Cappadocia is unlike anywhere else in the world. Most people do not even scratch the surface of all that there is to do and see here. I have made a list of what Erica and I did during out 5-day, 4-night stay in Göreme. Our trip was originally only planned for 3 nights, but we were so overwhelmed by how beautiful and exciting it was, that we changed our plans and added an extra night!
First things, first
Where we stayed: Göreme
Hotel: Mithra Cave Hotel
Airport: We flew into and out of Kayersi because this airport offered the most options for flights. The airport was around 1 hour and 15 minutes from our hotel in Göreme.
Trip length: 5 days, 4 nights
Transportation: I would recommend renting a car if you want flexibility and freedom. If not, you will need to book bus tours to take you to some of the open air museums. There are a lot of walkable sights from Göreme, so you can manage with no car if you are only staying for a short trip. If you do rent, be aware that it can be tricky driving up some of the narrow streets!
1) Ride in a hot air balloon.
Of course, this is number one on the list. It is why people come to Cappadocia. You’ve seen the photos- they are the ones on Instagram of beautiful women in long colorful dresses with a beautiful sunrise behind them covered in hundreds of hot air balloons. It is completely magical, and (in my opinion) it was not overrated. Erica and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and it is worth the steep price tag.
Erica and I went with a company called Voyager Balloons. The standard flight option (the cheapest one) was perfect. For this option, the basket holds around 20 people. You might feel like this will be crowded, but it was just fine!
Be sure to make your reservation for your first morning. It is likely that the weather will be bad, so you will have to try for multiple mornings. The balloon company will let you know and hold your reservation for the soonest clear day for flying. There is a chance that every day will have bad weather. Start your reservation for the first morning to give yourself the highest chance of being able to go up. We reserved a balloon ride for the first morning, but we ended up not being able to fly until our third morning. This is just another reason to stay in Cappadocia multiple days- it will give you a higher chance of getting a balloon ride.
We had to wake up at the butt crack of dawn the morning of our flight. The company picked us up from our hotel and took us to their office where there were hot drinks and snacks before we then took another shuttle to the launching area. The flight itself was around one hour, and every bit of it was incredible. One warning, it was COLD!!! I wore three pairs of pants, and I was still cold (granted, we were there in November). Our pilots were very kind and professional, and the whole group had complimentary champagne/juice after we landed. We also all received certificates. After we were all finished, the company drove everyone directly back to their hotels. We were extremely happy with the experience from Voyager Balloons!
2) Take a morning to chase the balloons from the ground.
Erica and I really enjoyed going to the launch site on the morning of our balloon flight. So much so, that we wanted to return! We drive our rental car to the launch site on our last morning in Cappadocia, and it was one of the best ideas that we had! If you are not wanting to fork out the cash to go on the balloons, or if you have a fear of heights, this is a fantastic alternative!
Erica and I arrived at the launch site probably 30-45 minutes before the sunrise. We then spent around an hour chasing balloons. This was where we got some of our most epic photos. The balloons fly quite close to the ground, and it is amazing to watch them fly over you. We literally spent so much time just running around from cliff to cliff taking it all in. It is breathtaking. On top of this, you get to watch so many high caliber photoshoots taking place with women in these magnificent dresses as well as brides. The best part is that no one is fighting for a good photo because there is so much space and so many magnificent cliffs that view the sights from! It’s a dream.
3) Watch the balloons from your hotel rooftop.
I know that you are probably tired of me talking about balloons, but I have one more! After Erica and I raced around the launch site, we sped back to our cave hotel in order to take in the scene from our hotel’s rooftop. Once again, INCREDIBLE. From every direction, it is amazing. I wish that I could have had 10 more mornings to watch those balloons. Once again, this is why it is imperative to stay multiple nights. We only had two mornings where the balloons were flying, so we made the most of them! Most all hotels in Goreme will have some kind of rooftop terrace. This is where you may encounter more “Instragrammers” trying to get that classic photo. Erica and I found a small terrace and waited our turn for photos. I literally just threw on a dress over my sweats. It was freezing, but I knew that I would not regret having this photo later on.
4) Love Valley Trail to Uçhisar Castle
We spent a full day on this trail, but if you do it quickly, it would probably only take 1-2 hours. We took our time and stopped often for taking photos and enjoying the scenery. You can start the hike in Görme (no driven required!) and hike through Love Valley and then end with Uçhisar Castle. Love Valley is where you can see so many of the famous hoodoos, and Uçhisar Castle is a wild rock feature that you will need to see to believe.
This trail is a very scenic and easy hike, and it allows you to see a lot! We hiked with jackets, but I assume that it can get quite hot on this trail in the summer as there is no tree coverage. We literally saw no one else on this trail. Once we made it to Uçhisar, we may our way up to the top of the castle. I would recommend doing this, because it gives some great views! After we finished exploring, we simply hiked back to Göreme on the side of the road (not the safest idea). I would recommend just finding a taxi and paying to return to Görme because it is probably more time efficient and safer than walking on the side of the road!
Love Valley shots:
Uçhisar Castle shots:
5) Göreme Open Air Museum
This is one of the closet and most popular open air museums in the area. Although Erica and I drove there, it is actually only a 15-minute walk from the main Göreme city center. If you only choose to go to one open air museum, I would recommend this one! Be aware that this one is the most popular, so it will be crowded. The good thing is that there is a lot of space to spread out and walk around!
