Goreme
Price €522
Min age 0
Rating 4.92 / 5 [289 ratings]
Tour supplied by:
Bucket list destination:
Central Anatolia, Turkey
Cappadocia is a fantasy land where the soft rock has weathered into a profusion of arches, caverns and eye-popping protuberances that resemble gigantic mushrooms or massive meringues.
The locals have followed nature’s example, hollowing the volcanic stone into homes, barns, fresco-painted Byzantine-era churches, and even so-called underground cities, enormous warrens where whole communities once sheltered from raiding Saracens and Mongols.
Of particular appeal to the culturally curious and to walkers alike, Cappadocia has in recent years acquired a wealth of architecturally distinctive and delightful hotels.
The natural beauty and culture of this World Heritage Site can now be experienced in levels of comfort and sophistication not associated with Turkey’s steppe interior.
Cappadocia is a compact region about 50km wide at the very centre of Turkey, with a central hub provided by the neighbouring towns of Goreme and Urgup. The other small towns of particular interest – Uchisar, Ortahisar, Mustafapaşa and Avanos – all lie within a 15km radius. Many of the best sites and walking routes are concentrated in this central area, but there are more far-flung ruins and valleys, especially to the south.
Our selection of the best Viator tours of this destination, plus helpful tickets and transfers
Goreme
Price €522
Min age 0
Rating 4.92 / 5 [289 ratings]
Tour supplied by:
Istanbul
Price €249
Min age 0
Rating 4.25 / 5 [185 ratings]
Tour supplied by:
Istanbul
Price €1,239
Min age 8
Rating 4.72 / 5 [154 ratings]
Tour supplied by:
Istanbul
Price €1,149
Min age 0
Rating 4.85 / 5 [100 ratings]
Tour supplied by:
Istanbul
Price €1,300
Min age 0
Rating 4.81 / 5 [75 ratings]
Tour supplied by:
High summer is low season, but increasing numbers of visitors put up with the heat and volcanic dust to combine Cappadocia with a Turkish beach holiday.
Despite an outside chance of rain, spring and autumn are excellent times to visit; October can be particularly busy. Don’t rule out mid-winter, when high pressure can bring crisp blue skies and Cappadocia can be at its uncrowded best.
There are daily flights from Istanbul to Cappadocia’s main airport at Kayseri and also to smaller Nevsehir. It’s roughly a 45-minute drive from the airports to central Cappadocia, and taxi transfers can be arranged through your hotel.
Taxis are easily available in larger towns such as Goreme and Urgup. Most destinations are served by frequent, cheap dolmus (minibuses), which pick up or drop off passengers at any point along their route.
On the back roads lifts are commonly offered, though it’s normal to make a contribution in such cases. Car hire is easy and cheap. Roads are generally in good condition and traffic mostly light.
With a few exceptions accommodation is in towns or villages rather than in the countryside. The majority of hotels in the region are ‘cave’ hotels – often, in fact, a mix of rock-cut and 19th-century freestanding masonry. Hugely characterful, most have only a small number of rooms and offer a unique insight into these historic dwellings.
Most visitors stay in the three main towns – Uchisar, Urgup and Goreme. Uchisar offers a superb central setting, a lovely low-key atmosphere, good shops and restaurants, great views and easy access to some of the region’s best walking trails.
Goreme is Cappadocia’s original tourist centre, set among the region’s signature ‘fairy chimneys’. It is a little busier than Uchisar and Urgup, but has bags of charm. Urgup is more of a proper town, rather than a tourist destination, with more in the way of markets and shops, but still feels nicely low-key.