Cappadocia 3-day Itinerary

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.