Cappadocia walking tour & city guide

Göreme and the balloons

The village of Göreme is the heart of Cappadocia and the best base for exploring. Many hotels here are built into caves, and their terraces offer front-row seats for the region's most famous spectacle: on calm mornings, more than a hundred hot air balloons rise at sunrise and drift over the valleys.

The Göreme Open-Air Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a complex of rock-cut monasteries and churches, some decorated with remarkably preserved Byzantine frescoes. The Dark Church is especially impressive.

Valleys, castles and underground cities

Walking trails lead through valleys with poetic names: Love Valley, with its towering rock pillars, the pink-hued Rose Valley, at its best at sunset, and Pigeon Valley, dotted with dovecotes carved into the cliffs. The rock fortress of Uçhisar, the highest point in the area, offers a sweeping view of the whole landscape.

Beneath the ground, cities such as Derinkuyu and Kaymaklı descend many levels, with tunnels, stables, chapels and ventilation shafts. They could shelter thousands of people and their livestock during times of danger.

Visiting tips

Balloon flights depend on the weather and are often cancelled in strong wind, so plan a few mornings if a flight is important to you. Spring and autumn are ideal for hiking. The towns of Avanos, known for pottery, and Ürgüp, with wineries and stone mansions, are worth visiting too. Nearest airports are Kayseri and Nevşehir.