Diane E
June 6, 2022
We've stayed in a number of cave hotels in several countries and the Ortahisar Cave Hotel is definitely our favourite one so far. This is a beautiful boutique cave hotel that incorporates original cave house features with lots of traditional items giving every cave room an exclusive feel. Positives: The hotel is in an excellent location on the edge of the town but within a few minutes walk to a variety of shops, supermarkets, restaurants, a bank, countryside walks, close to lots of the scenery the area is famous for and even within waking distance of a huge rock castle that more energetic visitors can climb right to the top of. The large bed was incredibly comfortable and we slept particularly well. The room was big and delightfully furnished with some beautiful traditional items. As well as a lovely original seating niche carved into the rock, there was more than enough space in our room for comfy seating, a coffee table, etc and still loads of circulation space and rather oddly, a huge spa bath in the corner of the bedroom and completely separate from the large bathroom that has a big shower. The delightful garden has lots of shady areas with tables and chairs set under trees where we enjoyed a glass of wine and a chat, and more seats under a pergola with hanging baskets that will be absolutely gorgeous when they're fully blooming in a couple of weeks. A beautifully secluded, sheltered seating nook tucked away in a corner proved to be the ideal place to curl up with a good book. Much of our time was spent in the garden and the rustic seating in the covered area shared between our room and a couple of others was an ideal place to sit during a rain shower. Chef Mehmet Gul keeps a good table and both breakfasts and evening meals were plentiful, varied, well cooked and well presented so we certainly didn't go hungry during our stay. Even when the restaurant was very busy, Chef Gul always had a smile and time for a word with each of the guests. M, the night receptionist was a godsend because he speaks very good English and we only have a few words of Turkish. We were disappointed to leave because we felt that we could quite easily have spent several more days in this hotel because of the good location, the overall ambience and the friendly and welcoming attitude of the owner and every member of hotel staff. Negatives: Our room was a little dark due to the subtle lighting which provides a romantic and authentic ambience but some areas for reading, etc. might benefit from brighter lighting. The spa bath located in the bedroom rather than the bathroom was an odd concept for us though some people might like it... The wardrobe niche carved into the wall was a lovely original feature but fairly small and too short to accommodate dresses, and some drawers or a cupboard would have been useful too.