Itinerary · 6 days · 23 places
6 Days in Cappadocia
Six days in the volcanic tuff of Anatolia: a sunrise balloon flight over the fairy chimneys, the rock churches of Göreme and Zelve, the underground cities of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu and a day's hiking in the Ihlara Valley.
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Photo: Cihan Çimen · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arrival among the tuff
Arrival in Cappadocia
Hotel check-in
Göreme is a village set right among the tuff cones; the cave hotels sit on the slope above the main street, and everything is within walking distance.
Göreme Panorama viewpoint
From the hill above the village you can see the whole landscape of cones, turning from ochre to pink in the evening light.
Day 2Balloon flight & Göreme
Balloon flight over the fairy chimneys
Pick-up in the dark, take-off at sunrise from the field north of Göreme, then a flight skimming the cones of Love Valley and bubbly on landing.
Göreme Open-Air Museum
A valley basin full of monastery churches carved into the rock; the Karanlık Kilise has the most vividly coloured Byzantine frescoes in Anatolia.
Uçhisar Kalesi
Cappadocia's highest rock is hollowed out inside; from the platform the view reaches as far as the snowy summit of Erciyes.
Güvercinlik Vadisi (Pigeon Valley)
A trail between Uçhisar and Göreme whose walls are carved with hundreds of old dovecotes in the tuff.
Evening: viewing terrace in Uçhisar
The terrace cafés below the castle stay open late; at night the illuminated village rises like a cone beneath a very clear starry sky.
Day 3Fairy chimneys and potter's clay
Çavuşin and the Church of St John
The half-abandoned rock village clings to a cliff face, topped by the region's oldest basilica with weathered frescoes.
Paşabağ (Monks Valley)
Home to the three-headed fairy chimneys; one of them has the hermitage of St Simeon carved into it, complete with stairs and windows.
Zelve Open-Air Museum
Three ravines with cave dwellings, a rock-cut mosque and a mill, inhabited until 1952 and much quieter than Göreme.
Avanos pottery quarter
In the workshops on the Kızılırmak, the red river clay is still thrown on a kick wheel — watching and having a go yourself are part of the visit.
Kızılçukur (Red Valley)
The loop trail along the ridge reveals the red-and-white banded rocks, which positively glow in the last hour before sunset.
Evening: Kızılırmak riverside in Avanos
By Turkey's longest river, evenings are spent in the tea gardens beside the suspension bridge, lit up until late.
Day 4Underground cities
Kaymaklı Yeraltı Şehri
Four accessible levels with stables, kitchens and wine presses, linked by narrow sloping shafts.
Mazı Yeraltı Şehri
A rarely visited underground complex in the village, where the rolling stones still stand in place in front of the passages.
Derinkuyu Yeraltı Şehri
The deepest known cave city in the region reaches some 85 metres down, with ventilation shaft, well and a cruciform church at the very bottom.
Evening: old town lanes of Ürgüp
The cobbled lanes around the bazaar are lit up in the evening, and the wine bars pour the Cappadocian Emir grape and reds such as Kalecik Karası.
Day 5Ihlara Valley & Selime
Selime Cathedral
Cappadocia's largest rock-cut monastery, with nave, kitchen and stables carved into the cone and reached by well-worn ramps.
Güzelyurt (monastery and cave village)
A village of Greek heritage above a crater lake, whose Church of St Gregory became a mosque in 1924.
Ihlara Valley
Over 380 steps lead down into a green gorge 100 metres deep, where churches such as the Ağaçaltı Kilisesi are painted into the walls.
Belisırma on the Melendiz
Halfway along the gorge, tea houses sit on platforms right in the stream, with the Kirkdamalti Church in the slope behind.
Evening: village square of Mustafapaşa
The former Sinasos has Greek stone houses with ornate doorways; in the evening people sit over tea on the square beneath old trees.
Day 6Castle villages and farewell
Ortahisar Kalesi
An 86-metre honeycombed castle rock in the middle of the village, at whose foot the old lemon stores were dug into the tuff.
Temenni Tepesi in Ürgüp
The Hill of Wishes above the town is topped by a Seljuk tomb and offers a last wide view over the tuff slopes.
Departure from Cappadocia
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