Goreme Historical National Park — Attraction in Avanos

I am writing this review so other guests, specially women, are very careful of the owner of this hostel. We arrived on Wednesday 12 October 2022 to this place, from the beginning the owner was super pushy and aggressive, apparently he did not like that two women (me and my friend) asked him questions about the place and the tours offered. The truth is that we don't understand why he was so aggressive with us. He threw our reservation money on us and yelled at us to leave his hotel for asking too many questions about the flying balloon tour. When we took our bags and left the reception, he blocked the exit door of the hostel and told us that first we had to cancel the reservation on the app Hostel World. We did not want to do it at first, as we wanted to keep it and then make the corresponding claim, plus, it was he who kicked us out, not us cancelling the reservation. When we tried to leave, he pushed us inside and blocked our exit again. He was yelling at us and was violent. It was very scary, so after a while we saw another group of women who came to see what was happening and to help us since we were crying and desperate for being hold in the hostel without being able to leave. When we told the situation to this group of women, the owner of the hostel became even more angry and aggressive and overbearing. He didn't like that we were talking to other guests asking for help, and that's when he threatened to call the police. We had no problem with that, since we had never committed a crime, we were simply trying to escape from this kidnapping, since he would not let us leave the place and kept us locked up. After a while, we cancelled the reservation because we had no other option and we were very afraid. When the police arrived, the owner of the hostel completely changed his attitude, greeted the police as if they were friends, and told us to leave. At that moment we didn't even try to talk to the police, seeing that they are more men and we were already scared enough in the situation. We left the place and went to the next hotel to ask for help and book a new room for us. It was a horrible experience. We tried to take pictures and videos of the hostel owner, but when he saw us doing this, he forced us to delete everything very aggressively. This is the only picture I was able to save. Honestly we don’t understand how he has good reviews, since we heard from the new hotel that this is not the first time this happens in the Göreme Art Stone Hotel. PLEASE be careful with the owner, don’t stay here. He is aggressive...

I totally agree with many other travelers here that entire Cappadocia is a worldwide unique place, so I wont waste your time here explaining how wonderful it is (I'll do that in separate attractions reviews). Instead, I'll point out here useful info I learned while planning our trip, and from our experience on the ground. plan to spend 3-4 days to see everything this unique place has to offer (we did it in 3 days, but needed a serious rest after that down on the coast - 4 days would be more relaxed), best airport to arrive is Kayseri. This airport is much bigger than the closer Nevsehir airport and has more frequent and better (and cheaper) connections with rest of Turkey. From Kayseri airport, Goreme and Cappadocia are an hour drive, DO rent a car at Kayseri airport. It is pretty cheap and cars are brand new - I used the "Avec" local company - great. You will need a car to explore the area as attractions are scattered in a 100 km radius in all directions. You'll save yourself money and do the sightseeing in comfort, not depending on groups and schedules. Roads are very good, with good signage, maps are working and petrol price is a bargain, if looking for a hotel with a pool to cool and relax, make sure it has an indoor pool (even in mid August when we visited morning and late afternoon air temperatures are insufficient to have a pleasant outdoor swim - 15-20'C, and also the outdoor pool water is NOT heated), restaurants are feast for eyes and stomach, plenty of them - it is really difficult to go wrong with that, DO BUY the "Museum Cappadocia" Pass. It enables you to skip the lines in front of each attraction, and it saves you almost 50% of the fees you'd pay separately. It can be purchased at any site entrance. It pays of just after 4 visits out of 8 included (see my pic), there's no need for any organized agency tours if you have a car. Everything is well posted and explained in brochures and plaques at every site. balloon morning flight is a must (the best such I'd ever had, and the cheapest at the same time). This, you must do with an agency. I suggest "Gorgeous Tours", find their website. Same applies for the morning/afternoon ATV tours I...

Don’t be allure with the reviews of other guests who previously stayed here. I am sure those people didn’t experience the reality and the risk of staying. Our experience in Cappadocia itself was amazing but at some point we were treated unfairly by the staff who were working in this hotel or maybe he was the owner. Only one staff is very accommodating “the turkish guy” I forgot his name, other than that, others are only working there for business not for guest satisfaction. We were forced to check-out at 11am instead of 11:30am and was not allowed to leave our luggage in the hotel even though we rebooked our flight to 9pm (because we wanted to experience the hot air balloon on our last day because it was cancelled previous days due to bad weather. And the reason for all of that was because we didn’t book their tours. Their price for the tour in the hotel is just too high so better book the tours from trusted agency and other company. And better consider booking in other hotels (My honest advice).

The guy who I get in contact with regarding my booking was very mad and unhappy about it, and was very unprofessional in dealing with us, at the end after we checked-out and leaves the property, 17 minutes ago he sent a message thru whatsapp telling me that if we didn’t find a place where to leave our luggage, he told me that we can leave the luggage in the reception, but it was too late already, we don’t want to carry our big luggages back to the hotel and we didn’t feel safe at all because of the treatment and services we received,instead we just went directly and waited at the airport. I personally don’t mind if the hotel is 1 star or 5 star, but the services matters the most.

I was thinking of posting here the voice messages he sent toe thru whatsapp, but I know everyone is just trying to survive with their business.

So, book this hotel if you are willing to risk,...