We spent five fantastic days exploring the Cappadocia region. Our home base was the Hazen Cave Hotel which was one of the best decisions we made! The hotel was in the village of Ortahisar, a charming Turkish village with a large cave like mountain that serves as the town’s centerpiece, so typical of the landscape that makes Cappadocia so fascinating. The Hezen Cave Hotel offers comfortable rooms, a fantastic breakfast buffet, outstanding views and exceptional customer service.
Breakfast area
We arrived at Kaseri Airport in the evening. Our flight was running late, and by the time we picked up our rental car it was quite later than we expected to be on the road to Cappadocia. Kaseri Airport is a very small airport, an employee from Budget Rental Car met us outside the terminal and walked us to our rental vehicle, located in the airport parking lot. We followed the directions from the Hazen Cave Hotel web page, and with the help of our GPS, which worked the entire way, we arrived at the hotel without any problems. The highways were well lit and the signage, although in Turkish, was plentiful. Along the way, someone from the hotel called our cell phone to make sure we weren’t lost and assured us they would be waiting for us when we arrived. We didn’t arrive until after midnight, and the staff members who had waited for us couldn’t have been more accommodating!
Room #7
We were checked in, given a brief overview of the property, and offered a choice of 3 rooms. The rooms vary in size throughout the property, but each has it’s own charm and fits right in with the Cappadocia style. After we were settled in, they brought us a tray of pastries, bread and cold beer! Our room was exactly as we had expected, a cavernous room, with a balcony overlooking the village of Ortahisar, with all the amenities, sans television.
We woke up to the sound of the “Call to Prayer,” which served as our wake up call each morning. The view from our terrace as the sun was just making its way above Ortahisar, was spectacular! Now that it was daylight we could really appreciate the beauty of the Hazen Cave Hotel. The property itself is amazing, with many nooks and crannies to sit and enjoy the view and tranquility of this region of Turkey. For breakfast they offer a menu of various egg dishes, including memenen, a Turkish specialty of scrambled eggs with peppers and onions, and also another dish that included the local dried beef.. The breakfast included a buffet of local cheeses, honey, yogurt, bread, fruit, olives, tomatoes as well as other breakfast items. Everything was so fresh including the orange juice! Breakfast was included in the price of the hotel room, and was something we looked forward to each morning.
The staff at the Hezen Cave Hotel went out of their way to make our stay a memorable one. Each morning after breakfast the staff would ask us what we planned to do, and offer information, maps, and restaurant suggestions. Each afternoon when we returned, there was always someone waiting to greet us, and ask how our day was.
The hotel has a beautiful terrace which overlooks the village of Ortahisar. One evening we were quite tired from all the days events so we decided to enjoy the small mezze plates the hotel offers. They served a mezze of babaganoush, potato salad, bread filled with ground beef & tomato sauce, local cheese, grape leaves stuffed with ground meat, peppers stuffed with fresh local cheese, stuffed mushrooms and a wonderful tomato soup.
There’s nothing better than arriving at your hotel at the end of the day and feeling like it’s your home away from home. Hezen Cave Hotel was exactly that. Preferably you should rent a car to get here, but with so much to see and do in the Cappadoccia region, you’ll want to have convenient transportation. Driving through the region is very easy and the Hezen Cave Hotel has complimentary guest parking. The hotel is located about 10 minutes from the main town of Göreme and from Kayseri Airport, it’s about an hour drive. We hope you will enjoy the Hezen Cave Hotel as much as we did! – Cy & Rich