Sacred House

Sacred House

In Urgup, a 250-year-old mansion hewn out of caves, once owned by a Greek aristocrat, now holds Sacred House, a 23-room adults-only mini-hotel spread across three floors, about 100 metres from the town centre and 450 metres from the bus station. Each room is individually decorated to reflect the rock formations it's carved from, with antique furnishings throughout and a fireplace, wooden flooring and a jacuzzi bathroom found in rooms such as the Room of Antique Tiles, where a porcelain stove is set into the stone walls and brass fittings trim the wooden bed. Turan Gülcüoğlu, the architect behind the interiors, gave each of the property's individually themed rooms, among them Bacchus Hideout, Divine Oracle and Old Chapel, its own name and character. A stone mansion this old, still fitted room by room rather than rebuilt to a template, is not something the area's newer boutique properties can offer. Guests can book a hammam, sauna or massage off the elegantly appointed courtyard, eat under antique chandeliers at Virtus Restaurant, or settle into Angels & The Searchers Bar in the evening. Free Wi-Fi, free on-site parking, airport transfers, laundry and dry-cleaning, and an English-speaking concierge cover day-to-day needs. Couples marking an anniversary or wanting a quiet few days will find the mood suits them; the Adults Only policy rules out a family trip, and anyone after plain, uniform rooms should look elsewhere. Check-in runs from 2pm, check-out by noon, and an extra bed, where the room allows one, costs 80 EUR a night. Göreme National Park sits 9.5 km away and the fairy chimneys about 8.5 km, near enough for a half-day out before the courtyard's quiet takes over again. A 250-year-old cave mansion in central Urgup, once owned by a Greek aristocrat, now runs as a 23-room adults-only hotel with a hammam, sauna and individually themed rooms. It suits couples after real history, not families or anyone wanting plain, uniform rooms.