Cappadocia

What Cappadocia is, and what it is not

Cappadocia is a plateau in central Anatolia, roughly 1,000 metres above sea level, where soft volcanic tuff has been eroded into valleys, ridges and the rock cones locally called fairy chimneys. People have been carving into that rock for two thousand years: houses, churches with Byzantine frescoes, pigeon lofts, storerooms and entire multi-level underground cities. Today a good share of the old carved dwellings in Göreme, Uçhisar and Ürgüp have been converted into hotels, which is why you can sleep in a room with a stone ceiling and a proper bathroom.

Two things need saying before anything else, because they cause more disappointment than everything else combined.

First, this is not a day trip from the coast. Cappadocia sits about 700 kilometres from Antalya. There is no sensible drive: it is nine to ten hours each way. In practice you fly, usually connecting through Istanbul or Ankara, and the journey eats most of a day at each end. Treat it as a separate two or three night trip inside a longer holiday, not as an excursion. We are an Antalya agency and we drive our own transfer vehicles on the coast — Cappadocia is a destination we quote accommodation for, and the airport shuttle there is normally arranged by the cave hotel itself, which is worth asking about when you send your dates.

Second, the balloons are weather-dependent and they are cancelled often. Flights launch about an hour before sunrise and the aviation authority makes the call each morning, usually between four and five, based on surface and altitude wind. When conditions are wrong nothing flies, for everybody, and it is not the operator being cautious with your money. Cancellations are refunded or moved to the next morning — but if your only morning was the morning it was cancelled, you go home without the photograph. Book at least two, ideally three nights, and put the flight on the first morning so you have a spare. Winter and the windy edges of spring and autumn cancel far more than settled summer weather does.

Where to base yourself

Göreme is the centre of gravity: the largest concentration of cave hotels, the open-air museum with the frescoed churches, restaurants, tour offices, and the valleys starting at the edge of the village. Most balloons launch from the fields around it, so the sunrise view from a Göreme terrace is the one you have seen. It is also the busiest and most commercial of the villages.

Uçhisar sits on the highest point, around the hollowed-out castle rock, looking down over Pigeon Valley. The panoramas are the best in the region and the village is calmer, with several of the more expensive hotels. The trade-off is that the dinner options are limited and you will want transport in the evening.

Ürgüp is a real town rather than a tourist village: banks, a hospital, wine houses, and hotels that tend to be more comfortable in the conventional sense — better heating, larger bathrooms, more rooms with windows. Less dramatic scenery, more practical for a family or a longer stay.

Ortahisar and Çavuşin are quiet, cheaper and still lived in, good if you want the landscape without the tour coaches. Avanos sits on the Kızılırmak river and is the pottery town; it has the cheapest rooms and the longest morning drive to the balloon fields. Mustafapaşa, an old Greek village south of Ürgüp, is the quietest option of all.

Cave hotels: the honest version

A cave room is genuinely special and it is also a compromise. The rock holds a stable temperature, which is welcome in August and cool in February, and humidity can be noticeable in older rooms — the better hotels have solved this with ventilation and underfloor heating, the cheaper ones have not. Many cave rooms have one small window or none at all, so if you need daylight to wake up, ask for a room in the masonry part of the building rather than the carved part. "Cave-style" in a listing sometimes means stone cladding rather than an excavated room; if the real thing matters to you, ask directly.

The other structural point is stairs. These hotels are built into slopes, terraced, with steps between levels and often between the entrance and reception. Lifts barely exist. If anyone in your party has mobility difficulties, or you are travelling with a pushchair, say so at the enquiry stage — a handful of properties have level access and we can filter for them, but they are the minority.

On price, in April, May, September and October a cave room with breakfast starts at roughly 65 EUR per room per night in a small family-run hotel. Between 100 and 180 EUR you reach the well-restored boutiques with terraces and proper bathrooms. Above 250 EUR sit the suites with private terraces and valley views that fill the honeymoon market. Board is almost always bed and breakfast; all-inclusive does not exist here in any meaningful form.

What there is to do, beyond the balloon

Give it three nights and the region opens up. The Göreme Open-Air Museum holds the best-preserved rock-cut churches and their frescoes and needs two hours. Walking is the real pleasure: Rose Valley and Red Valley between them make a three to four hour route best done in late afternoon when the tuff turns orange, Pigeon Valley links Göreme to Uçhisar in about an hour and a half, and Ihlara Valley, an hour's drive south-west, is a green river gorge that feels like a different country.

The underground cities at Derinkuyu and Kaymaklı are extraordinary and not for everyone: the connecting passages are low, narrow and steep, and if you are claustrophobic you will know within thirty seconds. Zelve, Devrent and Paşabağ cover the strangest rock formations. Avanos still throws pottery on kick wheels. Local wine, made largely from the white Emir grape, is worth an afternoon in the Ürgüp cellars. Horse riding at sunset is the quiet alternative to the ATV convoys, which are loud and dusty and which residents are not enthusiastic about.

Food is simpler than on the coast and more limited. Testi kebabı — meat slow-cooked in a sealed clay pot that is cracked open at the table — is the local set piece. Manti, the small stuffed dumplings under yoghurt and butter, is done well here. Expect competent rather than remarkable restaurants, and expect them to close earlier than you would like.

When to go

April and May are excellent: 15 to 25C, green valleys, orchards in blossom, and reliable enough for ballooning. June to August runs 28 to 35C but very dry, and the mornings are calm, so the flight cancellation rate is at its lowest; the middle of the day is too hot for the valleys, so walk early and late. September and October match the spring and add the grape harvest. November and March are unsettled and windy, with the highest chance of a cancelled flight outside winter. December to February brings snow, temperatures between minus five and plus five, the most beautiful photographs of the year and the highest cancellation rate; some smaller hotels close and the ones that stay open discount heavily. Whatever the month, the pre-dawn launch is cold — take a jacket even in July.

Turkish public holidays and the two religious festivals fill the region with domestic visitors, and balloon prices rise sharply for those weeks. If your dates are flexible, avoid them.

Who should skip Cappadocia

If you have one free morning, skip it: the odds of that single morning being a flying morning are not good enough to build a trip on. If you are combining it with a beach holiday and cannot spare three days including travel, skip it and come back properly. If you have serious mobility limitations, understand that the landscape, the underground cities and most of the hotels involve steps and uneven ground. If you are claustrophobic, you can still enjoy the region — just skip the underground cities entirely. And if what you actually want is a lively evening scene, this is not that: dinner ends early here, because everybody is getting up at half past four.

When you are ready, send us your dates, the number of rooms and whether you want a genuine carved cave room or a conventional one. A consultant prices it with our partner agencies and comes back within one working day. The quote is free, this website takes no payment at any stage, and nothing is booked until you say so.