Last Updated on 5 August, 2023
Shaded in a palette of dusky orange and cream, Cappadocia’s magical volcanic landscape of cones, chimneys, and pillars transports you to a whimsical fairytale. The unique rock formations have been sculpted by millions of years of erosion, and humans have left their mark there too: from rock-cut churches to complex underground cities. Cappadocia is unlike any other place on earth, so it comes as no surprise that Gรถreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
It’s important to know that Cappadocia is not a city. It’s a region in Central Anatolia and is divided into provinces: Nevลehir, Kayseri, Kฤฑrลehir, Aksaray, Malatya, Sivas, and Niฤde. The most popular places within those provinces are รrgรผp, Gรถreme, Ihlara Valley, Selime, Guzelyurt, Uรงhisar, Avanos and Zelve. The village of Gรถreme serves as the regionโs main tourist centre and it’s a town that this 4-day guide is based on.
The human history of Cappadocia stretches back thousands of years and spans many empires. These days Cappadocia is all about good times: fine wine, local dishes and five-star caves as well as horse riding, valley hikes, and hot-air balloon rides!
Day 1
Gรถreme Open Air Museum and Buckle Church
Located only a 15min walk from the Gรถreme town centre, the Gรถreme Open Air Museum is the most popular historic site in Cappadocia. It resembles a vast monastic complex composed of monasteries placed side by side each with a rock-cut church with beautiful frescoes (wall paintings). Most of the churches in Gรถreme Open Air Museum belong to the 10th-12th centuries.
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When you exit the Open Air Museum, don’t forget to cross the road to visit the Buckle Church, 50m down the hill towards Gรถreme and covered by the same ticket. This is one of Gรถreme’s biggest and finest churches, with an underground chapel and fabulously restored frescoes. Entry is via the barrel-vaulted chamber of the 10th-century ‘old’ chapel, with frescoes portraying the life of Christ. Behind it, the ‘new’ church, built less than 100 years later, is also alive with frescoes on a similar theme.
Have Lunch at Kale Terrasse Restaurant
This traditionally and beautifully decorated restaurant serves Turkish food (maze, grills, Turkish pizza) in a relaxing and welcoming atmosphere. It has a cosy outdoor seating area for warmer months.
Go Hiking in Pigeon Valley (Gรผvercinlik Vadisi)
Pigeon Valley earned its name from the countless man-made dovecotes (pigeon houses) that have been carved into the soft volcanic rock. Since ancient times pigeons have been used in the Cappadocia region for food and fertiliser for the infertile soil. While pigeons no longer play such an important role in the area, their rocky homes have still been maintained by locals and can be found atop rock pillars and inside excavated cave houses and churches throughout the region. However, they are particularly popular in this valley.
Ask your hotel to drop you off on the other side of the hiking trail from where you can walk back into the town. The hike is about 5km long and should take you around a couple of hours if you stop for pictures and take a break in a local cafรฉ which I highly recommend! You can find there the most delicious, freshly squeezed pomegranate juice prepared by a friendly elderly man.
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Watch Sunset on Lover’s Hill
When it comes to sunsets, Cappadocia is the place to be! The best spot to watch the sun go down in Gรถreme is on Lover’s Hill, located about a 10min walk from the town centre.
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Have Dinner at Inci Cave Restaurant
For an enhanced Cappadocia experience, I would recommend having dinner in this cave restaurant. They have traditional Turkish food and local wine combined with friendly and attentive staff. It was so good we went there twice. The food is so delicious, and the waiters – twin brothers, working there at the time, delivered excellent customer service. They let us break open the pottery kebab, which was a fun experience. The place itself is super cosy and beautiful.
Fun story: we didn’t know that the two waiters there were identical twin brothers. During our meal, one of them asked us if we wanted Turkish tea, to which we said yes. Minutes later, we were being asked the same question again by, what we didn’t know, another brother! My sister and I looked at each other slightly confused, both of us thinking: ‘huh, he asked us this question moments ago’. The tea time comes, and to our surprise, both brothers appear, and it turns out the chef gets them mixed up as well! One has to wear a vest on top of his shirt so that the chef could differentiate them!
