About Bonita Bay
In pursuit of excellence
Bonita Bay is a single stretch of Lebanese coastline — about 160 metres of it — where three independent ideas share the same sand and the same view. Merchak Aal Baher sits at the water's edge with seafood from the grill and sunbeds on the sand. Kai rises on the deck above, a pool club with its own rhythm and its own kitchen. Bonita Bay House sits just behind them, a private chalet for the nights when one day is not enough. Each has its own name, its own team and its own rules. The bay is what holds them together.
The story behind Bonita Bay
This place started with a simple love for the coast — the particular light here, the way the sea turns a deep blue by midday, and the quiet that settles in once the morning rush has passed. We did not want to build over the shoreline. We wanted to build beside it, lightly, so that people could still feel the scale of the sea and the warmth of the sand under their feet.
The first season was small. A few tables, a few sunbeds, and a lot of learning. We watched how guests moved through the day: where they chose to sit, what they ordered first, when they finally put their phones down. Slowly, the place found its rhythm. Merchak took the beach and the grill. Kai took the pool and the deck. The house became a refuge for guests who wanted the bay to themselves after seven o'clock.
What we built is not a resort. It is a destination in the truest sense — a place you arrive at in the late morning and leave, reluctantly, once the light has gone.
Architecture & landscape
Designed with the shoreline, not on top of it
From the beginning, we worked with ZMK Landscape to keep the land as it wanted to be. Their approach was to follow the coast rather than impose on it — low decks, soft paths, planting that catches the wind, and stone that stays cool under bare feet. Nothing here rises above the tree line. Nothing blocks the view from the water back to the shore.
The materials were chosen for the climate: stone that does not burn in August, timber that greys gently in the salt air, canvas that gives shade without cutting the breeze. The colour of the place — the sea greens, the warm sand, the pale salt of the walls — came from the landscape itself. We did not invent a palette. We borrowed one.
The people behind the day
Hospitality at Bonita Bay is a matter of timing and attention. The team at Merchak Aal Baher knows the fish is best when it has just left the grill, so they watch the fire and the tables with the same focus. The Kai team keeps the pool deck feeling effortless — clean towels, cold drinks, music that suits the hour without fighting it. And the house team makes sure the chalet feels less like a rental and more like a place that was waiting for you.
We believe a good day here is unhurried. A table that stays yours all afternoon. A sunbed turned out of the sun when it gets too strong. A plate that arrives while the food is still loud and fragrant. The people who make that happen are the reason the place feels the way it does — easy, generous, and genuinely Lebanese.