Backpacking in Turkey: Amazing Cappadocia

November 20 2020 | Tagged: Turkey

Cappadocia, famous for its landscape which has been sculptured entirely by erosion, and is probably the most popular spot in the whole of Turkey. Fabulous views at every turn!

I first came here back in the Summer of 2010. Despite being at an altitude of 2000m, it was searingly hot. 45degC. Impossible temperatures. I slept in a cave hostel, a relief from the heat but left me wheezing as it was so damp.

Buried deep in my archives, here are 3 images from that trip in 2010:

Fast forward 10 years and a few months and here I am once again in Cappadocia (mid November 10 to 12 deg C in the day, +1 to -4 deg C at dawn):

On my first day, I went to Love Valley. This entailed walking along the ridge to the end before dropping down and returning to town through the gorge:

There are a few spots around town, noted as 'sunrise point' and 'sunset point'. There is the hill behind town which is convenient but they charge a fee, even to walk up. Incredible!

Fortunately, you can reach the same point by coming up from the other side, a 20-minute walk or so. I'd come up here most afternoons at around 4, continue along the ridge then dropping off down the other side:

The rocks eroded into pillars and minarets, carved out to make homes, churches and monasteries. Now used mostly as "Cave Hotels" for tourists. Indeed, I stayed in one on my first visit here.

Uçhisar is just 5km from Göreme, known for the Uçhisar Castle which you can see from Göreme. I took an early bus, got some breakfast and went to the castle. Entrance fee is 15TL. The views from the base of the castle are awesome enough:

And then I went to Pigeon Valley and walked all the way back to Göreme:

Ballooning in Cappadocia:

Cappadocia is famous for ballooning. Göreme has more companies offering balloon rides than Istanbul has kebab shops. I didn't feel the need to partake but was great watching them from the rooftop of my guest house, even at 7 am in the frigid mid-November air:

I acted as a tour guide for a friend. It was a bit of a mammoth day. We walked the ridge above Love Valley, crossed to the village of Çavuşin and scrambled over fallen rocks from the 2006 earthquake, up to the church (no entrance fee but you might need a guide to lead the way):

And returned via another valley with equally dramatic views at every turn:

All these places and more can be visited as part of a tour. There are typically Red, Blue and Green tours available. Of course, Nomadic Backpacker did his own thing but it involved a fair amount of hiking as the valleys are pretty spread out. I am in no hurry. I stayed more than a week there.

Ballooning is of course very popular. If you need this to influence your Insta account, sunrise is at 7am in November, much earlier in Summer and very very cold.

ATV quad-bikes and to a lesser extent, horse riding is also popular.

There are 36 underground cities in Cappadocia. Kaymakli and Derinkuyu being the widest and deepest respectively and these are 21km and 30km south of Nevşehir, reached by public transport. Entrance fees for these two @2020 are 50TL. You can get a Museum Pass, which is valid for 3 days and saves you quite a lot. See https://muze.gov.tr/ for more details.

Cappadocia - Getting there and away:

First I took a bus from Ankara to Nevşehir. The Covid Pandemic bus schedule from the Nevşehir otogar to Göreme is like every 3 hours and I had just missed one. Never a fan of waiting, I took a local bus into town, 2.50TL (5km).

And then using MapsMe, locate the stop in Nevşehir and take the shuttle to Göreme, 5TL. which goes every 30 minutes or so (I found the stop when I travelled back to Nevşehir because I fancied a walk, I walked the 12km, just for kicks.