Two companions and I recently stayed at this hotel for a two-day visit to Konya. The furnishings in our rooms were dark, but they were certainly new; the bathroom had been updated; the beds were comfortable. The whole hotel was generally well-ma?ntained and was definitely clean. The hotel is additionally ideally situated for seeing the Mevlana museum, and other sites are within walking distance of 20 minutes or less. Two of us had been to Konya about 20 years ago, and found that this hotel captured the atmosphere we remembered, while being updated to modern standards. Staff were friendly, and contrary to what another reviewer wrote, this is definitely not a terrible hotel!

We stayed here for one night en route from Kas to Cappadocia and it was one night too many. D?cor was revolting, the hotel was unclean, the staff unhelpful, the breakfasts disappointing. The most inspired thing about this hotel was the movement sensored lighting in the dark and dingy halls which, whilst hiding the dirty carpets in dire need of replacing or at the very least a hoover, were on a timer to stay on for no more than 3 footsteps - which was interesting given the sensors were about 30 feet apart – resulting in a 27 foot stumble around in the dark. The only redeeming feature of this hotel was its location – but even that didn’t salvage it for us.

I agree with the previous poster that the Balikcilar is a fine place to stay, especially if your trip to Konya is to visit the Mevlana Museum and the historic mosques. You couldn't ask for a better location. The rooms are clean and adequate, though nothing particularly charming or Turkish about them. If you stay in the tourist off-season, meals are in the basement instead of the rooftop dining area. There's also a hamam there that wasn't functioning when we were there but would be a lovely treat after a long drive across the Turkish plains. Hotel front desk staff were polite and helpful, though not as effusive as at smaller, family-run pansiyons. Unfortunately, Konya's cheaper hotels largely cater to Turkish male travelers, so non-Turkish women and familes might be uncomfortable there. Not so the Balikcilar. It's fine in that regard. Konya has got to have the worst traffic and street signage in Turkey. (Well, okay, after Istanbul, but no one in their right mind would drive in Istanbul.) We had to pull over twice and ask passersby "Mevlana Muse nerede?" for directions to the museum and then just follow blindly in the direction they pointed. I strongly recommend against arriving in morning or evening rush hours. By the way, the hotel's name means "the fisherman" although Konya is miles from any fishing. No one at the hotel could explain this to us.

(Rating relative to other options we are aware of in Konya.) This hotel, $85 incl. taxes (after asking for discount), turned out to be a good choice. It has a perfect location with views of the Mevlana Museum and Selimiye mosque, which are right across the street, and within walking or inexpensive cab distance of other attractions. The most hotel-like place we stayed in while we were in Turkey, but rooms were fine, free parking in front (though seem to be only a few spaces), views from room were great but was not much street noise with window closed and air conditioning on, free internet in bar, helpful staff (gave me a free 3-way plug to take with me when I tried to ask where to buy one), breakfast in top-floor restaurant with good view of Mevlana and mosque. By the way, driving into Konya was a great navigational challenge, particularly as we did not have (and never found) a particularly good map, and there were no street signs. We tried following signs to the Mevlana Museum, but they were not at enough intersections to keep us from getting lost, though eventually we found our way (still have no idea how we got there, and we never drove by the major circle in the center of town that we had assumed we would get to eventually). We had considered staying in the suburbs at a purported Hilton, but that would have been disastrous given how hard it was to find things by car.