The Gold List 2021
Everything classic
Everything exceptional
Everything to dream about
MACAKIZI
BODRUM, TURKEY
In the 1970s Mick Jagger, Rudolf Nureyev and their pals flocked to the sleepy fishing village of Türkbükü on the west coast of Turkey, lured by a boho B&B run by flamboyant host Ayla Emiroğlu. Thirty years later, her son Sahir Erozan had loftier visions, transforming the modest guesthouse into Maçakizi – 74 rooms spread across four bougainvillaea-bright terraces on a sweeping site overlooking a beryl-blue bay. Today the whitewashed hangout is a magnet for Istanbul’s soigné night-owls and well-heeled Euros – you can see why the buzzing peninsula is often labelled the St Tropez of Turkey. Breakfast (pillow-soft sesame pide slathered with honeycomb) is taken late. By midday, rows of beach beds are strewn with Hermés sarongs and everyone seems to know each other. Stealth yachts and teak sailboats anchor for the night so their inhabitants can come ashore to feast on chef Aret Sahakyan’s deft cooking: creamy calamari carbonara and delicate lamb manti (dumplings). It could be just another frou-frou designer resort. Yet Maçakizi is unlike anywhere else, because it has identity, personality and a twinkle in its eye. This is all to do with the wonderfully charismatic Erozan, who flits between his many friends (Kate Moss is a regular), Cohiba clenched between his teeth, vodka on the rocks clinking. The white and taupe bedrooms are lovely but most of the action takes place outside: the beach deck, the breezy restaurant, the waterside bar for Bellinis. It has all the signatures you would expect from a cool independent hotel: a boutique stocking local designers (the Mae Zae bashed-gold earrings are hard to resist), a Bodyism gym and its own wonderful boat, Halas 71, a converted 1914 steam liner. Yet more than that, Maçakızı is simply a club you want to be part of. Doubles from about £425; macakizi.com