Wonders of Cappadocia
Fairy chimneys, underground cities and rock-cut churches, at the pace they deserve.
- Duration
- 3 days
- Group size
- Your party only
- Season
- Year-round
A landscape people carved their lives into
Cappadocia is a landscape that people carved their lives into: churches with frescoes still on the ceiling, whole cities dug eight floors underground, houses in the rock that are hotels now and were homes for a thousand years before that. Three days lets you walk the valleys in the morning light before the coaches arrive, stand under the painted domes at Goreme with someone who can tell you which saint is which, and go down into Kaymakli or Derinkuyu without watching the clock. If you want the balloons, the alarm is early and the valleys read completely differently from above.
Three days, two nights in a cave hotel, privately on your dates. The days below are a starting point: extend them, add a longer walk, or join this to the beginning or end of anything else you are doing in Turkey.
HighlightsTwo nights inside the rock
A cave hotel, which is how this region has housed people for most of its history rather than a novelty built for visitors.
The balloons at first light
Optional and booked separately, and worth the early alarm. The valleys read completely differently from above.
An underground city
Kaymakli or Derinkuyu, lived in from the seventh century to the tenth and not found again until the 1950s.
Three valleys on foot
Pasabag, Zelve and Love Valley walked through, rather than three viewpoints seen from a car park.
The frescoes at Goreme
A UNESCO site whose rock-cut churches still hold their paintings, with a guide who can tell you what you are looking at.
A rug coming off the loom
At a weaving cooperative, with the craft explained and the bargaining left entirely to you.
The 3-day itinerary
A starting point, written to be argued with — every departure runs privately on your dates.
Day 1 Valleys, fairy chimneys and cave churches Cappadocia
After a Turkish breakfast, a morning walk through Pasabag and Zelve, two valleys of rock formations and cave dwellings. Pasabag is also called Monks Valley, after the hermitages cut into its fairy chimneys. In the afternoon the Goreme Open-Air Museum, a UNESCO site whose rock-cut churches still hold their frescoes, and time to walk the town of Goreme before returning to the hotel.
Overnight Cappadocia · Meals Breakfast, Lunch
Day 2 Balloons, a village lunch and Love Valley Cappadocia
Anyone who wants the balloons is up before dawn for them; the flight is optional and booked separately. The day then goes to the parts of the region most itineraries skip: the village of Mustafapasa, and an organic lunch cooked in a house in Ayvali. The afternoon is Love Valley, a canyon named for the shape of its chimneys, walked slowly.
Overnight Cappadocia · Meals Breakfast, Lunch
Day 3 An underground city, and a rug off the loom
The morning is Kaymakli or Derinkuyu: underground cities lived in from the seventh century to the tenth by Cappadocian Christians under attack, and not found again until the 1950s. At midday, a weaving cooperative, where the craft is explained and the bargaining with the sellers is left to you, with or without your guide. Early in the afternoon, a transfer to the airport for the flight to Istanbul or for whatever you have planned next.
Meals Breakfast, Lunch
Two nights in a cave hotel, which is how this region has housed people for most of its history rather than a novelty built for visitors.
What is included
- Two nights in a cave hotel
- Three breakfasts and three lunches with bottled water and soft drinks, in restaurants and village houses
- A professional English-speaking guide
- All land transfers in a private air-conditioned vehicle
- All entrance fees, admissions and parking
- Baggage handling
Not included
- The hot air balloon flight, which is optional and booked separately
- International airfares, airport taxes and fuel surcharges
- Arrival and departure transfers, which we arrange once we know your flights
- Alcoholic drinks
- A Turkish visa where your passport requires one, obtainable at evisa.gov.tr
- Gratuities for the guide and the driver
- Personal expenses, and travel and health insurance
Shape this journey around you
Tell us when you want to travel and who is coming. We will write the itinerary around that and send it back for you to argue with.
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