If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR1,323.53), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
A crescendo of cicadas is practically all that’s audible at Bijal resort, an intimate villa-only beachside resort set in secluded maquis shrubland on southern Turkey’s Mediterranean shores. So alluring is this coastline that Roman politico Mark Antony is said to have gifted it to his lover Cleopatra – they would surely have hung the ‘do not disturb’ sign on one of these discreet neo-deco villas and their loping private pools. Cleverly playful flourishes will captivate guests young and old, and lush gardens give a feeling of privacy so rare on this immaculate but popular coast.
Smith Extra
Get this when you book through us:
One hour-long massage each for two a stay, per villa
Check-in is from 2pm, and be sure to have your bags packed for check-out by noon. Requests outside of these hours can be accommodated where possible.
Prices
Double rooms from £1158.11 (€1,350), including tax at 2 per cent.
More details
Room rates include a choice of Turkish or Continental breakfast.
Also
Bijal Resort features paved walkways and step-free access to the villas for wheelchair-users, but the pools and beaches are not specially equipped.
At the hotel
Spa with sauna, hammam and fitness studio, extensive gardens, free WiFi, and free-to-use bicycles for adults and kids. In rooms: large private garden with pool, sunloungers and outdoor furniture, minibar, Nespresso machine, tea-making kit, and local organic bath products.
Our favourite rooms
The Corner House tempts with thoughts of a non-stop pool party for you and nine of your closest friends.
Poolside
Quite where to dip may well become the toughest decision of your day. Each villa boasts an impressively sized private pool within its vast walled garden, offering complete seclusion. Should you wish for some social interaction, the large lake-style pool at the Club House is bordered by lush grass and its smooth stone bottom and reasonably shallow depths make it ideal for kids. To pump the tempo, follow the olive-tree-lined pathway (a five-minute walk or two minutes by bicycle) toward the beach. Here, the Beach Club pool has an underwater sound-system and the bar hosts evening DJ sets. The beach itself is warm and sandy, and while not technically private, always has ample space for guests. Sunloungers and beach huts are available to book.
Spa
Inside the Club House is a spa with three treatment rooms, sauna, hammam, and an impressively equipped fitness studio. The menu includes Thai and shiatsu massages, and all treatments can be delivered in-villa with prior booking. Private sessions with personal trainers and yoga instructors can also be arranged at an extra cost.
Packing tips
Palaeophiles won’t want to forget their archaeological trowels – ruins dating to the 7th century BC have been found in the area.
Also
Catch some winter sun – unlike Turkey’s Aegean coast, the southern Anatolia region remains warm and dry well into December.
Guests under 12 are priced as children, and praise be – there’s a crèche. The Kids’ Club is open from 9am until 8pm, and babysitting is available at an additional cost for infants aged over 12 months. Baby-monitoring equipment is also provided.
Best for
The Kids’ Club caters for children of all ages, but those able to swim will get the most from their stay.
Recommended rooms
Villas can be had with two, three or four bedrooms, making them perfectly scalable for your family.
Swimming pool
The lake pool at the Club House is reasonably shallow, making it ideal for kids.
Babysitting
A babysitting service is available, please enquire when booking.
Also
Baby-monitoring equipment is available from the hotel concierge.
Poolside at the Beach House, looking through the pines to the shining Med beyond.
Dress Code
Smart casual is the norm at the Club House, but salty-wet is just fine at the Beach House.
Hotel restaurant
Michelin-starred chef Theodor Falser was engaged to develop the menus at Bijal Resort’s two restaurants, and the native Tyrolean’s heritage shines brightly in the Italian fine-dining menu at the Club House. Guests are welcomed around large tables on the expansive poolside terrace at Club House. Those with sandy toes can gather for an informal lunch or dinner at the Beach House Restaurant, and in-villa dining is possible by special arrangement.
Hotel bar
As the day draws to a gentle close, guests gravitate to the Beach House’s open-air bar (open 9am till midnight) where a DJ spins tunes poolside as hot days become balmy evenings (an indoor fire pit will keep you toasty when needed). The Club House bar is open until round-the-clock.
Last orders
Dinner runs until 10.30pm, and last drinks are called at 2am.
Bijal Resort hides in a forest of coastal pine near Antalya, on the southern Turkish Riviera.
Planes
Antalya International Airport is exceptionally well connected to Europe and the Middle East, especially during summer, and is one hour away by car. The resort offers transfers in its ultra-luxury Mercedes van, priced at €250 for up to seven passengers.
Automobiles
The major car-hire brands all have offices in downtown Antalya and at the airport, and the resort offers free parking.
Worth getting out of bed for
Sitting at the crossroads of East and West since the very earliest civilisations, Turkey has been ruled by most of the various empires at one point or another, and they’ve all left their mark in varying ways. A casual half-hour walk down the beach sits the tiny harbour town of Side; its promenade provides all the usual trappings of any good seaside town on the Med, but it’s also home to some fantastic historical sights. A basalt column made by the Syro-Hittites unearthed here dates human inhabitation as far back as the 7th-century BC, but more recent is the colossal Roman Amphitheatre, built to hold as many as 20,000 excited execution-goers. There are Greek and Roman ruins with colourful mosaics strewn throughout the town, and the ruins of the seaside Temple of Apollo (its five columns have been standing for centuries) is a remarkable place to sip a sundowner. Further afield, the majority of the aqueduct built in the second century to secure Side’s water supply remains, and its 22 bridges and 16 tunnels, stretching over 30 kilometres in length makes it one of the best-preserved marvels of Roman engineering you’ll see anywhere.
Local restaurants
Be sure to book a table at Apollon Exclusive Dining, on the waterfront at Side. The contemporary Turkish fine-dining menu and mixologist cocktails are impressive, but the location – set within the ancient Roman city walls and the ruins of the Temple of Apollo – will make for a memorable experience. There are countless beach bars on the waterfront and clubs near the town square, but to dance the night away Mr Smith is heading to Karma.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this seductive resort in Turkey and have unpacked their bazaar-acquired cezve and coffee beans, a full account of their Mediterranean break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Bijal in Antalya…
You can see why people come to the seaside resorts of Turkey’s Antalya province – easy connections, almost guaranteed warmth well into autumn, and miles of spectacular sandy beaches are the underwriters of a week in the Med. But Antalya and its surrounding resorts are usually full to the point that it’s difficult to find some peace, but that’s where Bijal resort sets itself apart. This new opening has just 19 villas set among a large undisturbed pine forest, each of which feature a large private garden and a private pool large enough to lap in. And on the resort’s doorstep is Sorgun Beach, an eight-kilometre-long ribbon of golden sand so quiet you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s private. We shouldn’t be surprised, because Bijal is the latest launch from Turkish entrepreneur Esin Gural Argat, who put herself on the map with Joali in the Maldives (a Smith cohort). And she’s brought the same flair to her home country, with fresh design and a pair of brilliant restaurants supplementing the warm air and pine scents that make the Med such a dreamy place to summer.
