When people picture Cappadocia, they usually picture fairy chimneys, cave churches and long views over the valleys. The North Cappadocia Small Group Day Tour covers all three in one day, with a licensed local guide and a group of no more than 14 people.
Your guide collects you from your hotel between 09:15 and 10:15, and we confirm the exact time the day before. The first stop is the panorama of Ortahisar Castle, the second highest rock castle in Cappadocia, once used as a watchtower over the valley. It is a good first look at the landscape, and there is time for a drink before moving on.
Next is the Goreme Open Air Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the main visit of the day. Monks carved and painted the churches here out of the rock, and some of the frescoes are around a thousand years old. Your guide explains who lived here and what the paintings show, which is the difference between looking at old walls and understanding them.
From Goreme you continue to Love Valley, where tall pillar-shaped rocks rise from the valley floor, and then to lunch in a cave restaurant, with traditional Turkish dishes.
After lunch you drive to Avanos, on the banks of the Kizilirmak River, a town known for its pottery since Hittite times. At a local workshop a potter shows you how clay is shaped on a kick wheel, a craft some 4,000 years old in this region. You are welcome to try it yourself, and there is no obligation to buy.
The afternoon belongs to the fairy chimneys. At Pasabag, also called Monks Valley, the mushroom-shaped rocks are among the most photographed in Cappadocia, and some still have hermit cells carved into them. The last stop is Devrent, or Imagination Valley, where the rocks have weathered into shapes that look like animals. Most people spot the camel first.
The tour lasts about six hours, and you are back at your hotel in the late afternoon. Entrance tickets and lunch are included, drinks at lunch are not. Your guide may change the order of the stops depending on the weather and traffic, but you will see all of them.
If you only have one day in Cappadocia, this is the tour we recommend: it covers the sights most people come for, at a pace that leaves time for questions.
For the full itinerary and booking, visit the North Cappadocia Small Group Day Tour page.
Ahmet
Co-founder & Professional Tour Guide
