MAÇAKIZI
Bodrum Peninsula, Turkey
Maçakızı is, in a word, hot. Its hip-hotel credentials have endured since its opening in the Seventies, when it established itself as a favorite summer escape for the super-chic. This glamorous ‘beach restaurant with rooms’ is made for a good time, with daybeds and a pavilion decked out with comfortable sofas scattered with Rıfat Özbek’s Yastik cushions. Maçakızı is the epitome of understated good taste across a myriad of chilling spaces, from the utterly serene palm-shaded pool to the lower level beach, a vibrant expanse of canopied decking that is the place to while away the day, going directly from sun lounger to sea as a DJ spins soft disco classics. Delicious cocktails are served by well-dressed waiters, relaxed lunches roll into mellow evenings, and you can always find the owner, Sahir Erozan, holding court at the bar chatting to his loyal customers. With a fabulous restaurant conceived by Turkey’s star chef, Aret Sahakyan, a gym, spa and Turkish bath to recover from the glut of indulgence, the chicest boutique and a yacht for rent, Maçakızı encapsulates the joyous spirit of a barefoot beach club at its best. Double, from £368 (macakizi.com)