The flashy Turkish resort with buzzy beach clubs loved by the in-crowd

I’m drinking raki — the perilously strong Turkish spirit — with the celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. He is showing me pictures on his iPhone of the celebrities he saw at this year’s Oscars, an event that he has catered for the past 30 years. They’re not just celebrity fan snaps. Puck knows all the A-listers personally because they’re regulars at his Los Angeles restaurant Spago, the most star-studded spot in town. There’s a picture of him with the singer Ariana Grande, another with the actor Robert Downey Jr and the Oscar winner Emma Stone. “I used to make Kim Kardashian Mickey Mouse-shaped pizzas when she was little,” he tells me, before ordering another round.

In any other setting this would be a surreal occasion. But we’re in Bodrum, the ultra-luxe seaside town on the Turkish riviera, where Puck has just opened his newest Spago location (mains from £30; wolfgangpuck.com). Over here this is just a normal dinner party chat.

Bodrum has been Turkey’s epicentre of glamorous beach life for decades. What was, 50 years ago, just a few pretty villas and seaside huts has transformed into a small city of beach clubs and flashy restaurants, popular among cigar-puffing millionaires, glitzy celebrities and well-groomed Europeans with a lot of money to spend along its eternally blue shoreline. Since then everyone from Bill Gates to Pamela Anderson has visited. Bodrum is where Prince Harry and Meghan escaped to for their last holiday before their wedding, spending a week in a private villa overlooking Yalikavak Bay, where the footballer-favourite restaurants Zuma and Novikov are striking features on the waterfront. Also in Yalikavak Bay, the five-star Bodrum Edition hotel has hosted guests from Pixie Lott to Lindsay Lohan (B&B doubles from £531; editionhotels.com). Famously, when Kate Moss checked out of the LifeCo detox retreat in Bodrum, she checked straight into Macakizi, a boho-chic hotel in Golturkbuku with a reputation for throwing hedonistic parties, and where Mick Jagger, Naomi Campbell and the like have stayed (room-only doubles from £465; macakizi.com).

This year the latest “guest” to arrive to the party is the Maxx Royal Bodrum, a luxury hotel with 282 villas and suites (they don’t do “rooms”). On Bodrum’s northern shores, Maxx Royal has taken over not only the cove but also the valley behind it. It has seven restaurants, an ice-cream parlour and chocolatier, half a dozen bars, six pools and a nightclub (B&B doubles from £1,065; maxxroyal.com). One of those restaurants is Puck’s Spago.

“Bodrum is meant to be the new Mykonos,” my friend Olivia tells me on our flight to Turkey. On arrival it feels more like Dubai. As we snake down the driveway towards the Maxx Royal lobby we spot at least a dozen red supercars parked up. I spy several Ferraris before I am distracted by a helicopter — Maxx’s own, and used by guests who’d prefer to fly from the airport rather than make the 45-minute drive. There is nothing discreet about the level of luxury here.

That’s not to say that Maxx doesn’t feel calming or cool. After check-in (the reception area is in a vast wooden pergola with a glass balcony and a ginormous floor-to-ceiling plasma screen showing crashing waves), we are driven to our suite by golf buggy (the transport of choice at Maxx, it’s that big). It’s a beautiful space with a turquoise tiled bathroom, separate living room, two shower rooms and a spectacular balcony view of the Aegean. All the suites are arranged along little outdoor pathways that feel like streets in a glitzy gated community.

The most genius thing about Maxx Royal is that each guest is assigned their own personal Maxx Assistant — essentially a butler who you can message via the resort’s app to arrange a buggy, make a dinner reservation or book a massage at the spa. No more dialling 0 for reception.

All of which is handy because you are never short of things to do. There’s a cathedral to wellness, with a high-tech gym and spa hidden in a jungle of palms, where I have the best deep tissue massage of my life: 75 minutes of pummelling that makes me feel several inches taller (treatments from £85). We hire the hotel boat for a two-hour trip and swim in a part of the Aegean that has aptly been dubbed Billionaires’ Bay, where dozens of superyachts moor (a day’s motor boat hire is from £275pp). I remember how Puck told me he’d been coming to Bodrum for decades; he’s friends with the second-richest family in Turkey and his youngest son’s favourite thing to do is jet-ski and go on his friend’s yacht. (Everyone in Bodrum has a boat.)

