September 11, 2007

Europe | Turkey | Bodrum

Bathing Beauty

By Nicole Cotroneo

Sample Swiss service on the Aegean Sea.

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With the world’s first underwater art exhibit and a museum dedicated to all things ravaged — and preserved — by the sea, Bodrum is a Turkish resort town that takes its coastal locale seriously. Overlooking a bay where the Aegean meets the Mediterranean, Bodrum was dubbed “the land of eternal blue” by Homer. Today, Turkey’s cognoscenti flock here for sun, society and sin — and the culture-curious come to see the remains of one of the seven ancient wonders of the world (a mausoleum, the bulk of which was carted off by the British).

Now there’s another “world-class” reason for the jetset to stop here: the recently opened Movenpick Bodrum, the second Turkish property by the luxury Swiss brand and a new member of the Great Hotels of the World. From its hilltop vantage, Movenpick’s guests can take in panoramas of the harbor from their private balconies, or they can skip the foreplay and get right on the water by chartering the hotel’s exclusive sailing yacht. Banyan Tree also has its eye on Bodrum — it just announced plans for the area’s first all-villa resort with private plunge pools. Well, we suppose there’s someone out there who finds pool water more alluring than the Med.