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Swaths of this coveted coast have long been dominated by large, identical resorts inhabited by European package tourists often more interested in the beaches than the country. The fancier resorts range from the eccentrically over-the-top (revolving bedrooms, hotels shaped like the Kremlin and Topkapi Palace, etc.) to the tranquilly luxurious. The best have excellent facilities, and you can often find good deals if you want to add a few relaxing sun-and-sand days to your itinerary. There’s also a tradition of simple family-run pansiyons; though basic in terms of amenities, these can provide a more personal experience, better value, and a pleasant refuge from mass tourism. In recent years, a number of stylish smaller hotels have also appeared. These century-old houses have been restored and converted into high-caliber boutique hotels that offer the ultimate in character and charm. Most are found in Antalya’s Kaleiçi neighborhood, where they come in a variety of sizes and prices; there are also several in Eski Datça and Alanya as well as farther east.
This modern, all-inclusive hotel—part of a luxury Turkish resort chain and one of a large cluster of hotels on the public beach just west of central Side—offers a wide range of activities, from beach volleyball to aqua gym at its large pool set among its superbly maintained grounds. There are multiple on-site restaurants and bars, as well as a patisserie. Rooms are spacious and comfortable if a little unspectacular by comparison.
This centrally located hotel has a gorgeous private beach and the comfort and excellent service you'd expect from a luxury resort. Some rooms have walk-out access to the pool across the lawn—few, however, have a real sea view or much of any view for that matter. The hotel's main selling point is its private, manicured beach, a five-minute ride on one of the golf carts or bicycles available at the main building. Note that the hotel allows non-hotel guests to access the beach for a fee during quieter periods.
Part of the Ece Marina complex, this upscale option has a lovely harbor-front location, so all of its large, tasteful rooms, with their Ottoman-inspired decorative accents, have full sea views. The pool, fitness center, and health spa are impressive, too. The plaster-stone façade has crumbled in places, but otherwise the hotel is a solid choice.
This space-age, boxy, all-white mother ship of a design hotel on Konyaaltı Beach is popular with the weekend crowd from Istanbul. Everything is well designed and run to exacting standards, though the nightclub aesthetic won't be to everyone's taste—think huge disco balls hanging from the soaring lobby ceiling, and minimalist, all-white rooms with large mirrors.
The first hotel to set up shop (in 1973) on the famed Ölüdeniz lagoon has a delightful location on a steep incline amid terraced gardens overlooking one of Turkey's most beautiful bays. Public spaces, including a pretty pool area, are the main draw, and the lagoon beach is just across the road from the main hotel. Although most have large balconies with superb sea views, rooms are smaller and more down-at-the-heel than you'd expect based for the price, and reaching many of them involves riding a rickety funicular lift or climbing lots of stairs.
Charming, friendly, and brimming with old-world character, this hotel has larger-than-usual lodgings and a good location in the old town, with many high-ceilinged rooms located in a 250-year-old mansion. Paintings by the owner are prominently displayed throughout, giving the whole place a heartwarming guesthouse feel. The property also includes a large central courtyard with orange trees, tables, and a small pool. Be sure to ask for a room in the historic building—the modern building doesn't have nearly as much personality and charm.
This boutique hotel is as good a reason as any to stop in Tarsus: it occupies a three-story restored mansion and has buckets of character (wooden floors, Turkish carpets, and antique-style furnishings). The well-sized rooms are attractively done up, each with its own personality, and the whole place has a homey feel. There's a leafy courtyard, as well as an on-site restaurant and café.
The first thing you notice here is the art, acquired by the owner on his off-season trips to Asia and South America: 250 pieces fill the lobby, expand up the stairs, and flow into the rooms, setting the tone for this stylish boutique hotel. Guest rooms are tastefully furnished, as are the bathrooms with their large cabinet showers.
This modest, family-run hotel is in a shady garden on the banks of the Dalyan River, with breathtaking views of the ancient Kaunosian rock tombs from the large and comfortable riverside terrace, where you can enjoy a traditional buffet breakfast in absolute tranquility. The rather cloistered rooms are simply decorated in wood and terra-cotta-style tiles with white stucco. You can swim in the river off a small jetty in front of a splendid row of cypress trees or wait for a boat to pick you up and take you to the nearby beach.
