One house, then another.
Hikmet Süha Ersöz arrived in Ürgüp in 1979, as a volunteer at the tourist office. In 1987, he bought his first cave house there, in the Esbelli quarter.
He opened it to travellers in 1990. Esbelli Evi is often described as the first cave hotel in Cappadocia; many others followed.
For nearly thirty years, he bought the neighbouring buildings and restored them, one by one: twelve in all, rooms hollowed out of the rock and walls of cut stone.
Today, Esbelli no longer calls itself a hotel. Seven houses are let, each with its kitchen, its courtyard or its garden. Here one is received by someone.
This page draws on public sources: the house’s website, its own publications and the press. We are confirming it with its hosts; it will be completed with their replies.
How we choose
