Bodrum

On the southern shores of a broad peninsula that stretches along two crescent-shape bays, Bodrum has for years been the favorite haunt of the Turkish upper classes. Today, thousands of foreign visitors come here, too. The town is throbbing with cafés, restaurants, and discos. Bodrum is decidedly not the quaint village it once was, but it’s still beautiful, with gleaming whitewashed buildings covered in bougainvillea and unfettered vistas of sparkling bays. Each October, it hosts the Bodrum Cup, a five-day international yacht regatta.