Perched on the hill, on one of the best preserved streets of Urgup, overlooking the tumble of the old town area below, SOTA Cappadocia adds a very contemporary twist to the area’s vernacular architectural style.   

SOTA Cappadocia’s manager and joint-owner Nil Tuncer moved to Cappadocia eight years ago, initially just for a short interlude from her hectic professional life in Istanbul. But Cappadocia captured her heart and she decided to stay; beginning a career as a hotel manager in some of the region’s most renowned boutique hotels.

After a while Nil decided to build her own hotel. She and her investment-partner Mukerrem Kalkay bought a tumbledown old house which had been lived in by a large local family in Urgup and SOTA Cappadocia’s long five year restoration project was begun.

First the original structure of the house was drawn by the architects and then the project plans and permissions for construction were received from the Cultural Ministry; making sure that the historical value of the house was retained. Interior designer Oytun Berktan (www.oytunberktan.com) then come on board to help build a hotel concept. Quite different to Cappadocia’s boutique hotel aesthetic, Nil and Oytun focused on minimalistic elegance with a contemporary decor which would still respect the soul and physical texture of Cappadocia.