MARCH 2021
A Touch of St Tropez in the Aegean
Already the riviera of choice for the jet set, the Turquoise Coast is about to get even better, says Laura Fowler.
On the waterside deck at Bodrum’s Macakizi Hotel last summer, you wouldn’t have guessed that there was a pandemic raging. Every socially distanced daybed and cabana was occupied, bodies sun-tanning like it was the 1980s: music, sunshine, happy hubbub. Only the masked waiters flitting between them were a sign that this place had not escaped the crisis entirely.
For most of the world, the past year has been disastrous for travel. Not so in Turkey, whose Turquoise Coast became the Mediterranean riviera of choice in 2020, for all those travelers who would usually seek sunshine on Balearic beaches, Spanish costas and French promenades. As the borders of other holiday destinations flapped open and closed in the winds of the pandemic, Turkey’s coast with its low infection rates remained steadfastly open for Warless in an extended season that kept the party going until October.
“The crowd who would usually be in St Tropez and Ibiza were coming here instead,” says Sahir Erozan, owner of the Macakizi, Bodrum’s glamorous bolt-hole where the blessed and beautiful – Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Poppy Delevingne – go to party. “Once people returned in July, we were busier than ever. Every room was full.” And this year the Turquoise Coast’s newfound status as Mediterranean summer scenester is set to strengthen. Turkey’s tourism minister, Mehmet Ersoy, has said that the country would not require vaccination passports from international travelers – which mean, it may be possible to go there as soon as the UK ban on non-essential travel is lifted as early as May 17.
“Not to jinx it, but it’s looking good,” says Erozan. “We have a lot of demand.” He puts this down to the clients they gained last year spreading the word about what the Macakizi and this coast of the gods, whose temples still remain along its shores, has to offer. Despite the uncertainty that lies ahead, his cautious optimism is understandable, by last autumn his hotel had exceeded its targets and had 80 per cent new business -a mix of first-time holidaymakers and digital nomads on extended workations, tapping away on laptops in the buzzing open-air lounge, beside Russian oligarchs and models sipping muddy Turkish coffee. “It was like WeWork here some days,” he says. “One couple from London stayed from June until October.”
It was the same story throughout the region. Once business picked up midsummer, the peninsula’s hotels extended their seasons and had record autumn bookings. Nearby Amanruya also had a strong season and even improved on the previous summer, with guests seeking out stand-alone pavilions with private pools for space to themselves. The Mandarin Oriental Bodrum reported arise in extended stars and guests arriving by private jet, with families requesting more spacious suites and villas. The party-hearty, Bodrum EDITION was effusively upbeat. “We were able to exceed our own expectations of the summer beyond our wildest dreams,” says Marc Matar, the hotel’s general manager, who describes how they revamped their beach club and upped their al fresco offerings in terms of wellness and activities and socially distanced outdoor dining, making the place “very attractive to those craving escape from busy congested cities and grim pandemic reality”.
Joining the peninsula’s luxury offering this summer is Bodrum Loft, on the coast near the fishing village of Torba. The 36-villa resort has all the space and privacy of a villa holiday, but with the added advantages of a hotel – from the landscaped gardens, pools and beach club, the smart restaurants and spa, right down to room service. It’s perfect for big friends/family get-togethers.
The Macakizi crew have tapped into this desire for exclusive takeovers too. On April 15 it will open its 10-suite Macakizi Villa, a vast party pad which floats above clouds of bougainvillea in Paradise Bay and comes with its quill spa, gym, private beach deck and cabanas, plus Michelin-star-winning chef, Carlo Bernardini, who can also teach guests how to cook his Aegean-style dishes with an Italian twist.
The new opening comes alongside the brand’s other recent launch, for a stylish bubble holiday at sea: the Macakizi Halas 71. Its long, low form and black funnel cuts an unusual silhouette among the gulets and Mangustas and increasingly super superyachts anchoring along the coast.
A former passenger ferry from Istanbul, it was made in Glasgow in 1914 and used in the First World War by British troops before it made its way to Gallipoli: then, in the 1980s, restored and turned into a boutique hotel on the water, hosting Prince Charles and Princess Margaret in its mahogany-paneled cabins. Last year it was spruced up and rebranded.
It is the ultimate multi-gen Blue Voyager: slow and steady, with deep-pile carpets for grandpa, canoes for the kids. 12 en suite cabins, a sauna and a deck big enough to hold a party for 150. The hotel has added its signature touches: east-west beats, decks and sound system; a champagne bar on deck, a cognac bar below. What a joy to rediscover travelling, face-mask free! Watching the pine-forested coast slide by, past ancient . ruins and sleepy fishing villages, hopping to shore for lazy taverna lunches. No wonder nobody wants to leave this corner of heaven. “We are not going to be free of Covid this summer either,” says the Macakizi’s Erozan, “but people felt safe and comfortable here – it’s all open air and outdoor living – and I think that will be important in deciding where to travel.”
The Turquoise Coast may have become last summer’s riviera of choice by default, but now that so many have tasted the fruits of Turkey’s land and sea, they seem bound to return this year, after a winter of uncertainty, to embrace its light and heat once more.