How Turkey became the new Maldives
I’d expected many things from Bijal, Turkey’s newest, most exclusive luxury resort, but a late-evening choral singsong wasn’t one of them.
And yet, on my first night, as I strolled back from the palm-framed terrace at the tranquil Beach House restaurant, a cacophony of tweets, cheeps and chirrups rose up from the narrow waterway running parallel to the path.
Tree frogs and cicadas, late-night birds chattering to each other; a deluge of natural chatter that made me feel I was somewhere far more tropical than Turkey.
The feeling remained the following morning, wandering up to breakfast past elegantly manicured flower beds, filled with scarlet hibiscus, vivid-pink bottle brush and great tendrils of bougainvillaea, a trio of pine trees rising like sentries above the low-rise, art deco-style ClubHouse that forms the hub of the resort.
On the ClubHouse terrace, wide rattan sofas and high-sided basket chairs flanked tables set with white linen; beyond the soft hum of jazz and the occasional muted whir of a golf cart shuttling guests to and fro, everything was quiet. Blissfully, all-encompassingly quiet, as if I was squirrelled away on some island hideaway, rather than in a big Turkish resort town.
An island idyll is exactly the vibe the designers of Bijal were aiming for; a re-creation of the effortless, barefoot luxury that defines its Indian Ocean siblings, Joali Maldives and Joali Being – without the sky-high price tag (a stay at Joali starts from around ￡1,300, almost double the nightly rate of Bijal).
With just 19 villas, served by three restaurants, two bars and a troupe of quietly charming butlers, on hand 24/7 to cater for any and every whim, this is a world away from the 500-room resorts that Side is known for, and more than a match in terms of service (and price) for the big-hitters down in Bodrum, including the Aman, Six Senses and Mandarin Oriental.
Bijal isn’t the first hotel in Turkey to channel a Maldivian vibe, although up to now it’s usually been aspects of a resort – a style of accommodation or a beach with a Maldivian feel – rather than the overall.
Bodrum’s Lujo resort boasts sand brought in from the Indian Ocean and a spectacular “Lotus Pier”, with over-water cabanas flanking the stem and a bar and lounge spread across the flower head.
In golf-focused Belek, the Granada Luxury resort has a collection of over-water Maldivian-style villas – although in this case, the water is a swimming pool, rather than the sea. And I’ve always loved the Perdue, in Faralya, with its thatched-roof suites and hidden-away feel, although it does lack a proper beach.
More than anything, it’s Bijal’s size that sets it apart, setting a new bar for boutique luxury. Many guests stay in their villa for the entirety of their holiday, meaning the tranquillity that enveloped me on my first morning was unbroken throughout my stay.
Whether snoozing by a cabana on the private stretch of beach, or back at the villa with its luminescent, aquamarine pool, outdoor bath and private walled garden, there was barely a whisper to disturb me.
The hotel’s signature colour, butter-yellow, runs through everything from room keys to bicycles, beach bags and robes and even the sheets (making climbing into bed rather like disappearing into a puffed-up, super-fluffy egg). I took part in a ceramics workshop, became embroiled in a super-competitive table tennis championship and, of course, spent plenty of time on the beach, revelling in that rare sense of being genuinely cocooned from the outside world.
I also ventured beyond Bijal’s rarefied atmosphere, opting for a two-hour guided tour of Side – part ancient city, part waterfront tourist attraction, just a few minutes’ drive from Bijal (which you wouldn’t get in the Maldives).
To my surprise, there was no entrance fee to the ruins; the triumphal arches, colonnaded streets and vast amphitheatre free to explore, with the remains of millennia-old dwellings scattered between the restored Ottoman houses that cluster together on the headland, the spectacular Temple of Apollo towering above them all.
The town is entirely focused on tourism now; shop windows decked out with jewel-hued handbags, restaurant tables full, the main street packed with holidaymakers who had come by bus or taxi from the surrounding resorts.
Bijal was just close enough for me to walk back; a half-hour stroll along the sand just as the sun was beginning to set, backlighting the Temple’s four white-marble columns with a burnished-gold light.
I promised myself I’d go back down for dinner one evening, but evenings at Bijal were too tempting to miss; ice-cold beers at the ClubHouse, Turkish meze – rich with olive oil and unctuous yoghurt – and freshly caught sea bass at the BeachHouse, watching the sky fade from blue to lavender to a deep, starlit mauve, palm trees silhouetted in the half-light.
Perhaps surprisingly, the most memorable meal was an extraordinary sushi platter, arranged like a still-life portrait, slivers of salmon, eel, shrimp and crab encased in the lightest rice imaginable. But then perhaps it shouldn’t have been surprising; I was in the new Maldives after all, just a whole lot closer to home.
BIjal offers one-bedroom villas from ￡767, B&B. Easyjet flies from Gatwick to Antalya from ￡74.
