Discover Cappadocia, Turkey: Why This Surreal Destination Must Be on Your Bucket List
Welcome to my travel blog, this time we will get deep into Turkey, where you can find beautiful landscapes filled with unusual landforms including deserts, colorful rocks with thousands of caves and hotels, shops, and restaurants that are literally built into the rocks. Let me introduce you Cappadocia in Turkey.
Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia in the heartland of Turkey with markedly continental climate, with hot dry summers and cold snowy winters, so don't be in shock if you decide to travel there during the winter - it will be snowy and white. So, what to see in Cappadocia and what to do here? Where to find the best tourist attractions and interesting places? Let's find out!
Goreme
The city of Goreme is the main place where most tourists stay during their Cappadocia trips. You can find here a lot of different restaurants, shops, and other activities. Here's the place you can rent a scooter, a car, balloon flight or other day tours. You will find here much more tourists, so the city will be a little bit crowded.
Goreme is a great place to start our visit to Cappadocia. While being here, make sure to visit the Cappadocian historical center and to spend at least one evening in the city's viewpoint to watch and photograph the sunset.
Cavusin
The city of Cavusin is a very small village in Cappadocia. You won't find here a lot of shops, hotels, and restaurants, but those which you can find here are operated by the locals, which makes Cavusin one of the most authentic towns in the region. You will see here people carrying water from the river or tending to their fields. There are not many tourists here and all of this makes it a great Turkish experience.
You will find here a lot of caves hollowed in the mountains, which together with traditional Turkish houses, make perfect landscapes for photography.
Pasabag
You can find Pasabag on the road from Goreme and Avanos to Zelve. The name of the city comes from Pacha's vineyard. It's hard to miss it, as its earth pillars (called also Monks Valley), that are everywhere and look like huge mushrooms, are visible from far away. And even if you miss the pillars, there will be a lot of vineyards all across the main road.
In one of that chimneys, you can find a Saint Simeon chapel, who lived here in the 5th century and it's famous for many different miracles. You can find here, in Pasabag valley, some of the most striking chimneys in whole Cappadocia, with even triple rock caps.
Kaymakli and Derinkuyu underground cities
Two of the biggest tourist attractions in the Cappadocia are underground cities. In this area, you can find two of them: Kaymakli and Derinkuyu. Some parts of the Kaymakli underground city are older than 2000 years and it's the most spacious underground city in whole Turkey and Cappadocia.
In the other side, Derinkuyu underground city is 18 levels deep and was able to provide a shelter for 20 000 people for long months, mostly because of advanced defense innovations. Both underground cities are awesome and you should definitely visit Kaymakli and Derinkuyu. If you want to know more, read my article about underground cities in Turkey.
Uchisar
The city of Uchisar can be found in the south of Goreme. It's a town build on a high elevation and like Ortahisar (the village described below), Uchisar is built around the old fortified castle on the rock.
While being here, it's worth to go to the Pigeon Valley from where you can see the beautiful panorama and the view of the castle. When it comes to the views, the great idea is to get to the top of the castle from where you can see one of the best views in whole Cappadocia. The Uchisar village is also a great place for shopping, as there are a lot of traditional shops here.
Ortahisar
Ortahisar is a wonderful village with many white houses built on the slopes of the mountain and surrounded by groves of citrus trees. Similar to Uchisar, old castle ruins can be found on the top of the hill. The big advantage is the there are not many tourists here, so you can feel the historical atmosphere: goods transported by donkeys, street sellers and tea shops filled with men sip their ruby red drinks with their hookah.
While being here, it's worth to climb to the top of the ancient castle and see the panorama with the view of the Mount Erciyes and the castle of Uchisar.
Hot air balloon flight
Probably one of the biggest Cappadocia attraction and the one I definitely enjoyed the most. During the hot air balloon ride on sunrise, I was able to take awesome pictures, the best ones from my whole trip to Turkey. Just imagine hundreds of flying balloons in the sky between all that great canyons.
The only problem is that balloon flight starts about 5:30 AM, so you will need to wake up very early to drive to the right place. Oh, and spend about 180 - 200 dollars for the fun. But trust me, it's really worth it.
Horse riding through Rose Valley
If you like (and know how to) the horse riding through Rose Valley is a perfect type of activity for you. If not, you can still do this by hiring a guide. There are some different routes in Rose Valley, the shortest is about 2 kilometers, and the longest is 10 kilometers long.
Anyway, if you will have to choose only one hike in Turkey, I would suggest you choose the Rose Valley in Cappadocia with no doubts.
Conclusion
I hope you know now why you should discover Cappadocia in Turkey. It's the perfect area for many activities, like horse riding, hiking or balloon flying. There are a lot of old ancient cities inside rocks as well as the ones hidden underground. I would recommend this area as one of the best places to visit during a trip to Turkey.
If you enjoyed this article or have some questions about Cappadocia or Turkey, feel free to leave me a comment in the section below.
