Stay in Urgup or Goreme ?
 

We will be in Turkey in July 2011, and plan to be in Cappadocia for 3 nights. Would like views on whether one should stay in Urgup or Goreme. I have seen similar queries posted here, but those posts were in 2004 or 2007, and I guess things may have changed now.

Urgup hotels look a little more upscale and comfortable, while Goreme hotels look decidedly cheaper and more basic. Which would give us a better feel for the area ? And where does one rent a car in that part of the country ? Are rental agencies available in Urgup ?

Urgup has a Decar rental agency. But if you are coming in by plane, you should be able to pick up a car at the airport. If landing in Kayseri, there is a Decar agency there. We had a car and were recommended a place in Mustafapasha, so that is where we stayed. It's about 5 km. from Urgup.

Michael. you will have to make another trip to Turkey.

Decar is now a name of the past, but there are other agencies which rent the powerless 75HP Fiats and flimsy Kias and Hyundais.

Thrifty has 4x4s but quite expensive.

Indiancouple, The two notorious gentlemen of Fodors Hall of Fame, Aduchamp1 and Colduphere were on location a couple of months ago. Maybe they can direct you to one of the towns and the hotels they honored.

If I make another trip, it is most likely to Istanbul exclusively.

I'm sure that EconomyCarsRental will find an agency to replace Decar. Since I generally stick to speed limits, the lack of power of a car does not bother me. I'll let the others zoom impatiently around the trucks (of which there were few on the roads I took).

As directed by Otherchelebi, here are my views. We stayed at the Local Cave Hotel in Goreme this past August. Quite nice with a terrific pool. In fact, thank God(s) for the pool. I did find the cave rooms a touch musty but no big deal.

The people in Goreme said Goreme is a better place to stay than Urgup. But they may be biased. As I understand it, Goreme used to be a backpacking place but is evolving to serve a broader market. We liked the town a lot.

I actually don't think you could go wrong in either place; they're not too far from each other and both will give you a good feel for the area (which is incredible, by the way).

Urgup has more of a small town feel to it. We stayed at the Melekler Evi Cave Hotel in Urgup and I can't imagine staying anywhere better; it was truly heaven. We hated to leave it and we'd stay there again in a heartbeat. This is the link: http://www.meleklerevi.com.tr/.

Also, you might want to take a look at that part of my trip report: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-in-turkey.cfm.

Have you looked at the Turkey Travel Planner website? It was also helpful to me when I was planning our trip (as was otherchelebi and other fodorites). You'll probably want to fly into Nevsehir which is closer to both Urgup and Goreme than Kayseri is. I saw at least one or two car rental companies at the airport.

Otherchelebi, I have read the trip report of Aduchamp in great detail, including the hilarious comments on it by both Colduphere and yourself ! I plan to refer to that report a lot while planning for this trip. Ellen75005, your trip report is also wonderful, and thanks for sending the link.

As far as my original question goes, am still confused about Goreme vs Urgup. In the responses so far, I have received one vote for Urgup and one for Goreme !

Goreme

2-1

Colduphere, I had already counted you as a Goreme voter ! Cannot count you again.

I only passed through Urgup, but I quite liked Goreme, especially the Kelebek hotel. I would compare restaurants, but Goreme's tourist services are great without detriment to the town (imho). If you are flying in, you might want to rent the car at the airport if possible.

We stayed in Goreme, at the Ottoman House. Good hotel, indoor swimming pool, nice breakfast room on top floor overlooking the valley. I liked Goreme, we walked from hotel to downtown. Small town with nice shops, restaurants,etc.. You can rent scooters, can walk to the Open Air Museum,etc..

Our hotel made the arrangements for a dinner/folk dancing night nearby, which was interesting.

Indiancouple....check out Aduchamp's report. I had recommended the Esbelli Evi cave inn to him and they seemed to enjoy it very much. We loved our stay there in '95, Bill (Suha) the owner has expanded the inn since then. Bill had sent someone to fetch us at Kayseri and we rented with Europcar in Urgup (maybe that's gone. too).

www.esbelli.com/

Using Urg as a base, we had covered a wide swath of Cap in four days. This was in spring and you could count the number of tourists on one hand. <u>That will never be again, eh Celeb!</u> Next time, we also plan to stay at your place in Istanbul. Aduchamp said you would be happy to host us.

