14 Best places to stay in Turquoise Coast

A unique and cultured hotel, with a wide range of rooms in different settings and styles, set on a hillside above one of Turkey’s most unspoilt country towns.

The heart of the hotel, with its lovely dining terrace overlooking the handsome 19th-century mansions of Sirince, is the 5-room inn while there are 7 country-style cottages scattered across the adjacent garden grounds.

A memorably characterful place, run by charming staff, in delightful surroundings in the hills above Ephesus.

It’s a delightful surprise to come across this wonderful oasis on the backstreets of bustling Bodrum, the simple white-washed rooms with brightly painted balconies arranged around a central swimming pool lined by high palm trees.

With its bar and shaded seating areas, it’s a thoroughly convivial set-up, where owner Zafer provides evening meals on request.

With the waterfront just a ten-minute stroll away, the Su offers a wonderfully relaxing base within easy reach of Bodrum’s bars, boutiques and other attractions.

At Kabak, where Turkey’s hippy vibe lives on, this verdant valley’s original forest camp remains the stand-out place to stay. Turan’s timber cabins are simple but lovingly decorated and rigorously maintained, with en-suites, mosquito nets and fresh flowers.

The main camp building offers outstanding home-grown food on Crusoe-style decks and lounging platforms, shaded by a huge rubber tree and a vine trellis. There’s yoga, massage and a spring-fed pool, wonderful woodland walks, and the beach is a five-minute walk away, along shaded paths. An idyllic back-to-nature retreat.

It’s also located on the Lycian Way – a good place to stop after a walk from Oludeniz.

This lavishly restored hotel, offering exceptional watersports facilities and a gorgeously appointed spa, occupies a pine-clad bluff above a protected bay on the idyllic Datca Peninsula.

The modern and airy design – stone, bare timber and floor-to-ceiling windows – extends to the rooms, some of which have private tubs on the balconies.

This is the place to come if you’re looking for a fly and flop – there’s a beach for every mood (some with shoreside cabanas), a world-class spa offering couples and parent and child treatments, and a huge range of watersports, from windsurfing to catamaran sailing.

Throw in half a dozen elegant restaurants and bars, and you have an outstanding contemporary resort. It’s remote and isolated, but that’s why you come here.

For no-frills beach perfection there is nowhere quite like the Arcadia, with its simple timber one- or two-room bungalows set amidst hammock-slung gardens at the back of Cirali’s famed sand beach.

The Arcadia, in keeping with Cirali’s delightfully low-key and low-impact vibe, is all about exceptional al fresco breakfasts, evening meals upon request, push bikes for exploring the local area, plus yoga and massage, all amidst orange trees and that lovely sand beach; the overall effect is more tropical south-east Asian than Turkish.

The region’s stand-out resort hotel, startlingly Moorish-modern in appearance, is set in its own bay on the Bodrum Peninsula’s southern shore. The facilities include an award-winning spa, extensive water sports and a restaurant for just about every mood.

The 150-plus rooms combine a plantation-style feel – muted colours, floor-to-ceiling windows, balconies – with a generous sense of space. There are good kids’ facilities too, including a dedicated children’s restaurant. And though the beaches are hardly exceptional, this is an excellent resort for those in need of serious pampering who also wish to be within reach of Bodrum’s city vibe.

This outstanding and hugely romantic boutique hotel occupies a series of terraces tumbling down verdant slopes to the Mediterranean, just around the bay from Kalkan’s picturesque old town.

There are no TVs but magnificent sea views to gawp at, and pure white interiors stamped with owner Ipek’s impeccable uncluttered style.

With its private seafront, beach club and wonderful waterside dining, the Mahal is as relaxing as it is romantic, but there are also plenty of activities on offer for those who want to get out and enjoy the pristine surrounds.

By dusk elegant tables have been laid across the Mahal’s beach-club terrace against a backdrop of Kalkan’s lights; it makes for one of the most enchanting dining spots in all Turkey.

An outstanding individual small hotel, set amid orange groves in a rare quiet corner of the Bodrum Peninsula’s hectic north shore. The hotel is cool but not swanky, with a uniquely convivial atmosphere thanks to the attentive stewardship of owners Ali and Esra.

