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19 Best things to see & do in Cappadocia

  • Central Anatolia, Turkey

Last updated: 22 September, 2024
Expert travel writer: Jeremy Seal
  • Goreme, Central Anatolia, Turkey

Cappadocia tends to mean spending plenty of time underground, which is why taking to the air over this unique landscape makes for such a welcome change of perspective.

Flying low along these valleys is a magnificent way to appreciate the interplay of rocky outcrops, cave homes, vineyards and orchards, especially as the dawn light lends the local stone a surreal pink tint.

One of the world’s greatest balloon flights.

Adult price: £75

Min age 6

Good for age: 13+

Duration: 4 hours

  • Goreme, Central Anatolia, Turkey

People walking into natural openings in a large rock formation.

Bucket List Experience

Goreme Open-Air Museum

Cappadocia’s most visited site, just outside the village of Goreme, is a monastic complex consisting of dozens of chapels and cells set side-by-side, all carved into a natural amphitheatre of rock that has been preserved today as a UNESCO-listed open-air museum.

The complex contains more than 30 churches and chapels, some decorated with exceptional Byzantine frescoes dating from the 10th century to the 12th century.

Adult price: £10

Good for age: 13+

Duration: 2 hours

  • Avanos, Central Anatolia, Turkey

Whirling dervishes perform in an old caravansary in Nevsehir, Turkey.

Bucket List Experience

Whirling Dervishes of Saruhan

Saruhan Caravansaray is the nightly setting for the region’s famed Whirling Dervish ceremony, a moving and extraordinary ritual expressive of Sufi mysticism, and dating back to the 12th century. Watch on as the sect’s white-clad initiates spin themselves into a trance state to the haunting accompaniment of drum, flute and chant.

Often mistaken for a dance, it is rather a meditation practice, a form of ritual whereby the dervishes aim to reach a state of karma by focusing only on God and the music. The spinning helps concentration, and it supposed to symbolise the planets orbiting the sun.

The surroundings, a restored 13th-century fortified inn set amidst Cappadocian steppelands, add to the atmosphere of the occasion.

Adult price: £10

Good for age: 8+

Duration: 40 minutes

When: Daily

Freq: daily

  • Goreme, Central Anatolia, Turkey

A walk through jagged rocks and mountains.

Bucket List Experience

Walk the Pigeon Valley

Cappadocia’s signature walk is a fairly easy (barring one scramble section) 4km stroll through fantastical, magical landscapes.

Starting in either Goreme or Uchisar, the path takes you into a wooded chasm with natural arches and tunnels, and leads past rock-carved pigeon cotes, idyllic orchards and vegetable plots.

Poor signposting and that scramble section make the walk unsuitable for the elderly or young, but for the fit and able it’s a must.

Good for age: 4+

Duration: 1-2 hours

  • Goreme, Central Anatolia, Turkey

People walking up a steep mountain with tall pointy rocks on either side. Taken at sunset.

Bucket List Experience

Walk the Rose Valley

Just to the north of Goreme lies the Rose Valley, one of the most scenic and accessible of Cappadocia’s walking valleys.

From the Panoramic Viewpoint, a network of good trails criss-crosses the valley, passing through vineyards and wondrous rock formations, leading after 6 km to the valley’s end at the village of Cavusin. Look out for local rock churches and resting points en route for tea and fresh orange juice.

It’s a leisurely three hours, allowing stops for refreshments and to visit churches, to the main trail’s end at Cavusin.

Good for age: 8+

Duration: 3 hours

  • Central Anatolia, Turkey

Cappadocia boasts some of the best single track – paths rather than vehicle tracks – mountain biking in the world. The super-soft but gritty volcanic stone makes for smooth riding, often steep but with plenty of traction, through landscapes that are both spectacular and varied, with the panoramic views from the open uplands giving way to amazing wooded canyons, caves and carved tunnels.

The network of tracks is extensive, with ascents and descents to suit every level. Many of the valleys are easily accessed from local centres like Goreme and Uchisar. In the high season, should the like of the Red and Rose Valleys get busy with walkers, there are plenty of lesser-known ones to escape to in the Meskendir and Gomeda Valleys.

Quad biking tours are also available and increasingly popular (if more destructive); these tend to be shorter, faster and limited in routes. To truly explore and connect with this remarkable landscape and its people, opt for the mountain bike.

Good for age: 13+

Duration: 3+ hours

  • Avanos, Central Anatolia, Turkey

Close up of person painting ceramic pottery in Avanos, cappadocia

Bucket List Experience

Pottery in Avanos

The Cappadocian town of Avanos has for centuries – been renowned for its pottery – traditionally made by men. (Women traditionally make carpets). It’s thought the tradition started in Hittite times, 2000-1500 BC.

The town benefits from two major natural advantages for pottery-making. First, the oily and soft red clay soil collected from the Kizilimark River delta is ideal for pottery shaping.

Second, the local tufostone rock is easy to cut and shape into ceramic kilns for heating; it’s also an insulating stone, essential for achieving temperatures of between 950 and 1200 degrees Celsius to turn the clay into ceramic.

