Kars-I Sirin Hotel

Several other hotels in Kars were booked out. While the Sirin was nowhere near my first choice it turned out to be adequate for a 1 night stay. The hotel has an interesting design from the outside, perhaps best described as Ottoman style. The receptionist had very little English but went out of his way to be helpful even calling soon after I had gone to the room to offer complimentary Turkish coffee. The hotel is a bit scruffy with very stained carpets, a bit of mould in the shower and a broken glass light shade. That aside the room was very clean and large with a double bed and a separate single bed plus a table and a couple of chairs. There was also a small fridge but it didn’t feel cold inside. Perhaps it was unplugged somewhere or not cold because the power was off when the room was not in use. The room itself was very warm in spite of the sub-zero outside temperature and the street was quiet. The hotel is situated on the edge of the main downtown area in easy walking distance of a good supermarket, restaurants and other shops. On the downside, the wifi was appalling when it actually worked which it didn’t much of the time anyway. Don’t count on it. The in-house restaurant serves only breakfast so don’t count on that either for other meals. Finally, the hotel was supposed to have ordered a taxi to get me to the train station early in the morning and even told me how much it would cost but there was no taxi to be seen at the departure time. I expect this was the taxi’s fault not the hotel’s but it was stressful none the less. Fortunately, there is a taxi stand half a block away with a driver sleeping inside a little cabin next to a couple of taxis so I didn’t miss my train. Overall, the Sirin is fine for 1-2 nights with good proximity to most things and most of the desired comforts with the exception of stable wifi.