The area is filled with cave churches and Byzantine frescos (the oldest dated to the 9th century). There are some great views of the rock features as well.
6) Zelve Open Air Museum
Zelve was definitely the least crowded of the open air museums that we visited. One of the reasons why this one felt less crowded was because of the size! There were so many passages and trails to choose from. There are a lot of unique features to look at here, and it often feels like another world.
7) Pasabag Open Air Museum
This was probably my favorite open air museum just because it gave me the best photos out of the three! You will find crowds at this one! When visiting Cappadocia, most people take bus tours, and this is one of the popular bus tour stops. Because of this, if you come during peak hours, expect a number of tour groups!
The rock formations at Pasabag were really neat, and (even though it’s crowded), I still recommend it!
8) Red Valley Panoramic
Erica and I visited Red Valley twice- once during the day and once at sunset. When we went earlier in the day, we had the place to ourselves! It was a nice quiet time there. That being said, the valley is amazing at sunset! We choose a spot (with what felt like half of Turkey) to watch the sun go down. It’s quite a show, and there are lots of opportunities to enjoy hot tea and snacks near the outlook. Once again, yes, it is crowded, but there is plenty of space to spread out!
Some photos of Red Valley at midday vs. at golden hour
9) Sunset Point
If you do nothing else in Cappadocia, you must go to Sunset Point. This outlook is walkable from any hotel in the Göreme area. Because we had limited sunrises, Erica and I never made it up there for the morning view, but we did spend our first Cappacdocia sunset at Sunrise Point, and it was amazing. Once again, it is popular, so expect crowds, but all you have to do to escape is walk down and away from the people. There are plenty of quiet ledges and spots to just sit and enjoy. There is also a cute spot where you can order tea!
If you are lucky, there will be some sunset hot air balloons flying over to enhance the view even more!
10) Pigeon Valley (Guvercinlik Vadisi) hike
Because we added an extra day to our trip, we took some time on the Pigeon Valley hike. If you are not staying in the area for as long as we did, then I would skip out on this one- just because there are so many other things to see! That being said, we did really enjoy this. It was mostly empty on the trail. There were a few sections where the trail was not marked very well. I would definitely have Google maps downloaded just in case you get turned around! We were never worried on the trail because you can see Uçhisar Castle the whole time, which is a great marker.
On the day that we did this trail, we taxied from Göreme and taxied back!
11) Twin fairy chimneys
This was Erica and I’s first stop in Cappadocia. It is more of a drive-by situation, but it is a great introduction into the area, and you can get some cool hoodoo shots. It was conveniently located on our way to the hotel, so I would recommend stopping here if you are staying in Göreme!
12) Galerie İkman
Okay, y’all- this is for you Instagrammers out there. Galerie İkman is a carpet shop in Göreme where the shop owners allow tourists to take photos inside for a fee! I know that this place has picked up in popularity since Erica and I visited, so the price has probably increased. But, we only paid a small fee, and it was worth it! The shop is amazing! When we went, there was a worker there who gave us photography tips as well. While we were leaving, there were girls who paid extra to have drone footage taken, so you can do that too if that’s your thing.
Other Highlights:
Coffeedocia
If I am correct, this is the only coffee shop in Göreme (as of 2021 when we visited). Erica and I literally came to Coffeedopia every day around 4pm after we had finished our hikes for afternoon tea, salep, and sometimes sweets. I have since heard from other friends that their coffee is not good, but I cannot say one way or another because I never had their coffee. What I do know is that their hot Turkish tea is FIRE. They add a good amount of Bergamot (Earl Grey), and it hits different after you have been cold and hiking most of the day. It was such a nice spot to relax a bit, hop on Wi-Fi, and chill before heading to dinner.
Random Hikes
By our last day in Cappadocia, Erica and I realized that there is so much to see from just walking out from Göreme. We took time to literally just walk 20 minutes or so and found so many cool areas to climb around the hoodoos. It’s amazing how easy it is to see everything around here!
To get to this photo spot, we simply walked from Göreme’s city center along Müze Caddesi (Müze Street). Once we got to the hoodoos, we found a walking trail!
Streets of Göreme
I would highlight encourage you to take time to simply walk around the streets of Göreme. Every corner of this town is a photograph.
Turkish Food
One of the best things about Turkey is Turkish breakfast! It is very common for hotels in Turkey to offer breakfast at no additional cost. I highly recommend that you take advantages of this! After running out to see the sunrise every morning, Erica and I enjoyed our hotels extremely amazing breakfast (one of my favorite Turkish breakfasts that I have had!). We treated this like brunch and really filled up on food. This ended up saving us a lot of money because we only paid for dinner everyday! This saved us time to focus on hiking during the majority of the day instead of having to worry about searching for lunch or getting hangry.
For dinner, I had done some research before the trip, but we ended up just choosing whatever local restaurant was close and easy (due to general exhaustion). We enjoyed our meal every night! Erica stuck to ordering pide, which is essentially a Turkish version of pizza. I really love karnıyarık (stuff eggplant), so I ordered this almost every night. We did eat at a tepsi kebab restaurant one evening, but, in my opinion, it is not the best dish here. This dish is a bit of a show and normally needs to be ordered ahead of time because it is made in a clay pot. They will bring you the pot and crack it in front of you (which is fun) if you would like that experience.
Conclusion: Cappadocia is 12/10
