The Mars-esque landscape of Cappadocia was settled by Hittites and early Christians in the 1800s BC. The unique, and somewhat phallic, rock formations made Cappadocia one of Turkey’s top tourist sites, which is actually made up of a handful of towns surrounding the national park.
Göreme is the most popular and has many restaurants and shops in town. It is also closest to the Göreme Open Air Museum and has the most accommodation options, including cave hostels. Also nearby is Uçhisar, a hilly town around 5 kilometers away where I stayed at Taskonaklar.
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Most people fly into Cappadocia from Istanbul via one of the area’s two airports, Neveşehır and Kayseri. You can also take the bus from nearly anywhere in Turkey, as I chose to do from Fethiye. Most bus companies go through the area and stop in Göreme.
Avanos and Ürgüp are two more of the towns that make up the area and have their own sites on offer, including the rock formations and pottery studios. I had three days in the Cappadocia and used each day to explore a different area.
After a day exploring the town of Uçhisar and climbing to the top of the castle, I joined the Urban Adventures Heart of Cappadocia tour. Nearly every tour operator in town has four tours (red, green, yellow, blue) that focus on something different. One goes to the underground cities, one to the valleys and another to the national parks. The eight hour tour I went on started at the Devrent Imagination Valley, which has rock formations resembling camels and other creatures.
Next up was the Zelve Open Air Museum, a less crowded site with homes built into the rocks. People lived in these caves throughout Cappadocia until the 1970s when the Turkish government paid them to vacate in order to protect the historic sites and prevent further damage. We toured a pottery studio in Avanos that has been creating Hittite styles for hundreds of years before lunch at an underground restaurant specializing in clay pot kebabs.
One of the last stops of the day was the Göreme Open Air Museum, the most popular tourist attraction in town. Not only does this site have houses, churches and other buildings built into the rocks, but they also have some of the best examples of Byzantine frescoes.
I didn’t pay extra to go into the Dark Church, but if you’re interested in ancient churches, definitely check it out. Before returning to our respective hotels, we stopped at viewpoints in Esentepe, overlooking the Pigeon Valley, and at the bottom of Uçhisar castle. Both had great views, were free, and had shops selling tea and souvenirs.
You don’t have to take a tour to see the best sites in Cappadocia, but it certainly cuts down on costs when you have to pay entry at the archaeological sites. My tour included a guide, lunch and transportation. Your only other option is to walk or take a taxi, which can add up.
If you’re doing it yourself, I highly recommend seeing at minimum the free lookout points on the road between Göreme and Uçhisar, the Göreme Open Air Museum (15 lira, $7.50 USD) and the Uçhisar Castle. It costs only 5 lira ($2.50 USD) to go to the top, which has the best view of the area if you’re not going ballooning. But if you can go hot air ballooning, you should. It’s worth it.
The Cappadocia area has a fair amount of restaurants with all sorts of cuisines, but most are in Göreme. I ate a few nondescript meals at kebab shops in town, but I can recommend a few places. Fat Boys Cafe in Göreme is owned by a Turkish and Australian couple, so they have a mix of cuisines including homemade meat pies and sausage rolls.
Le Mouton Rouge in Uçhisar is one of the nicer restaurants in town, where I had a seat next to a cozy fire and ordered roasted chicken. Lastly, Bizim Ev in Avanos is where my tour took me for lunch. I enjoyed lentil soup and lamb kofte, but their specialty is meats and vegetables cooked in clay pots and manti, a type of ravioli with yogurt sauce.
Hotels and hostels cost more in Cappadocia than elsewhere in Turkey because tourism is the main industry here. Expect to pay 35 lira ($17.50) per night for dorms and upwards of 200 lira ($100) for hotel rooms. If you’re going to splurge anywhere during your trip to Turkey, make it in Cappadocia.
You’ll get great service and amenities for your money, not to mention being able to sleep underground. I enjoyed my stay at Taskonaklar Hotel in Uçhisar. I also heard good things about Flintstones Cave Hotel, Cappadocia Cave Suites and Shoestring Cave House.
My Heart of Cappadocia tour with Urban Adventures was discounted from a voucher I received for being an active member of the World Nomads community, where I purchase my Travel insurance for every trip. All opinions are my own.
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