The location is quiet, but still within easy reach of Bodrum and classical sites like Didyma. Whether it’s pool lounging you’re after, or a base for cultural forays further afield, the 4reasons effortlessly hosts young and old, couples and families alike. All this, and an excellent bistro too.

Legendary haunt of the global glitterati, Macakizi is the stand-out stay on the Bodrum Peninsula’s north shore, Turkey’s top summer playground. An elegant and stylish beach club/hotel – a bit blingy but a bit more boho – Macakizi is set among gardens scattered with terraced suites.

Along the shoreline, stylish decks are busy with attentive staff and thick with canopied cushioned areas and loungers. For high-class lazing there’s nowhere quite like it; and the food, especially the legendary breakfast spread, is exquisite.

Set amidst delightful walled gardens, this restored konak (mansion) – one-time home of an Ottoman lord – is about the only instance of a period building hotel anywhere on the Turkish Riviera.

A painstaking restoration – ceiling details carved in walnut, ancient wall frescoes – ensures that the mansion exudes period atmosphere but never at the expense of comfort.

A beautiful, and architecturally exceptional retreat, it also makes an outstanding base for exploring the largely undeveloped coves and classical ruins of the Datca Peninsula.

Flamboyant and friendly holiday hotel with an idyllic shoreside location a few minutes’ drive from Kas.

The hotel’s cocktail bar, restaurants, pool and gazebos are artfully arranged across terraces overlooking the sea; the hands-on and helpful owners have clearly lavished real care here, even if the boudoir styling may strike some as a touch frilly.

A great choice for sun and sea seekers, but also convenient for the wealth of outdoor activities available in nearby Kas.

Children under 12 not permitted.

With stand-out views over the vast beach at Oludeniz, the Beyaz Yunus achieves a perfect distance from, and proximity to, Turkey’s major resort.

This charming, adult-only mini-retreat, with an exceptionally attentive staff and owner-manager, offers bright and spacious plantation-style rooms, one with its own pool, with picture windows looking out over the sea.

There are lots of quiet corners, with shaded snoozing platforms and pool-side loungers. The Beyaz Yunus is so alluring that it can be a challenge to leave, though Oludeniz Beach is just a ten-minute walk away.

You’ll also be tempted by the area’s wealth of easy-to-reach attractions, not least Oludeniz’s famed lagoon, the ‘ghost village’ of Kaya, Fethiye’s wonderful fish market and waterfront, and some of the world’s best tandem paragliding from the peak of Babadag Mountain.

Faralya, a remote hamlet wrapped around the head of a sheer sea gorge, is the perfect setting for this romantic hideaway which will appeal especially to nature lovers and walkers.

The newly-built but traditionally-styled Villa Mango is a handsome country house, with enormous and meticulously appointed rooms, wonderful pool and dining terrace.

There are great poolside gardens, good food, and wonderful walking, but it’s also within easy reach of the famed beach at Oludeniz, the ghost village of Kaya and the bustling streets and gorgeous waterfront of nearby Fethiye. The hotel is perfectly located for starting to hike the Lycian Way, and its stand-out stretch.

It’s the base of lifelong Turkey hand Ghislain Sireilles, who has built a faithful clientele, especially of nature lovers and hikers. Ghislain knows the local paths, including the Lycian Way, as well as anybody and regularly leads walks.

This is a bolthole for those who want the stunning Turkish scenery without the crowds – but be aware, the road up to the village is something of a white-knuckle ride.

Occupying a postcard-perfect beachfront location in Fethiye’s beautiful Kalemya Bay, this is a classy holiday village that caters to every recreational and creative need. The property is backed by pine-clad hillsides where the 330 rooms are arranged.

The ‘full-board plus’ guests can gorge at a selection of restaurants, participate in a wide range of sporting and leisure activities, or laze on the hotel’s exquisite adult-only beaches.

With everything to hand, it’s unlikely to suit the culturally curious, but is nevertheless a winner of its kind.