Our favourite spot quickly becomes the Maxx Royal jetty, with its neat lines of comfy loungers just a few steps from the azure waters — and, crucially, its jetty bar, serving generous Aperol spritzes (cocktails from £11). Guests can also dine at Spago, at the Parisian-inspired Caviar Kaspia (mains from £40; caviarkaspialondon.com) and at the Maine, which opens in mid-June — a restaurant influenced by old-school American glamour, it has sites in Mayfair, Dubai and Ibiza, and was founded by the nightlife kingpin Joey Ghazal (prices not yet available; themainebodrum.com).  

However, during my visit the place everyone is talking about is Scorpios, which opens on the outskirts of Maxx Royal in June, after my visit. To call Scorpios a “beach club” doesn’t really do it justice. It’s more of a beach “experience”: think wafting linen, bamboo cabanas, booming house music, world-famous DJs, ridiculously sexy staff dressed in black and a door code so strict it’d be easier to walk into Glastonbury without a ticket. The aesthetic is Burning Man festival meets Soho House. Scorpios first opened in 2015 in Mykonos (I visited in my early twenties) and Bodrum will be only the second Scorpios, so the hype is high.

The Scorpios at Maxx Royal will have a capacity of 4,000 and will include 12 bungalows with private pools — for guests who don’t make it home — since it’ll be open 24/7 (B&B bungalows from £1,267; scorpios.com). Despite being at the furthest edge of the hotel site, far from Maxx’s suites, one member of staff tells me they expect it to be so popular that queues will back up all the way to reception.

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So, is Bodrum the new Mykonos? I consult Sahir Erozan, owner of the Macakizi beach club and a veteran of the party scene here. When we arrive just before lunch — a buffet of Turkish salads and kebabs — the club’s sleek white deck is lined with dozens of well-oiled men and beautiful women (mains from £46;macakizi.com).

Erozan doesn’t go to Mykonos any more. It’s got too expensive, he says. I raise my eyebrows. Bodrum isn’t much cheaper. He concedes that Bodrum is getting more flashy by the season too. “In Bodrum everyone is trying to outsize each other,” he says. “The hotels are getting bigger and bigger.” His boutique hotel, Macakizi, seems tiny in comparison, though nobody has quite managed to match its buzz, beauty and barefoot luxury.

Every hidden cove and inch of Bodrum’s coastline is being built on. Just around the corner from Maxx Royal we see a huge digger perched on a hill: the new Bulgari Hotel, where construction has started.

The party is far from being over. It’s only just begun. Hannah Evans was a guest of Maxx Royal Bodrum Resort (maxxroyal.com) and British Airways Holidays, which has seven nights’ B&B from £4,099pp, including flights (britishairways.com)

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Day trips from Bodrum

1. Karnas Vineyards

This family-owned boutique winery and farm is tucked among the Aegean hills, a 40-minute drive north of Bodrum. Winemaking in this region can be traced back more than 7,000 years to the Hittites, and the award-winning wines at Karnas are produced using traditional methods. Sign up for a tour to taste wines made using the syrah and cabernet franc grapes grown here before dining at the farm-to-fork restaurant (four-course menu with wine pairings, £92pp; karnasvineyards.com).

2. Ruined amphitheatre at Halicarnassus

As a break from the jet skis and raki, immerse yourself in Bodrum’s ancient history. In the 4th century BC the Greeks built the Halicarnassus amphitheatre. The nearby mausoleum was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The amphitheatre is still used today to host cultural events. When the Romans arrived in the city in the 2nd century AD, they expanded it to become the stone theatre you see today. Climb to the top of the seating area, which once housed 10,000 spectators, for a beautiful panoramic view of Bodrum peninsula (bodrum.goturkiye.com).

3. Pamukkale natural thermal waters

Swap the salty, blue Aegean sea for the natural mineral baths at Pamukkale, a 3.5-hour drive from Bodrum. One of Turkey’s most extraordinary landscapes and a Unesco world heritage site, its pools have been used as a spa since the 2nd century BC. Your entry ticket allows you to swim in the warm thermal waters among Roman ruins. Tour operators offer packages to Pamukkale, including transport and lunch (from £30pp; viator.com).

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