August on the Turkish Riviera keeps the best of itself for last. The sea has spent three months gathering heat and gives all of it back now, warm and glass-clear. And children, who can sense the school calendar closing in the way sailors sense weather, make the most of every last hour.
XO Cape Arnna is perfect for these days.
The centre of gravity for younger guests is Lumi’s World, the kids’ club designed by the child-focused studio 3MOMS, and the list of what is inside reads like a wish written by an eight-year-old. A robotics and STEM lab. A junior chefs’ kitchen. A vlogging studio and an animation room. A secret-agent laser course. A PlayStation den for the older ones, a castle playground for the smaller ones, and a lounge that belongs to teenagers alone. It runs seven days a week and stays open into the evening with mini discos, magicians and jugglers, and parents who would rather stay and play alongside a shy child are welcome to do exactly that.
Next door, the water park sorts itself by height and nerve. Splash zones with bubbling fountains and playful jets for the smallest paddlers, gentle slides and shallow pools in the middle, and the twists of the Blackhole & Rafting Slide or the rush of the Freefall for anyone determined to come back breathless and go again. Beyond it, more than three dozen pools spread across the resort, along with shaded family lounges close enough to see everything from a sunbed.
The famous one is the trapeze. Families arrive expecting to watch and leave having flown, which is the sort of story that gets told at every dinner table for the next year. Add paddleboarding, parasailing and a boat out to one of the islands, and the days fill themselves.
Travelling with a baby is unusually easy here. The buffet keeps a baby corner with fresh soups, steamed vegetables, fruit purées and formula. Rooms come with cots, tiny bathrobes and organic toiletries. Even the beach has sunbeds sized for the smallest guests.
And because the adults-only Club sits within the same estate as the family Resort, parents get their own version of the holiday too: a hammam, a hydrotherapy circuit, coaching at XO Athletic Club by BXR, and close to twenty restaurants, bars and cafés to work through.
Term will start soon enough. But there is time for one more holiday first.
