar enchantment. Fanning out alongside the shore in an angular Aegean hug, they give nicely-heeled guests direct get admission to to the water from their solar loungers while serving personnel flow through silently at the back of white smiles and black Ray-Bans, topping up champagne glasses, delivering fresh towels to bathers rising from the water. A stay DJ curates a soundtrack to the whole display – well-chosen tunes that complement rather than interfere with the ecosystem.
Sahir Erozan, the Maçakizi’s proprietor and beating heart, is omnipresent. A highly gregarious but grounded individual named the motel in honor of his mother – it translates as ‘queen of spades’ and became, in turn, the call of the artist retreat she installation inside the 1970s – his spirit and character seep into each corner. He is a man who has no visitors, no associates – simplest superb buddies who he greets greater frequently than not by way of name. The Maçakizi is all the richer for his presence, as his love of Turkey and exuberance for the good life lingers around him like the smoke from his ever-present cigar.
Pack your maximum fashionable swimsuit, your chicest sun shades, and overlook the rivieras you realize this summertime because you’ll locate the best birthday celebration on the seashores of the Turquoise Coast and the boardwalks of the Maçakizi. But if the crowds and in-scene do not do it for you, the non-public Villa Maçakizi is handsiest a brief boat journey away sheltered in the cove of the aptly named Paradise Bay. Fully serviced (consisting of butlers), its ten rooms can host up to twenty people in whole luxury. In addition, there’s a spa, a massive pool, countless indoor-outdoor social regions – and those glorious trademark gardens that stand the Maçakizi out from the group. It additionally has its personal private jetty and waterfront scattered with loungers that take advantage of the idyllic setting. And if you can get enough buddies and family collectively to make the maximum of it, the $10,000 a nighttime rate tag starts offevolved to appearance very affordable.
