Şirince, Selçuk, İzmir
A singular hotel in Şirince. One of a kind in Turkey.
Almost like home
Nisanyan Hotel is one of Turkey's finest hotels, yet it is at heart a simple and friendly sort of place. It offers you beauty and peace, as well as a good dose of elegance.
The grounds are huge, but they make you feel like you own the place by yourself. Set in a rural village, it is only a ten-minute drive from Ephesus, one of Turkey's top travel destinations. It probably serves the best food within 100 miles, though you'd think it is mom and pop cooking.
It has the most intricately detailed interiors of any hotel in the country, yet it manages to feel perfectly spontaneous and casual.
Places
It has the most intricately detailed interiors of any hotel in the country, yet it manages to feel perfectly spontaneous and casual. The grounds are huge, but they make you feel like you own the place by yourself.
What is it like?
Nişanyan Hotel grew over the years with no discernible plan or logic. There were three historic village houses to start with. To them were added two elegant inns (each with five independent rooms), a half dozen rustic cottages, a vast and complicated garden, a defense tower, a Turkish bath, a swimming pool in white marble, several hundred fruit trees and much else besides. No two units are quite alike. Each reflects the inspiration of the moment and the whim of experimentation.
Restaurant
Having traveled a lot, we detest ‘tourist food’. We cook using fresh ingredients. The olive oil and vegetables come from our own gardens. We serve some of the finest privately made wines in the country.
A sumptuous breakfast is served throughout the day. A vast array of fine cheeses, homemade sweets and fresh pastries is designed to defeat your diet. And we make good filter coffee, a rarity in Turkey.
Explore the restaurant
Cooking Workshop
Hi, I'm Mujde, the co-founder and the host of Nisanyan Hotel.
I think that the heart of our hotel is the kitchen and our herb garden. I have been in charge of the food department in our hotel for years now. As a rule I have never employed professional cooks, and prefer to raise my kitchen staff from the talented women of our village.
Explore the Cooking WorkshopFacilities
Over 35 years, we grew Nişanyan Hotel with details that made us happy. Today our 40-acre grounds, with all their sitting corners, gardens, terraces and surprises, have become a paradise that takes a full day to discover.
We were inspired by the design of ancient Roman pools. So we wanted to build one for our hotel. The water comes fresh from the mountains, so it's cold in the morning and gets warmer throughout the day. The pool closes near the end of October.
A real hamam with a view that commands all of Şirince. Now an ideal spot for every kind of evening cocktail. If the cocktail you want is not on our menu, we invite you to the stage.
Our ‘Medieval’ tower was built in the course of a long and painful battle with bureaucratic shortsightedness. Now, in more peaceful times, you can enjoy the valley view from the top while you sip your wine, free of charge, or order a private dinner in fortified solitude.
Excursions
Formerly a Greek village under the Ottoman Empire, Şirince preserves much of its historic architecture – sort of – intact. It is surrounded by a glorious countryside of vineyards and forested hills. Tourism has turned the main street into souvenir-alley, but Nişanyan Hotel is high enough on the hill to stay almost unaffected.
Ephesus, possibly the top Ancient site and sight in Turkey, is a 12-kilometer drive from the hotel. It is not to be missed. But we find our guests fall in deeper love with the two other major sites in the area, Priene and the Temple of Apollo at Didyma.
Mathematics Village and Theater Madrasa are just 2 kilometers from the hotel. They are two of Turkey’s most unique and original educational institutions. Arsen Nişanyan and his friends’ Arkhe Education Camp is also located in the same area.
Your Hosts
İris Nişanyan Vural, their daughter, now runs the hotel. She studied at the Swiss International School for Tourism and Hospitality. She is married to Kaan and has one young child.
Müjde Tönbekici. Originally from Bursa and Swiss. In her twenties, she was inspired by Dido Sotiriou’s novels and discovered Şirince. Co-author of the book Small Hotels. For many years she has been the person who has put the most effort into Nişanyan Hotel and shaped its soul. The cooking workshop she created and runs is considered the highlight of the Şirince experience for many visitors.
Sevan Nişanyan and Müjde Tönbekici were for many years celebrated as the co-authors of the annual Little Hotel Book, the Bible of Turkey’s small and unusual hotels. Sevan is also a linguist, author of three enormous tomes on etymology and Turkish place names, an architect of sorts, and a political troublemaker. Having fallen foul of the current Turkish régime, he now lives in exile.
Booking
