in search of darn good digs

Our third guest post in our professional travel writer and popular travel blogger series is by Dee Andrews, the author of Travel and Travails. Dee’s blog chronicles the year she spent with her husband and two young children living in Spain, and the challenges and joys of “finding new paths on the road of life.” Dee recently nominated two hotels, the Gamirasu Cave Hotel in Urgup, Turkey and the Riad Diana in Marrakech, Morocco. We are posting Dee’s review of the extraordinary Giramasu Cave Hotel:

The Grounds of the Gamirasu Cave Hotel (photo by Dee Andrews)

What makes Gamirasu Cave Hotel so darn good? We arrived late in the evening, in the dark, into a very small and remote Turkish village. Our driver let our family out in the town and our guide asked us to follow him down the road to the hotel. I had no idea what we were in for as the hotel had been a last-minute change by our travel agent.

It’s dark, caves all around us, and we feel some trepidation, and then we walk onto the grounds and it’s just magical. I felt like I was in another world with the caves lit up around us, lights sparkling in the trees. The rooms were very luxurious, the staff friendly, food great, views and atmosphere so different and unique… it is a very special place.

Location: The Gamirasu Cave Hotel is in Ayvali Village near Urgup in the heart of Cappadocia, Turkey.

An Enjoyable Place Spent Drinking Wine at the Gamirasu Cave Hotel (photo by Dee Andrews)

Rooms: The hotel is a combination of seven old troglodyte cave houses with twenty-five rooms, amazingly restored. Part of the hotel was used by Christian monks until recently. Some of the rooms were actually monk cells. All rooms are different from each other. We stayed in the Family Suite with our two daughters, ages 7 and 11.

Food: Breakfasts were included and wonderful and plentiful. We did not eat dinner at the hotel, but we did have an impromptu lunch one afternoon which was perfect. The kitchen did a great job meeting our quick requests, especially the Turkish grilled cheese!

Vibe: Mysterious, different, unique, exotic, luxurious, historical.

Keep in mind: It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. We did have a guide who drove us to and from the hotel, which was of some distance to sights. We did not explore the village of Ayvali, but it felt very, very small and rural.

Thank you Dee for nominating your favorite digs!

We would love to hear from more savvy travelers about their all-time favorite independently owned hotels with rooms under US$150. Nominate them now (or simply sign up for our quarterly newsletter) and have a chance to win a ROUGH GUIDE of your choice! Our Nominate-a-thon contest ends this Friday!

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