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Day 2
Take a Hot Air Balloon Flight
A hot air balloon flight – the main reason why everyone comes to Cappadocia! Every picture you see of Cappadocia has hundreds of hot air balloons in the sky, and it makes you wonder if it looks too magical to be true. I can confirm that it’s as breathtaking in real life as it is in photographs, and weather permitting, it’s a sight you can witness daily in Cappadocia.
With such a popular activity comes a countless number of companies providing it. While you shouldn’t be frightened flying in a hot air balloon, it’s still a good idea to go with a reputable company. We booked our flight with Butterfly Balloons and had a delightful experience.
You must book the hot air balloon flight in advance or you’ll risk not being able to do it. It’s also a good idea to book it for the earliest day of your stay so that if you cannot fly because of bad weather, you still have a chance to experience it the next day!
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Read More: My Experience Taking a Hot Air Balloon Flight in Cappadocia, Turkey
Explore Gรถreme Town
Gรถreme is a small town (only 2,000 people living there) that is easy to explore on foot. There are lots of charming shops selling souvenirs, rugs and kilims, ceramics & pottery, gemstones & jewellery, clothing, and gourd lamps!
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Have Lunch at Omurca Art Cave Cafe
This unusual cafรฉ is almost like a museum with a charming and cosy atmosphere of a glowing fireplace in the winter months. It serves traditional Turkish food, mulled wine as well as shisha for the ultimate Turkish experience. It’s even cosier in the evening.
Visit Monks Valley (Pasaba Vadisi)
Located around 6km from Gรถreme town centre, Monks Valley is best reached by car. We found a taxi near the bus station (Gรถreme Otobรผs Terminali) and in around 15min were exploring the valley.
It’s one of the most popular valleys, known for its mushroom-shaped fairy chimneys, but it got its Monks Valley name because monks used to take refuge here. Cappadocia had become a thriving monastic community by the 4th century and St. Simeon was one of the many monks who came to Cappadocia. There were rumours that he could perform miracles, and he came to Cappadocia to escape the attention. He lived as a hermit in the upper reaches inside one of the 15-metre high fairy chimneys with his disciples and only descended occasionally to get food and drink brought by his disciples.
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Visit Zelve Open Air Museum
About 15min walk from the Monks Valley, Zelve Open Air Museum was once one of the largest communities in the region is now an empty cave town, honeycombed with dwellings and chambers. There, the Christians and Muslims lived together in perfect harmony until 1924. Then Christians had to leave the valley because of the exchange of minorities between Greece and Turkey, and the Muslims were forced to evacuate the Valley in the ’50s when life became dangerous due to the risk of erosion. They left the site to set up a modern village, a little further on, to which they gave the name Yeni Zelve (New Zelve) which is now also a ghost town as the erosion continues.
Have Dinner at Pumpkin Gรถreme Restaurant and Art Gallery
The beauty of restaurants in Gรถreme is that most of them are extremely cosy serving delicious comfort food and Pumpkin Gรถreme is no exception. The owner of the restaurant is also a chef there so you can expect the best service and good quality food.
Day 3
Watch the Hot Air Balloons at the Sunrise
Watching the balloons rise in the air from the rooftop of your hotel might not be as amazing as going on a hot air balloon ride itself but it’s still pretty magical. This activity is, however, very popular so I do recommend getting there as the sun rises.
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Imaginary Valley (Devrent Vadisi)
Located a bit more further away from the Gรถreme town centre – around 12km, Imaginary Valley does not have churches other valley. There are no Roman castles or Roman tombs in Devrent Valley, either. Actually, it was never inhabited. But what it does have is many animal-shaped rocks. It looks like a sculpture zoo made by nature. Some of the easiest seen animal shapes are camel, snake, seals, and dolphin. If you let your imagination run free you will find many others. It is like looking at clouds and seeing a dragon.
