The Turkish region of Cappadocia, a region of exceptional natural wonders, in particular characterized by fairy chimneys and a unique historical and cultural heritage, boasts one of the most dramatic sights in the world.
Visiting Cappadocia is such a change from visiting many other busy bustling sights all over Turkey. It is a great pleasure to wander in the vast open space filled with captivating natural attractions which have seen human history dated back in the Bronze Age.
While in Goreme Open Air Museum , the conical formations resulting from the volcanic eruptions that took place millions of years ago, just follow the path up to the top of one of the ridges where a spectacular view of the fairy chimneys awaits you. The natural cone formations contain caves and labyrinths. As early as the third century, those chimneys became a hiding place for early Christians who fled persecution from the Romans, and then later from raiding Muslims. In modern tourism, many caves have been turned into cave houses for tourist stays and the lunar-like setting of Goreme Valley has become popular for hot-air ballooning.
Many say the extremely unique landscape of Cappadocia resembles some scene in a Star Wars movie and yet you may be surprised to discover that no major commercial movies have been filmed there. It would be a perfect setting for movies such as Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter series.
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You'll be able to see more fairy chimney like the rest of Cappadocia, unless you're interested in old cave churches, then this is your place, it offers a good bunch of them (the most interesting being the one on top, which you have to pay an additional fee to get in) being more interesting because of the paintings on it's…
This was a beautiful hike that we attempted to do on our own. After visiting the castle on a hill in the town next to Goreme, we attempted to hike back, but quickly got lost – despite all the directions we received beforehand. While it isn't likely you will be in danger on this hike, we had to hike back…
a real underground city – they got air, water, and food in, kept the attackers out with stone wheel doors. Can be claustrophobic – tight tunnels and low ceilings in some places. We got stuck in between 2 bus loads and had to wait a bit at times. Well lite and worth seeing. Kids will love it. One of the…
This valley provides an easy hike – one of the safest and best. But some advice: See to it, that you start from Uchisar and then walk down hills to Göreme. First where to start and then the reason for this. The place to start in well before you get to Uchisar. There is a big shop to the right that sells precious stones. At the same place there is a road to the left. After some 100 meters there are a lot of ceramic pigeons on high sticks. Start from here and you will soon reach the friendly cay house. If you hesitate about the direction, choose the one downhill, all the time. You will reach Göreme in 30 – 45 minutes (depending on how much you want to enjoy the view and how many photos you shoot).Next, why not start the walk in Göreme? We walked this valley twice and every time we met people who lost their way. We even met a couple close to Uchisar, who were heading for Göreme, while dusk was falling. We urged them to hurry up. They had tried to find their way from Göreme and had been completely lost. There are confusing trails that are off the official path. There are local busses running every half an hour. Cost almost nothing. Go to Uchisar by bus and ask to be dropped off by The Pigeon Valley. You will get the most wonderful track!
Thankfully our tour guide changed our itinerary to see the open air museum late in the afternoon which helped since it wasn't as hot. You can essentially walk in a circle to see all the cave frescoes and churches. Something about the sky in Goreme – seems like a painting. Pictures really don't do it justice.
While staying at the wonderful Dervish Cave Hotel, we spent our 1st day in the Goreme Open Air Museum hiking up and down all the steps to the ancient cave dwellings and churches with painted walls. The next day I went on a hot air balloon ride with Air Kapadokya. Our hotel manager Cemal was our balloon pilot for our…
Everywhere in Goreme you can see this type of scenery, which is unique, but I really love this Valley because has a charming path, you can walk on it and there is a church up in a cave, I liked it a lot. Everyplace in Goreme is beautiful, but you can see this valley quickly, it doesn't take long and…
Try to find the tunnel connecting two valley. Worth spending a day. It is only a short drive from Urgup. Take a flashlight if you are planning to explore
it's a big place..so tired. beautiful to take a picture outside..but cannot take a photo inside the cave 🙁
Even though the preservation of the caves is not as good as Goreme open museum. The site gives you a complete view of the cave people's live. There are winery, small chapels, public halls and it was a really nice spring day hike for me. I enjoyed it very much. Less tourist, more fun.