Kelebek Special Cave Hotel

We stayed here for 3 nights in the dead of winter during our recent Turkey trip. We loved our first floor room which was warm and cozy. The fireplace was great and two thumbs up for supplying an easy to start bundle of wood.
Their breakfast is absolutely wonderful and maybe the best we had on the entire trip. Loved their coffee and honeycomb. Their eggs to order was also a nice touch.

This is a fun, interesting, affordable hotel. It is well-​located, has amazing staff, rustic/​cozy, and the tours associated are fantastic. Really full service. Breakfast was possibly the best I’ve ever eaten in my life, easily top 10. And I’ve eaten a lot of breakfasts. My mom was skeptical, but came around. BTW: The hammam was awesome!

Very helpful staff. Comfortable rooms, friendly cats and a lovely view of the valley.

Definitely one of the most interesting places I’ve ever stayed in: it’s literally in a cave. However, this is the norm in Cappadocia, although this hotel seems to be one of the more upscale ones. Only the best cave for me! The staff seems to be all family and they are wonderful. We worked with Ali and he offer customized suggestions on how to spend our time in the area in which we followed and it was awesome. He didn’t try to push some expensive tour on us, he recognized what we wanted and that my good friends, is worth every penny.
When booking online — obviously the only way to do so these days, you email your room preference. We chose a room with a fireplace and a private balcony which I highly suggest. Waking up at 6AM and walking outside and sitting in your private area watching the hot air balloons in the sunrise was one of the most impressive sights of my trip. The rooms are nicely furnished for a cave, although I didn’t love the bed and the small fireplace was nice on a chilly evening (although some sort of screen for the sparks would have made me feel a tad bit safer.) The bathrooms were small, but definitely really nice. Wifi is non existent in the rooms due to the fact that the walls are rock. There was a small tv, but we preferred to spend our time doing what people used to do before internet and tv… play some board games, yo!
Breakfast is amazing — a full buffet of different Turkish delicacies from meats, cheeses, olives, borek (Turkish pastries) and them some. You can request scrambled and fried eggs as well, which was a nice added bonus although I seriously got down on the freshly made Nutella and banana crepes. Service was a bit lacking for breakfast — coffee service was a bit slow. They also promote they offer free coffee and tea 24/​7, yet the morning we were leaving early, I asked for coffee at 7am and was told not until 7:30. Small details that do matter since no one wants to be around me before I’ve had my morning cup o’ joe.
The breakfast/​bar/​reading room was so comfy and a wonderful way to past time with fellow guests, although wifi was extremely slow.
Location is a bit tricky to find and located on the top of a hill, just a 2 – 4 minute walk from the downtown area of Goreme*, yet you feel so far removed. They were extremely helpful with parking as we did have a car (which I also recommend if you’re in the area vs doing a tour the whole time).
The hammam is nice after a long day and complimentary as long as no one else is scheduled to be in there. They do allow men and women to go together which some/​most hammams don’t! If you are paying for a service, you do get priority. The services were a bit on the expensive side, but to be expected and they fill up fast.
If you have any questions about Cappadocia, feel free to hit me up. There’s not a lot of information going around that was useful to me, so I’m more than happy to share my itinerary and pro-​tips.
* Goreme is a small backpackers town located in the Cappadocia region.
** They had a nice, small pool which would be lovely in the summer.

