Anyone who's been there that can tell me about it? Is it historically worth visiting? How far fr Istanbul?

Urgup is a very attractive and well located town for exploring the wonderful landscape, underground cities, ballon trips in the Cappodocia region. Great food town, too. About 700 miles SE from Istanbul. My wife spent 5 days there last month and enjoyed it very much. There's more info/discussion on this town/region on the excellent web site http://turkeytravelplanner.com

TwilightZone:
Urgup is one of the better places to base yourselves for the Capadoccia region...we stayed at the Esbelli Pension cave ...wonderful...and in three days we got to see the major sites and underground "cities" in the area..good roads and well signed. Yes, restaurants all over town...Fly to Kayseri (one hour) and rent car there for the 40 mile drive to Urgup.

Stu T.

sorry...flight to Kayseri, DW remnded me, is closer to 2 hours...one of us is right.
Stu T.

We stayed two nights at the Esbelli Evi in Urgup and wished we have 2 or 3 more days at least. We flew to Kayseri and Suha Ersoz, the hotel's owner, had a driver waiting for us. It is about an hour over to Urgup. His hotel is charming. There is so much to see in the area and the town makes a perfect base to explore the area. Suha also arranged for our rental car (driving the area is easy), but for those who did not want to drive themselves he can arrange for a car and guide. Absolutely worth visiting!

If you recall, Equitravler, Suha (call me "Bill&quot takes everyone's picture while you are a guest at the Esbelli..he can go back several years and there you are!
Stu T.

Urgup and the surrounding area is wonderful as others have already said----it is not the Turkish coast but it is fabulous in its own incredible way. We also flew from Istanbul to Kayseri---I think that is the most practical way to get there given the distance. And we also then rented a car to use while we traveled around. We booked our flight and out car rental through Argeus, a Turkish travel agency.

And we also stayed at Esbelli Evi which we highly recommend. I don't recall our photo being taken although they may remember us for other reasons!!! Both Suha and his wonderful assistant manager, Ramazan, made our visit very special.

Do you have specific questions about the area??

Have dinner at Somine !!!!

Funny, we stayed at Esbelli Evi also and I sure don't recall Suha taking our pictures either.
Incidentally, I think we could start a Fodorite/Esbelli Club, there are so many of us who have stayed and loved this place.

We took overnight bus from Istanbul to Nevsehir and ended up in Urgup. Had originally planned to stay in Goreme, but local Turks we met in Istanbul advised Goreme is a tourist town as opposed to Urgup which is a "real" town. They were right. Friendly people, Good food, interesting caves in hills overlooking town. A wonderful base for touring Goreme, Zelve Valley, underground cities of Deryinkyu/Kamakli and surrounding areas.

regarding The Esbelli...Suha had, at the time (mid 90's), a Polaroid to take the pix..and judging from his albums he had been doing this for quite a few years...evidently he has probably gone to digital now,and tossed his Polaroid..and no longer takes the pix, I would think. Felt it was a nice gesture.
Stu T.