Third, the soft bedrock also allows potters to carve out studios; these semi-caves maintain a stable temperature across the varied seasons.

You’ll find studios hune into the rock at every turn, where you can watch the potters at work, and purchase some beautiful ceramics of exceptional quality.

Good for age: 18+

Duration: 1-2 hours

  • Avanos, Central Anatolia, Turkey

Woman in Avanos making a carpet on a wooden loom

Bucket List Experience

Carpet weaving in Avanos

Cappadocia’s renowned handicrafts town, Avanos is famous for both its ceramics, made by men, and its exceptional carpets – usually made by women. It’s a tradition handed down from mother to daughter, and still thrives today.

The carpets are hand-made on traditional wooden looms, using locally sourced wool and natural dyes. They’re especially prized for their exceptional quality, intricate patterns, and vibrant colours that reflect the region’s cultural heritage.

There are plentiful carpet shops to peruse, and several have women weaving in them or outside as you shop so you can watch the process – and of course, buy an exceptional carpet to take home.

Good for age: 8+

Duration: 3+ hours

  • Cappadocia, Central Anatolia, Turkey

horse riders crossing a cappadocian landscape

Bucket List Experience

Horse riding in Cappadocia

With unique, jaw-dropping landscapes of fairy-tale-like rock formations, ancient caves, and scenic valleys, where better in the world to horse ride?

You’re guaranteed an idyllic backdrop, and riding through this mesmerizing terrain allows you to immerse yourself in the region’s rich history and diverse geology, while enjoying the panoramic views. Saddle up!

Adult price: £40

Min age 10

Good for age: 10+

Duration: 1-5 hours

  • Central Anatolia, Turkey

Wine in Cappadocia

Bucket List Experience

Wine in Cappadocia

It may surprise you to learn that wine production in Cappadocia has a remarkable history spanning thousands of years. The region’s unique geological features, including volcanic soil and a temperate climate, provide optimal conditions for viticulture, which in combination with indigenous grape varieties and traditional winemaking techniques produce unique and distinctly flavoured wines.

The region produces a variety of wines, notably red wines such as Okuzgozu and Kalecik Karasi, and white wines Narince and Emir. In recent years, these wines have gained international recognition and a growing reputation for their distinct flavours, exceptional quality, and character.

Good for age: 18+

Duration: 1-3 hours

Derinkuyu Underground City

  • Derinkuyu, Central Anatolia, Turkey

Derinkuyu Underground City

Experience

This extraordinary, 85m deep, multi-level underground city, carved into the soft bedrock, is the largest underground city in Turkey. A visit entails a descent via long lamp-lit tunnels, through chambers and store rooms, into the heart of an apparently endless warren that once sheltered over 20,000 people.

Adult price: £3

Good for age: 18+

Sunsets at the Red & Rose Valleys

  • Goreme, Central Anatolia, Turkey

Beautiful mountains and Red valley at sunset in Goreme, Cappadocia in Turkey.

Experience

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.

Good for age: 18+

Duration: 2 hours

Hammam at Urgup City Baths

  • Urgup , Central Anatolia, Turkey

City Hammam of Urgup Town in Cappadocia Region

Experience

This recently-restored hammam occupies a fine old building and is family-run, for unisex visitors, with professional, only-male attendants. (Women-only times available with female attendants). The best place in the region for the quintessential Turkish Bath experience.

Adult price: £5

Min age 10

Good for age: 13+

Duration: 2+ hours

Ihlara Valley Walk

  • Aksaray, Central Anatolia, Turkey

Ihlara Valley Walk

Experience

An idyllic riverside walk along a wooded valley dotted with rock-carved chapels, many bearing some of Cappadocia’s most beautiful and intact medieval frescoes. About two hours’ duration, but with longer options if desired.

Good for age: 13+

Duration: 2 hours

Walk through the Zelve Open-Air Museum

  • Goreme, Central Anatolia, Turkey

A photo of a natural orange rock curving round in a semi circle.

Experience

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.

Good for age: 18+

Duration: 1+ hours

Mazikoy Underground City

  • Urgup , Central Anatolia, Turkey

Mazikoy Underground City

Experience

One of Cappadocia’s lesser-known underground cities, Mazi’s narrow tunnels lead to a maze of carved-out rock spaces including barns, wineries, dormitories and remarkable defensive features. Hire an on-site guide. Located 18km south of Urgup in a scruffy farming village.

Adult price: £2

Good for age: 18+

Guray Museum

  • Avanos, Central Anatolia, Turkey

Guray Museum

Experience

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

Good for age: 18+

Keslik Monastery

  • Urgup, Central Anatolia, Turkey

The exterior of a monastery on a sunny day.

Experience

Keslik, the Monastery of the Archangels, was hollowed out in the 10th Century, and a selection of rock-hewn dwellings – chapels, refectories, wineries – are still visible today, set among well-tended orchards. There’s a friendly caretaker offering interesting historical explanations and complimentary tea. Signposted off the main road 15 km south of Urgup.

Good for age: 18+

Galerie Ikman

  • Goreme, Central Anatolia, Turkey

Galerie Ikman

Experience

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.

Good for age: 18+