Cappadocia Gamirasu Cave Hotel

Gamirasu is a cave hotel built into the rock of Ayvalı village, ten kilometres south of Ürgüp and well off the main Cappadocia tourist routes. The property occupies a former Byzantine monastery, and its 35 rooms are carved into stone that in places dates back centuries. An 11th-century Orthodox church still stands on the grounds, and the monastery's old kitchen and dining hall now serve the hotel's guests. Rooms vary by era and function rather than by décor package. The Hittite Suite sits in a chamber cut four thousand years ago, later used as a Byzantine shelter and a winery; its bathroom now occupies the old winery space. The Byzantine King Suite, at 160 square metres with a 20-square-metre balcony, was carved around the 10th century and once linked by its balcony to the hill above. The Eagle Nest Suite, the highest room on the property, looks over valley caves some 4,000 years old and keeps an onyx marker where a passage to the room below was once sealed. Breakfast runs from 7.30am to 10.30am with more than 40 dishes; lunch and dinner follow, cooked with organic ingredients in the former monastery kitchen. Ayvalı's İçeridere Valley starts at the hotel's door, with a walking route of about seven kilometres to Golgolu Hill.