Clinging to a cliff face with a wraparound view of Kalkan Bay, this immaculate establishment is one of Turkey's greatest hotels, with a gorgeous pool that juts out into the air, a beach club at the bottom of the cliff, and a hotel boat that will take you five minutes across the bay to Kalkan Harbor for an evening in town. Try the Sunset Suite with its spacious layout and blue mosaic hot tub. Be ready, however, for the 181 steps from top to bottom—if you don't want to walk, the hotel has golf-cart service around the property and to its beach. And be aware that the long balcony in front of the picture windows of the standard double rooms also serves as a public walkway. Four three-bedroom villas above the beach club are also available for rent, and excursions can be arranged on the hotel's private yacht.
A lovingly restored mansion with a gorgeous shady terrace and an unbeatable view offers some beautiful, refined rooms. The rooms vary widely in both size and views, but all are beautifully decorated, and one impressive suite has its own large terrace. There's a small pool and a lush garden where some of the food used in the delicious breakfasts is grown. The owners also have a separate two-story villa nearby that can rented by a family or small group.
A stay in this restored mansion offers the unique chance to experience the lifestyle and surroundings of a 19th-century Ottoman country noble, in an idyllic rural setting. The owners have re-created five rooms in the main mansion that are works of art in themselves, fitting modern bathrooms behind the original woodwork, restoring old wall paintings, and choosing fine antiques to match. The rest of the rooms, in three modern stone buildings around a lovely garden, are large but more standard. The details are faultless, right down to the use of nearly 1 million custom-made iron nails. Reserve at least one month in advance for July and August stays.
Two Ottoman homes just above the Red Tower have been transformed into this boutique hotel, which retains many original architectural elements, such as stone walls and wood-beamed ceilings. The cozy rooms have a traditional aesthetic, and those in the upper building are a bit airier and lighter, with more minimalistic decor. The stone basement (once a barn) makes for a pleasantly cool breakfast room. There's also a café-restaurant in the pretty front garden, bedecked with grape vines, fruit trees, and bougainvillea.
The first boutique hotel in town, located in a restored 1920s mansion, is showing its age a bit but is still an attractive blend of the traditional and the modern. Tasteful guest rooms have reproduction antique furniture, traditional floor tiles, and modern bathrooms. Top-floor rooms are a modern addition and have less character. The restaurant is in a pleasant courtyard, which has a retractable roof to accommodate the weather. Downstairs by the lobby, a bar often features live music.
This relaxed, friendly pansiyon is across from the water, about halfway along the beach road, and has a rather New Age vibe. The wooden cabins, each with a little porch, sit beside a central garden filled with fruit trees and medicinal plants. It's run by Istanbul escapees, Engin (who fills the hotel with his photography) and Pinar (who sometimes teaches the morning yoga classes). The food, incorporating products from the garden, is excellent, and vegetarian options are always available. Guests can access a swath of beach with deck chairs and umbrellas.
Perched on a terrace just down from the main road, this stupendously beautiful, family-run place has a smattering of cozy cabins set among the trees with paired back furnishings and private porches that overlook the valley and sea. Two deluxe rooms have in-room whirlpool tubs with sea views. When you're not in the mood to walk down to the beach, you can relax by the pool on the main terrace. The food is excellent (most ingredients come from the hotel's own garden), and the three-course dinner is reason alone to stay.
By far Çıralı's most luxurious (and expensive) option is on the beach right by the entrance to the Olympos archaeological site and surrounded by lush gardens. The attractive rooms have their own balconies, terraces, or verandas, and the hotel also offers guests a spa facility.
A delightful and stylish addition to the Datça lodging scene, this recently renovated boutique hotel has its own postcard-worthy dock with lounge chairs, a small Blue Flag beach with gorgeous views, and a midsize pool; its bright, stylish rooms are spread out among a few buildings, including stone towers inspired by local windmills, with round beds inside. Saunter from one of the best breakfasts in town down to the dock and its uninterrupted view of Greece and the uncrowded beach below. Inside, decor is modern, Mediterranean, and tastefully understated.
Nestled among olive trees just off the beach, this elegant boutique hotel is a happy misfit in package-tourist-dominated Ölüdeniz. The owner, an interior designer, commissioned vintage-style buildings of Cappadocian stone and has created an old-world feeling inside with recycled wood floors and French windows. Although the hotel is right on a seafront walkway, most rooms do not have sea views but instead face a leafy courtyard and pool.
