Revel in expansive vistas and laid-back luxury at the Macakizi hotel in Turkey

Some 800 miles from the epicentre of Turkey’s recent catastrophic earthquakes, the timeless beauty of the Bodrum countryside remains undisturbed. Stone-domed, 16th-century cisterns and 18th-century windmills crown the buxom hills, and white-washed villages are scattered across the pine-clad slopes. As my husband Charlie and I made our way from the airport along a route that twisted through narrow village streets, our car braking for sleepy cats and foolhardy goats, the sea seemed to burst into view at every turn, until eventually we reached a bay where tall-masted sailing ships jostled with sleek yachts and working fishing boats. 

After leaving grey and drizzly Britain, our arrival at the Macakizi hotel (pronounced ‘magic-easy’) felt like swapping the school canteen for the Ritz. It was not difficult to see why supermodels, rock stars, international royalty and discreet billionaires have long made this a favourite refuge. Ahmet Ertegun, the founder of Atlantic Records, used to stay here with Mick Jagger, Chuck Berry, and Bette Midler. Nowadays, Kate Moss, and Naomi Campbell love the place so much that they rarely miss a season.

With views across the turquoise waters of the Aegean Sea, Macakizi sits at the northern end of the Bodrum Peninsula, just along the rugged coast from the small, buzzy village of Turkbuku, with its seaside restaurants serving freshly caught fish. The hotel, whose name means ‘the Queen of Spades’, a symbol of intelligence and beauty, was founded in 1977 by the entrepreneur Ayla Emiroglu. Her son Sahir Erozan, who now runs the business, is here, there and everywhere, his approach heralded by the unmistakeable scent of a lit cigar, ready to lavish care and attention on his guests.

The hotel’s 74 rooms and suites are laid out over hillside terraces that are filled with pepper plants, tangerine bushes, delicate blue plumbago flowers, and century-old olive-trees. They come furnished with brilliantly coloured fabrics, hand-painted ceramics, and works by contemporary Turkish artists, each selected personally by Erozan. From the huge window in the sanctuary of our airy room on the uppermost terrace, we faced the stunning panorama of the bay below. The path from our suite descended to what was known as ‘the Beach’—a sweeping wooden walkway set over a sheltered expanse of the sea. I marvelled at the view before us: a seascape punctuated by tiny, vegetation-thick islets, which has not changed since the pirate-driven traffic of the Bronze Age criss-crossed these waters 4,000 years ago. 

Climbing back up the hill, I found the hotel’s Nuxe Spa tucked among the trees, offering an array of indulgent treatments. After a luxurious deep-tissue massage, I opted for an invigorating body-scrub in the slick black and white marble hammam: nothing could be more restorative than a traditional Turkish bath. Nearby, the restaurant forms part of a vast, glass-walled space, with sumptuous coffee-table books in the lounge areas and a long wooden cocktail bar. One night, when we sat for dinner, we were treated to plump squid cooked in its own ink, a favourite of the chef Aret Sahakyan, while the organic celeriac purée, made using ingredients from the hotel’s plentiful plots and accented with a hint of local orange juice, confirmed what vegetables should really taste like. 

After a couple of days of this reviving luxury, we were in the mood for a little sightseeing. Half an hour away by road, the city of Bodrum offers its visitors an ideal mix of history, culture and retail temptation. Once known as Halicarnassus, the city to which Alexander the Great laid siege in 344 BC, Bodrum was the site of a magnificent mausoleum (sadly destroyed by an earthquake about 1,000 years ago) classed among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The busy harbour, home to a shipping and boat-building industry that dates back three millennia, is dominated by the 15th-century St Peter’s Castle, constructed by Crusader knights. It now houses a museum with full-size replicas of ancient shipwrecks, an astonishing cargo of glass recovered from hundreds of fathoms below the sea, and hoards of gold and silver. In the alleyways near the castle, we explored cavernous shops crammed with three of this country’s most desirable life-enhancers: slippers, carpets, and, of course, Turkish delight. 

Another of the attractions of the hotel’s location is it can be used as a jumping-off point for Greek-island hopping, should you happen to be travelling by boat. Fortunately for the rest of us, Macakizi has its own chic, white-upholstered speedboat, which we used to take an exhilarating ride across the bay to check out the hotel’s private villa. This is the ultimate cross-generational party house on Paradise Bay, accessible only via a jetty from the water and with staff outnumbering guests by three to one. Here, residents become the sole beneficiaries of a huge infinity pool on which sunshine dances like strobe lighting, a seductively scented spa and a master vintner’s wine cellar. The villa’s chefs are available to fulfil your gastronomic desires and there is even a tiny pastry kitchen devoted exclusively to producing mouth-watering baklava. After five days of dreamy Turkish hospitality, and with our suitcases packed full of treasures, we reluctantly turned our backs on the glamour of Macakizi, the glint of its superstar glitter shimmering in our minds long after our return to rainy everyday life.

This piece originally appeared in the July/August print edition of Harper's Bazaar UK