Have a very nice trip, IndianCouple.

Stu Tower

We plan on staying at Otherchelebi's next trip as well. We may need to set up a calendar so that we don't overcrowd him.

I recently moved to a cave in Goreme and forgot to tell my Fodor's buddies. I also have constructed an outhouse out of abandoned Decar vehicles. But i doubt there is room for any visitors. however, we can all meet in New York at Adu's and discuss this trip over a longish weekend.

Here's another vote for Melekler Evi Cave Hotel in Urgup. We stayed there for 4 nights in Sept. based on Ellen's recommendation; we loved it. We had dinner there one night and it was best meal we had in all of Turkey, it is walking distance to town/restaurants, rooms and setting/views are phenomenal and hosts are very accommodating.

We did not rent a car, but hotel owners would have made arrangements for us had we asked. For that matter, they were willing to make all our arrangements.

I think its tough to choose between the two towns; I probably would be happy staying in either. That being said, IMO, hotel choice is very important. You have lots to chose from. I'd highly recommend the Melekler.

Otherchelebi, your cave house in Goreme will work just fine for us - surely you are going to New York in July 2011, so the house will be empty and we can have full run of the place.

Now there are 3 votes for Goreme and 3 for Urgup, making it 3-3. Will otherchelebi like to shoot a tie-breaker ? (Just in case he is hosting someone else in his Goreme cave house, and it is not available).

Looks like we cannot go wrong with either location. We have written to Esbelli Evi, which is raved about everywhere, and are awaiting their response. Tripadvisor also has great reviews for Gamirasu Cave Hotel and Yunak Evleri hotel in Urgup. There are 2 recommendations above for Melekler Cave in Urgup also. Any comments between these choices ?

At Goreme, the Caravanserai hotel gets a thumbs up from TA, whereas the Local Cave Hotel and Ottoman House seem to be recommended by posters above. Will have a hard time picking a hotel. Plenty of choices.

To complicate your question, there's another charming village nearby to consider: Uchisar.

http://www.cappadocia.info/cappadoci...que-hotel.html

It is popular with French tourists; we loved it there. It remains my favorite hotel of all time.

We're staying 2 nights in Goreme at Kelebek nd 2 nights in Uchisar at Argos in a few weeks -- winter ballooning YAY (we're freaks) -- I'll let you know what they were like.

Indiacouple, It's good to know that you are planning a trip to Turkey. You will be in Love with Turkey. I am already.
We went there in april 2010. Stayed at Local Cave House, Goreme. It's nice hotel with good views. Goreme would be an ideal base for Cappadocia. You can check my Trip report on Forum, for Cappadocia. You will get a lot of delicious vegetarian Turkish food in Turkey.
I have some friends there with rent a Car agencies.
Let's meet up when you are traveling to Mumbai.
Happy planning...

jenskar2 - do you have any feedback on the two areas since your trip has probably already passed?

thanks for any suggestions...

Jeff

We were in Turkey in the 1990's so I hope our information isn't out of date. Based on Guide Books we had decided on Goreme, but were fortunate enough to befriend some Turks in Istanbul who urged us to base ourselves in Urgup instead. Their reason? "Goreme all tourists" they said. "Urgup is real village where you will mix with local peoples."

They were right. Urgup was friendly and hospitable and, aside from when we took local coach tours, we were meeting, chatting to and socialising with only locals. One of the coach tours we did took us to Goreme, and we found it a place of tourist hotels with no real local identity.

The choice made for a host of unforgettable experiences as opposed to just another holiday somewhere different. We are eternally grateful for those young men from Istanbul for their help and advice. But...it worries me that Urgup has even come up as one of indiancouples' options...that sort of says to me that maybe it is no longer be the less-touristy place that it was when we were there.

Urgup still has an interesting market.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7622933537559/

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My family are coming to Turkey this year and we are staying in Goreme. I visited Turkey in 1986/1987 and loved the country so much I got lost there for 4 and a half months :-)
In Cappadocia I stayed in Goreme and it was just a sleepy backpackers place, very little accommodation to choose from and it was very basic at about 5 dollars a night (perfect for me as a backpacker) . Wow, I am so shocked to see how much it has changed since then. When I was there there was certainly no ballooning. it was unique but now it seems it has been discovered. I hope that I will still enjoy it!!!