This popular, eco-minded stopover for Lycian Way trekkers and artsy types is on a lagoon with a private beach between Phaselis and the less attractive resort town of Tekirova. The owners zealously guard the property's alternative atmosphere, so there are no direction signs on the highway. You shouldn’t expect luxury, but the bungalows are comfortable and the vegetarian food quite decent. Camping and caravan sites can also be rented. Horseback riding is available, and the Lycian Way passes through the area; a hilly day's hiking west will take you to Çıralı.
All rooms have a sea view at this pretty hotel overlooking the Greek islands of Symi and Rhodes. Guest rooms are attractive, with splashes of bold color. A five-minute walk down a steep path leads to Villa Aşina's pebbly beach cove; there's also a small but nice outdoor pool. The owner is passionate about the peninsula and can provide lots of information.
A swank option by the Fethiye marina, this design-forward boutique hotel decks its large rooms out in a soothing palette with light wood and wicker accents and equips them with soft linens, big flatscreen TVs, Nespresso makers, sconce lighting, and smart-home controls. A lavish breakfast buffet (including sparkling wine and caviar) is served at the poolside bar-restaurant. If you really want to splash out, the penthouse suites each have two Jacuzzis–one in-room and one on a private terrace.
This cozy, central option just back from the Göcek waterfront offers simple, well-kept accommodations in a modern two-story house with a large front patio that serves as a café-restaurant. Rooms are small but clean and comfortable, and the service is warm and helpful; a reading nook by reception adds to the homey feel.
This well-run, midsize hotel isn't quite boutique, but it does a nice job of filling the gap between the city's two- and five-star accommodations. It has relatively large and tastefully decorated modern rooms and spacious bathrooms complete with tubs. Geared towards business travelers, it's in the north part of Adana, near trendy restaurants and cafés but only a 15-minute walk from the center.
This hotel—a cluster of restored mansions with a contemporary aesthetic—strikes a great balance between atmosphere and comfort, with tasteful rooms set around two shaded courtyards. One courtyard houses a restaurant, bar, and tiny pool; both feature original wooden columns and various pieces of carved Greek and Roman capitals. Rooms vary considerably in size and quality, but the decor offers a modern twist on classic Ottoman style in the heart of Kaleiçi.
This simple family establishment is the place to choose if you want to escape from the world and soak up the otherworldliness of Kekova Sound. Rooms are basic but clean, and there's a bar and a small cafe-restaurant that sells tasty ice cream. The hotel also has a charming little jetty where you can sunbathe or take a dive into the crystal-clear water.
This spot has some of the prettiest bungalows in the area. Accommodations are spacious and show attention to detail (special care has been taken with the woodwork, including the elaborate Ottoman-style wood ceilings). The restaurant-bar area overlooking the sea is lovely, and there are deck chairs and umbrellas on the beach itself. Take a moonlit stroll on the beach at night, and if you're very lucky and very quiet, you might glimpse a loggerhead turtle.
With a large swimming pool and gardens by the banks of the Dalyan River, this one-story property is a pretty upscale choice, yet still a reasonable value; accommodations are a mix of hotel rooms and apartment units with kitchens. The carved wooden ceilings and smattering of Ottoman bric-a-bric give it more character than your average resort hotel. The clean guest rooms, spread over two adjacent sites, have a pleasant Turkish flavor, too. And there are two villas for rent if you have a larger group.
If you want a few charmed days on the Side seafront, the Beach House, built on the grounds of a Byzantine villa, is a great place to book. The villa's ruins are used for a garden and the tiniest of pools, and although its current rooms are on the modest side, this is where Rudolf Nureyev and Simone de Beauvoir bedded down in the hotel's glory days. On the sand across the quiet street are deck chairs and umbrellas for guests. At the time of writing in October 2024, the hotel is underdoing some archaeological excavations in some areas.
This hotel set slightly back from the beach has modest, clean rooms—all with a few decorative touches, and some with a sea view. Large portions of good Turkish and international food are served in the pleasant on-site restaurant. There is a garden terrace, and the hotel has its own loungers on the beach.
