If you are in Istanbul and have two days to spare, Cappadocia is closer than it looks. It is an hour's flight away, and in two days you can see the fairy chimneys, the cave churches, an underground city and, if you want, the balloons at sunrise. Here is how our 2 Day Small Group Cappadocia Tour from Istanbul works, day by day.
The first day starts early. Your driver collects you from your Istanbul hotel around 04:00 for the first morning flight to Nevsehir or Kayseri, so that you land with a full day ahead of you. A driver meets you at the airport and takes you straight to the start of the tour.
Day one is the north of Cappadocia: the panorama over Ortahisar Castle, the Goreme Open Air Museum with its rock-cut churches and thousand-year-old frescoes, Love Valley, lunch in a cave restaurant, a pottery workshop in Avanos, and the fairy chimneys of Pasabag and Devrent. In the evening you check in to a boutique cave hotel. Sleeping in a room carved into the rock is part of the experience.
Day two can start before sunrise. If you have booked a balloon flight, the company collects you from the hotel in the dark and you watch the valleys light up from the air. As you spend one night in Cappadocia, there is one morning to fly. Flights depend on the weather, and if that morning is cancelled you receive a full refund for the balloon ticket.
After breakfast the south of the region begins: the Red Valley panorama, Kaymakli Underground City, where you walk through tunnels and rooms carved several floors below the ground, Pigeon Valley, lunch, and the viewpoints over Uchisar Castle and Goreme. The tour ends around 17:00, and an evening flight takes you back to Istanbul, where you are at your hotel around 23:00.
Flights, airport transfers, the hotel night, breakfast, both lunches and all entrance tickets are included. The groups are small, with no more than 14 people. If you would rather travel with only your own group, the same programme is available as a private tour.
It is a full two days, but you come back having seen the places most people travel to Cappadocia for.
For the full itinerary and booking, visit the 2 Day Small Group Cappadocia Tour page.
Mustafa Mutlu
Co-founder & Professional Tour Guide
