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A very small, beautifully owner-managed hotel in Urgup’s prime Esbelli district.
What also distinguishes the Serinn is the modern styling of the hotel – no old kilims and period artefacts here but sharp lines, bright pastel colours and the like of state-of-the-art reading lights – too often a failing of Cappadocian hotels.
Here, there are good-sized rooms, pin-clean, great breakfasts and exceptional hospitality, even by Turkish standards. The spacious terrace is excellent for outdoor lounging.
The location, the Esbelli district, is well-placed for downhill (10-minute) walks to central Urgup’s restaurants and other attractions.
Esbelli, occupying the slopes above the centre of Urgup, is a quiet residential district of old stone houses and cave dwellings occupied by a harmonious combination of discreet boutique hotels and local farming families.
Quiet, narrow lanes offer a range of easy ten-minute walks into town, with its range of shops, restaurants and a fine hamam.
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Bucket list experiences our writer says you must do in this destination, closest first
Goreme, Central Anatolia, Turkey[5.1 miles]
A remarkable natural amphitheatre of rock-hewn, fresco-filled churches and monastic dwellings dating back to Byzantine times. Cappadocia’s most visited site.
Best for ages: 13+ | £10 | 2 hours
Goreme, Central Anatolia, Turkey[6.1 miles]
A beautiful and undemanding 6km valley trail, with rock churches and formations galore, that offers walkers a grand glimpse of the surreal Cappadocian back country.
Best for ages: 8+ | Free | 3 hours
Goreme, Central Anatolia, Turkey[7 miles]
One of the world’s great hot-air balloon flights, over a moonscape-esque landscape of arches, caverns, striking spires and eye-popping, giant protuberances resembling gigantic mushrooms.
Best for ages: 10+ | £75 | 4 hours
Avanos, Central Anatolia, Turkey[8.5 miles]
The famed dance of the Whirling Dervishes, performed in the atmospheric surroundings of an atmospheric 13th-century caravansaray.
Best for ages: 10+ | £10 | 40 minutes
Other worthwhile experiences in this destination if you have the time or the interest, closest first
Urgup , Central Anatolia, Turkey[0.8 miles]
This recently-restored hammam occupies a fine old building and is family-run, for unisex visitors, with professional, only-male attendants. (Women-only times available with female attendants). The best place in the region for the quintessential Turkish Bath experience.
Best for ages: 13+ | £5 | 2+ hours
Goreme, Central Anatolia, Turkey[4.9 miles]
The region is famous for its sunsets, most famously over the Red and adjacent Rose Valley, so-called for the pinkish tones the soft tufa stone acquires at sunset. Watch the show from the Goreme National Park’s Panorama Viewpoint, lined with simple cafes.
Best for ages: 18+ | Free | 2 hours
Goreme, Central Anatolia, Turkey[5.4 miles]
This 2km walk (from the ticket office) leads you through this beautiful Cappadocian valley, inhabited until the middle of the 20th-century, taking in churches, stables, and monks’ refectories.
Best for ages: 18+ | Free | 1+ hours
Goreme, Central Anatolia, Turkey[6.5 miles]
An Aladdin’s cave of a carpet shop, a warren of rooms packed with flat-weave kilims both from the region and Turkey’s other renowned carpet regions, piled, hung and draped in picturesque profusion.
Best for ages: 13+ | Free
Destination guides including or relevant to this place to stay
Central Anatolia, Turkey
Surreal shaped landscapes rich in troglodytic ruins, walking trails and delightful cave hotels in the ancient heart of Anatolia.
