Pottery in Avanos

Where to go and what to see in Cappadocia to get the most from your trip – a 3-day itinerary from destination expert and travel writer Jeremy Seal.

Surreal shaped landscapes rich in troglodytic ruins, walking trails and delightful cave hotels in the ancient heart of Anatolia.

Cappadocia’s famous carpets are hand-made using locally sourced wool and natural dyes, using centuries-old traditional methods. They’re especially prized for their exceptional quality, intricate patterns, and vibrant colours.

The famed dance of the Whirling Dervishes, performed in the atmospheric surroundings of an atmospheric 13th-century caravansaray.

A beautiful and undemanding 6km valley trail, with rock churches and formations galore, that offers walkers a grand glimpse of the surreal Cappadocian back country.

One of the world’s great hot-air balloon flights, over a moonscape-esque landscape of arches, caverns, striking spires and eye-popping, giant protuberances resembling gigantic mushrooms.

Huge underground ceramics museum, with impressive collections of ancient clay pieces and other archaeological artefacts displayed in illuminated halls, plus pottery demonstrations and sales.

This 2km walk (from the ticket office) leads you through this beautiful Cappadocian valley, inhabited until the middle of the 20th-century, taking in churches, stables, and monks’ refectories.

The region is famous for its sunsets, most famously over the Red and adjacent Rose Valley, so-called for the pinkish tones the soft tufa stone acquires at sunset. Watch the show from the Goreme National Park’s Panorama Viewpoint, lined with simple cafes.

An Aladdin’s cave of a carpet shop, a warren of rooms packed with flat-weave kilims both from the region and Turkey’s other renowned carpet regions, piled, hung and draped in picturesque profusion.