Set on the shores of Antalya, the world's newest and most expensive hotel, Mardan Palace, glitters in the sun. If you manage to stay at this hotel, you will never want to leave. This is the ultimate in indulgence... ten restaurants, seventeen bars, luxury spa, rooms the size of apartments and one of the largest swimming pools in the world. The Mardan Palace boldly defies the world recession, being the most expensive hotel ever to be built in Europe and a luxury resort, representing Turkey's first five star destination.
There are 560 rooms with two royal suites which have private pools and 15 garden villas. The rooms are divided into the European wing with crisp lines and contemporary neutral creams and the Turkish Anatolian wing where you'll find opulent Ottoman style turquoise and blues.
Insane amounts of Italian marble and over 100,000 sq.ft of gold leaf. The opening party was attended by no less than Paris Hilton, Richard Gere, Sharon Stone and Mariah Carey. 
The architecture is stunning, from the imposing marble entrance with a vast gilt lobby. Traditional Turkish architecture is brought into the design to reflect landmarks. The main hotel is based on Istanbul's Domabahce Palace. Rooms have details from the Ottoman Empire and modern Europe, reflecting Turkey's status as a bridge between East and West.
Everything about the Mardan Palace is huge. The spa, with its cascading waterfall which stops to let you enter, is 7,500 sq.m. and the swimming pool is so enormous there is even a gondola to take you from one side to the other of its five acre expanse. The world-class spa offers every indulgence, from salt baths and hammams to every possible type of massage and even a snow grotto. 
The ten restaurants all provide different cuisine, from Russian and French to Thai and Japanese - and panoramic sea views. The hotel even has it's own golf course and a UEFA standard stadium. The beach was filled with 9,000 tons of sand which was imported from Egypt. To top it all there is an artificial coral reef where you can swim with a shark.
Ashley Pearson of the Daily Mail described the hotel as a "temple of excess". With so much luxury and opulence, the price tag of the rooms is from affordable to staggering at 360 to 14,000 euros per night.
For those seeking the ultimate in luxury, wanton excess or just rubbing shoulders with celebrities, the Mardan Palace awaits.
www.mardanpalace.com