Kelebek is the most unique hotel I’ve ever stayed at. Some of the rooms are cave rooms, while others are newer manmade structures. I booked back in September 2013 for my July 2014 stay, and all rooms were available at that point. You can pick your room, and each room has a description on the website. Before booking, I e-​mailed the hotel… this was our e-​mail exchange:
Me: Do you have availability from 7÷22÷2014 — 7÷25÷2014 for a Deluxe room?
I am looking for the best room available with A/​C and a window/​view of the town.
Hotel: All of our rooms are available for the dates you have requested.
Me: Which of the deluxe rooms has the best view? Do they all have a/​c?
Hotel: Rooms 20 and 3 have the best view.
Me: Great, thanks. We’ll take room 20.
This may be totally my fault, but I assumed that room 20 had a/​c based on the lack of response regarding the matter. When we got there, I found out room 20 did not have a/​c and temperatures were reaching 95 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. We decided to tough it out since there was quite a lovely breeze the first day, and I was able to take an early afternoon nap without a problem.
By nighttime, the breeze had vanished, but we still slept with the windows open for ventilation and hopes of a breeze. That was problematic because there was a loud barking dog all night — I had to use my ear plugs!
In the morning, we decided to pay the difference for a room with a/​c for the next 2 nights. We were given room 107 for night 2 and room 111 for night 3. Room 107 was certainly larger than our original room, but it was dark and dungeon-​like. The most disappointing part of it all was that the a/​c didn’t work, so we had to go another night without it.
As a kind gesture, the owner/​manager upgraded us to their nicest room for night 3 (room 21), which DID have working a/​c. I rarely expect exceptional customer service in foreign countries… I feel like that is a very American thing, but the hotel went above and beyond to make us happy at the end of the day, and for that, they get 5 stars.
Getting back to the hotel itself:
–The check-​in process is lovely. The owner recommends activities and provides insider tips, which was very helpful. I do believe they will also book affiliate tours for you (Butterfly Balloons is their sister company).
–The grounds are gorgeous with multiple outdoor sitting/​lounge areas by the pool, garden, reception area, and restaurant. Most of the time, you will see guests sitting outside as it is hard to get wifi inside many of the rooms.
–There is complimentary breakfast from 7:30 — 10:30 at the hotel with the option to participate in their complimentary daily organic breakfast at 8:30 in the valley. You get picked up by a wagon and driven 15 minutes into the valley. You do have to walk down some sandy steps, so I would recommend wearing sneakers.
–Every one of the staff members is friendly and helpful.
–The pool terrace is the perfect place to view the hot air balloons at sunrise.
–Free parking
If you are considering a stay in Cappadocia, I highly recommend staying at Kelebek. Just make sure you realize most rooms do not have a/​c, so if that is what you want, double check with the hotel. Also, the hotel is hard to find, but if you can locate Butterfly Balloons on one of the main roads, you will see signs on the building direction you to Kelebek.

The service in this hotel is 5 star. Mehmet, the manager is intuitive, helpful and knowledgeable about the area. I am not easy to please, the husband is easier going! That said, we were given rooms 110 and 111. We booked late, and they fill quickly from April on. I did not like 111, though it is spacious, light (the bathroom barely accommodates one person) the room borders on a road which serves the hotel. Having mini vans driving by is not pleasant. Furthermore, a large dog resides across the road and barks the entire night, the owner of the dog reappears at 7 am and the barking stops. If you book a good room, you will love this property. Food is okay, if you need a quick bite. The owner Ali, also owns Heritage Tours and they do a great job. We had Mustafa, another owner of the company, as a guide one day and on another day Heritage provided a driver for us, who was considerate and helpful. We did a lot of walking/​hiking and Kelebek dropped us off at starting points and provided sketched maps for us. Goerme, desperately needs hiking maps.
The organic farm breakfast was really pleasant, highly recommend. Overall, we loved being in Cappadocia and the Kelebek was a good choice.

Absolutely amazing hotel. Such an experience. The cave rooms are stunning. Staff is amazing and super friendly. Restaurant is great. Highly recommend.

This is one of the best hotel experiences I’ve ever had. Cappadocia is already a beautiful, whimsical place. However, the hospitality of this hotel has made our honeymoon truly magical. We’ve experienced three different rooms at different price ranges (rooms 20, 106, 111) and they were all spectacular. I highly recommend the free organic breakfast and farm tour, as well as their affiliated tour and balloon companies. Use of the hamam was free for guests. The views are spectacular. Can’t imagine staying anywhere else. Thank you, Kelebek!
P. S. FIRST!!!