This Remote Turkish Resort Features A Christian Dior Pool And A Pristine ‘Silence Beach’
Situated atop a 200-foot bluff, the stunning D Maris Bay hotel in Türkiye rests among 557 square miles of untouched coastline.
There are but a handful of characteristics that uplift a luxury hotel from the fields of the elite into the world of the truly sublime. For some, it’s provenance—a history unlike any other that carves itself into the stones of legend. Think the Ritz Paris, the original Raffles in Singapore or the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc on the French Riviera. For others, heightened levels of luxury previously unseen make their mark. Consider Dubai’s sailship-inspired Jumeirah Burj Al Arab. And for a select few, it’s location that consecrates their singularity. The Brando, plopped in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on an atoll 15 miles from the closest human being, comes to mind.
It’s in this world where the D Maris Bay in Türkiye exists. Located on a verdant 39-acre nook nestled among several national parks, the D Maris Bay rests among nearly 557 square miles of untouched coastline in every direction. While in and of itself this pristine surrounding is a stirring characteristic, what elevates the hotel to unique levels is literally its elevation. Meaning, squatting atop a 200-foot bluff on the edge of the Datça Peninsula.
“The sense of vast space, idyllic nature and profound serenity suddenly and intensely elates the spirit.”
When one first enters the D Maris Bay after a winding three-mile drive up from the nearest road, you don’t wait in any line to check in. Rather you’re instantly greeted with a cold prosecco and hibiscus tea cocktail, bags swept away, and you’re ushered through the grand white marble lobby to a wide terrace in the back.
This is when the D Maris Bay location hits you like a thunderbolt from the fabled Ottoman sultan Bayezid. Looking out, untouched nature is all you see: across distant bays and shorelines, over the shrub-carpeted mountains in every direction, not a single human building or man-made scar. If you squint you can almost see Odysseus navigating his galley between the Greek islands of Symi and Nisyros straight ahead. The sense of vast space, idyllic nature and profound serenity suddenly and intensely elates the spirit.
Two floors below, the shimmering Christian Dior pool glitters in the Mediterranean sun like a beautifully cut sapphire, beckoning you to its edge like a postcard filed from a Slim Aarons fantasy. Beyond that and further below, the five beaches of D Maris Bay extend in a horseshoe into the water—a sugar-sanded “C” defining where the Aegean Sea meets the Mediterranean. These beaches are a thing of singular attraction, for when the founder of D Maris Bay, Ayhan Şahenk, opened the hotel in 2013 he had the prescience to partner with some of the best culinary brands in the world.
Şahenk was one of the first hoteliers in Türkiye to foresee the future of luxury and invite some of the top names in hospitality to his crown jewel. First came La Guérite, the famed French Riviera property found in posh destinations of the well-heeled like Cannes and St. Barths. Located at the tip of D Maris Bay’s property as the small peninsula reaches into the azure water, the La Guérite Beach Club offers seafood delicacies paired with an impressive wine and Champagne cellar. The hotel offers complimentary shuttle boats to all the private yachts that moor here for both sustenance and entertainment.
Soon after came Zuma, the world-renowned Japanese concept from Rainer Becker. You can find Zuma’s izakaya, sushi and robata specialties like scorched salmon, succulently grilled A5 Wagyu steak and hoba leaf-wrapped sweet miso black cod plated in locations from Hong Kong to Miami, from Bangkok to Abu Dhabi.
Then there’s Manos, a traditional Greek taverna from the nearby island of Symi. Here head fishmonger Mixalis will walk you to the ice boxes and aquariums overflowing with seafood captured within the last 48 hours, tempting you with rare options like giant Spanish carabinero prawns, primitive slipper lobsters and rock fish. He’ll tell you, whether you want to hear it or not, how all the Turkish dishes are actually of Greek origin. And perhaps, if you’re lucky, force you to partake in a couple shots of Arak, cloudy and cold, as you watch the syrtaki dancers storm the floor. An evening meal at Manos is nearly always capped off with a rambunctious ceremony of plate smashing. As in, servers bring endless piles of clay plates for diners to feverishly smash on the floor to their heart’s delight.
Located on a verdant 39-acre nook nestled among several national parks, the D Maris Bay rests among nearly 557 square miles of untouched coastline in every direction.
There are also annual popups to cement every season at D Maris Bay as unique. For 2024 General Manager Vito Romeo invited Michelin Star and Michelin Green Star Chef Maksut Aşkar to helm Divia, an evening-only concept using exclusively local products inspired by the sea and nature, aided by generous vegetarian options and Turkish wines. In total six restaurants and seven bars cater to a guest’s nearly every culinary whim or desire.
While nourishment and entertainment rank high, one of the finest beaches D Maris Bay offers is the aptly named Silence Beach—a stretch of fine white sand, imported from Egypt, absent of music, loud talking or children. Here you’ll happily pass the day away sipping a Campari Americano, flipping through a dog-eared novel or swiping your Kindle. The only way to tell the passage of time is the shuttle boat intermittently ferrying guests from one beach to the other.
There’s also the exclusive Maris Beach lined with orange canopied daybeds. The sand smells of sun and warm pine wafting down from the hills. There’s even a Hidden Beach you can book for private afternoons, replete with its own butler. It becomes clear on the lush grounds—rife with almost 200 plant species and three acres of manicured grass—why hordes of supermodels, actors and European royalty regularly call D Maris Bay home, returning annually to this Turkish oasis. Seal, Alessandra Ambrosio, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and allegedly a secretive Kardashian and Pussycat Doll or two have all checked into the two-story Presidential Suite—a 1,883-square-foot spread sitting atop the hotel with a giant terrace and private jacuzzi that boast the best view in the land.
While less than a two-hour drive from the exploding tourist mecca of Bodrum—littered with luxury hotel brands like Kempinski, EDITION, Mandarin Oriental, Le Méridien and more—D Maris Bay feels like a different world. If Bodrum is the Tulum of Türkiye, then this place feels like a still undiscovered idyllic island on the Mexican Riviera—pristine, remote and yet overflowing with a surfeit of opulent amenities and culinary delights.
On the last twilight of our stay we enjoy the bittersweet splendor of this Turkish sanctuary, sipping Jeeper Premier Cru on the emerald lawn of Green Hill with the impeccably dressed GM, Romeo. Green Hill charms with its pleasant breeze and the chattering of plump Iranian chickens squawking all around, the ideal spot to catch the drama as the sun dips behind the distant hills.
“The Christian Dior pool shimmers in the Mediterranean sun like a beautifully cut sapphire, beckoning you to its white-tiled edge.”
“Everybody was saying, ‘What are you, crazy? It’s not going to work! Nobody is going to come here,” Romeo shares as we sip our champagne flutes, recalling those who questioned the hotel’s founder when he first opened his doors. “What are you doing bringing Zuma to the middle of nowhere?”
The Italian GM chuckles at the doubters as we stare into the distance—quiet, serene, watching the orange sun slowly hide behind the hazy purple peaks. The mountains feel ancient, the horizon vast like the Grand Canyon. The view calls on you, inexorably, like the Sirens who beckoned Odysseus to these rocky shores so many millennia ago. It is something that cannot be ignored.
“But Mr. Şahenk said, ‘No, no, I believe the place is unique,’ ” Romeo continues, just as the sun finally blinks farewell for the day. “I think he might have been onto something.
Follow Deputy Editor Nicolas Stecher on Instagram at @nickstecher and @boozeoftheday.
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