Bördübet Hotel, Datça Peninsula
Waterside Paradise. Doubles from £120 H/B.
This remote and lovely creek-side hotel is set in a grassy glade of pines, palms and waterside oleanders two hundred metres from the most pristine stretch of coast in Turkey; from the banks of the creek boats run a regular ten-minute shuttle service to the hotel’s private beach club and spa.
With kayaks and bikes, hammocks and shaded lounging platforms, and a profusion of wildlife including fish, turtles, kingfishers, geese, swans and coots, the Bördübet can feel like an Aegean take on Swallows and Amazons; at other times there’s something of the bayou bolthole about it while evening buffets at candle-lit trestle tables add a communal camping vibe to a mix which apparently has universal appeal; here are honeymooners, young families, groups of professional friends and retirees, both Turkish and international, hell bent on unwinding.
The Bördübet occupies an abandoned fish farm, an eccentric starting point, but one which explains why the planners ever allowed the hotel to proceed. Rest assured that the former outbuildings and trout ponds have been incorporated into a likeable conversion featuring timber bridges and waterside dining terraces and bar. Many of the 40 rooms, in airy plantation style, have generous river balconies or look out over the swimming pool.
The hotel is efficiently run and comes with imaginative comforts; the restaurant at the beach club is rigged to dispense welcome wafts of cooling misted water while the beach-side loungers are furnished with enormous cushions and there are backgammon sets to hand. The mosquito-maddened will wish to know that the hotel grounds are sprayed daily with insecticide, a procedure which not only appeared to work but was performed so discreetly that we never noticed the chemicals. This is a wonderful half-board hideaway, with rooms ranging from ordinary doubles to family houses, but it’s not ideal for those intent on seeing more of Turkey during their stay.
MENTION SOMEWHEREWONDERFUL!