Turkey is becoming ever more popular as a tourist destination. Recent figures show that 42 million travellers made it their holiday country of choice. Traditional tourism either falls into the sightseeing or beach holiday but over the last 25 years the range has rapidly expanded to include skiing, golfing and spa breaks. If you’re holidaying here we say treat yourself and do it in style in a luxury hotel where you will get the best of amenities, location, service and access to the most exciting resorts and eye-catching scenery. Here is a selection of our favourite hotels for you to consider as your getaway residence.
Kusadasi Golf & Spa
Kuşadası is a beach resort town on Turkey’s Aegean coast in the Aydın province. CLC World’s Kusadi Golf & Spa hotel prides itself on being a sunny oasis in beautiful parkland where contemporary modern living meets nature and whose facilities are of the highest standard expected by today’s traveller. This is one of the newer breed of destinations where focus is on a health retreat with spas and pools alongside the increasingly popular pastime of golf. The complex offers an amazing 18-hole professional golf course with a stunning club house for the essential 19th hole enjoyment at the end of the day. Tuition is offered from a PGA registered professional should you like to hone your skills.
Available rooms include one bed, two bed premier, three bed premier and three bed premier+. The large open plan rooms include fully fitted kitchen, spacious dining area, flat screen TVs and a Jacuzzi on the terrace.
A free shuttle bus takes you to the Beach Club where you can sunbathe on one of the 200 sun loungers provided. A decked dining area with tables or a more informal lawned area allows you to relax and indulge yourself from a selection of specially prepared meals.
CLC World also offers free promotional holidays for people looking at becoming members, you might get a free stay at this amazing hotel and not pay a penny!
Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet
The Four Seasons Hotel is at the heart of the ‘Old City’ in a beautiful locale with narrow streets and the smell of spices and incense in the air. There are 65 luxury rooms (11 of them being suites) on offer here encircling an attractively looked after courtyard and aromatic herb garden – a haven in the busy city. Ample amenities such as a refrigerated private bar, large flat screen TV, MP3 docking station and WiFi complement the tasteful decor of the living area and lavish marble bathrooms. The bathrooms incorporate an immensely welcome deep soaking tub – an essential end-of-day pleasure. There is a unique atmosphere to the Four Seasons undoubtedly due to it being a refurbished 100 year old prison! There’s nothing institutional about the hotel’s signature massage treatment – the Sultanahment that combines Eastern and Western techniques to put you in a state of deep relaxation. The fully appointed luxury Marmara Suite on the fourth floor affords views over the Marmara Sea and the Princess Islands. Enjoy any of three private terraces playing sentinel over this gorgeous vista. Children are welcome and there are childminding facilities available for when you need some time to yourself.
Museum Hotel, Cappadocia
The Museum Hotel proclaims its green credentials of ‘responsible tourism’ where it is uses hot water drilling to provide geothermal energy to supply 100% of their complex’s heating. This is certainly an interesting environmental and economic slant to tourism. The hotel has a unique approach to its residential arrangement of 30 rooms and suites. It was in 1998 that the hotel underwent a restoration project that integrated housing, caves and ruins to create this ‘living’ museum. Its traditional rooms are bedecked with priceless artefacts – not something that is often found in the hotel’s competitors’! As a mark of its opulent status and cachet, the Museum Hotel is the only one in Turkey to be included in the luxury hotels that comprise the establishments of Relais & Châteaux.
If you wake early you may be greeted by the sight of hot air balloons drifting by. The swimming pool is particularly beautiful and you’ll be keen to spend a lot of time in it and by it. It’s worth noting that the area is rugged in places and there are steps to much of the complex so it’s not ideal for very young children and people with mobility problems.
The Ottoman-inspired cuisine on offer is exceptional at the L’ila Restaurant. A Michelin chef guides the menu and steers a course of modern and Anatolian gastronomy to delight all palates. Hewn out of a cavern, the restaurant harmonizes with the decor comprising hanging antique wall carpets, Ottoman dresses behind glass, and historical-themed tableware of brass candlesticks and crystal glasses.
Sway Hotels, Erzurum
High up in the Ezerum province lies the Ski resort attraction and hotel of the Sway Hotel. Their skiing facilities are world class and thanks to 80% of the slopes having artificial snow machines you can holiday out of season. It doesn’t stop there either – the pistes are fully lit and you can ski up till midnight. The slopes are organised to international standards and feature runs like a giant slalom and small slalom. Safety is made paramount here: the tracks are maintained daily and officials inspect the 2 km runway keeping your wellbeing in mind.
The hotel has 181 rooms ranging from Standard (single room, double bed) to the Presidential Suite (a master room and a standard room) all fully fitted to exacting standards. Sway Hotels welcome children and there is a kid’s club where you can leave your little ones. If you want to take the opportunity to help your child to learn to ski then there is a beginner slope just for that! Skis and boots rental with fitting is professional and swift and you have a locker provided. For a great skiing holiday in Turkey this has to be the place to go.
We hope you have found our choices interesting – Turkey has such a range of holiday types from sightseeing to heritage to sports it’s a destination to keep coming back to!