Have Lunch at Firin Express
Firin Express is known for its Turkish pide (Turkish bread with ground meat and vegetable filling) as well as other Turkish dishes on a budget paired with friendly customer service and a pleasant atmosphere.
Go on a Horse Ride in Rose Valley
What’s a better way to explore the emptiness of the Rose Valley without other tourists in sight than being on a horseback? As you trot through this stunning valley, you cannot help but feel like you are somewhere far away from civilisation which makes it a rather unique experience. You don’t have to be a rider – you could even be riding for the first time. The expert guide will accompany you for their well trained calm horses. We booked our experience through Sultan Cave Suites.
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Have Dinner at Seten Restaurant
Located in the famous Sultan Cave Suites hotel, Seten has quickly established itself as one of the best restaurants in the region. Centred around an arched courtyard that hosts a classical music concert twice yearly, the restaurant serves a variety of Anatolian and Turkish dishes. They are prepared from locally sourced ingredients using traditional cooking techniques. Guests can savour dishes like yaprak sarma (rice wrapped in vine leaves and cooked in a tandir oven), and รงiรงek dolmasฤฑ (Gรถreme-style stuffed squash blossoms). You can also check out a wide range of homemade wines housed in the restaurantโs cave wine cellar.
Day 4
Go on a Green Tour Approx. 8 Hours
I highly recommend going on a green tour which takes you outside of Gรถreme. Unless you have a car, you won’t be able to visit these places on your own. Also, having a guide who tells you the history of the sites is always handy. During the green tour, you will visit the following attractions:
- Kaymakli Underground city
- Ilhara Valley
- Lunch
- Selime Monastery
- Pigeon Valley Vista Point
- Onyx Demonstration
Starting from your hotel at around 9.30am, you will be greeted by your guide and the driver. Your first stop is the widest and enchanting underground city Kaymakli. It features a maze of tunnels and rooms carved eight levels deep on earth.
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Next, you will go to the magnificent and blissfully quiet Ilhara Valley. There, you will walk alongside the Melendiz River for about 1 hour that winds its way through the unique home to rock-carved churches and underground dwellings. With nearly 100 in total, they line both sides of the gorge. After hiking, you will have lunch in a restaurant on the river in the village of Belisirma.
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After lunch, you will continue to Selime Monastery which is an astonishing rock-cut construction and the largest religious structure in the Cappadocia region with a cathedral-sized church cut directly into the volcanic tuff.
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On the way back, you will stop at Gรถreme panoramic viewpoint to take pictures of Pigeon Valley and the unique rock formations. You will have hiked through the Pigeon Valley on your first day and already seen it, but this viewpoint is not any less breathtaking. Especially just before dusk. Your final stop will be at the local onyx factory to see a demonstration on carving and shaping onyx, but also for a chance to buy some gemstones.
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We booked our tour through Sultan Cave Suites and we were in a small group of 6.
How to Get There
Getting to Cappadocia is fairly easy, however, there aren’t direct flights and you have to fly via Istanbul. Luckily, the flight from Istanbul to Cappadocia is just over an hour. Two airports serve Cappadocia:
- Nevลehir Kapadokya Airport located about 40km/40 minutes from Gรถreme
- Kayseri Airport about located 75km/60 minutes from Gรถreme
The big difference here is that Kayseri is a bigger airport, with more flight options and often cheaper flights. To find your flights go to Skyscanner.
To get from either of the airports to Gรถreme you need to pre-book your shuttle or be prepared for an expensive taxi. The cheapest and easiest way to do that is to book online here. For under ยฃ10, you can ride in a shared, air-conditioned airport transfer. They will be waiting with a sign and your name on it. For ยฃ40, you can have a private, air-conditioned car by booking online here.
Read More: My Experience Taking a Hot Air Balloon Flight in Cappadocia, Turkey
Check out my Youtube video about exploring Istanbul and Cappadocia
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