In golf-focused Belek, the Granada Luxury resort has a collection of over-water Maldivian-style villas – although in this case, the water is a swimming pool, rather than the sea. And I’ve always loved the Perdue, in Faralya, with its thatched-roof suites and hidden-away feel, although it does lack a proper beach.
More than anything, it’s Bijal’s size that sets it apart, setting a new bar for boutique luxury. Many guests stay in their villa for the entirety of their holiday, meaning the tranquillity that enveloped me on my first morning was unbroken throughout my stay.
Whether snoozing by a cabana on the private stretch of beach, or back at the villa with its luminescent, aquamarine pool, outdoor bath and private walled garden, there was barely a whisper to disturb me.
The hotel’s signature colour, butter-yellow, runs through everything from room keys to bicycles, beach bags and robes and even the sheets (making climbing into bed rather like disappearing into a puffed-up, super-fluffy egg). I took part in a ceramics workshop, became embroiled in a super-competitive table tennis championship and, of course, spent plenty of time on the beach, revelling in that rare sense of being genuinely cocooned from the outside world.