Turkey’s Cappadocia region is justifiably famous for its surreal landscape of fairy chimneys, rocky pillars and rippling canyons. Mostly, Erosion shaped the incredible terrain of Turkey’s Göreme valley, where wind and water have been diligently working away for millions of years gradually carving and cutting away at the soft volcanic rock to create a topography that scattered with otherworldly pillars, spires, ridges and valleys.
It’s been thousands of years since humans arrived in Cappadocia to finish what nature started, chiselling out an underground kingdom of homes, churches and networks of tunnels that remain honeycombed throughout the region.
Nowadays, most visitors choose to see the dreamlike terrain from above rather than below and despite hot air ballooning being considered by the majority to be the best way to experience Cappadocia, in my opinion, getting in its nooks and crannies on foot at your own pace provides a much deeper understanding of the region’s history and beauty.
Luckily, Cappadocia is incredibly walkable. Surrounding Göreme, ridges and valleys spread across landscape like a web, with hiking trails winding through them and looping back on each other, creating an interconnecting path of gorges, precipices and plateaus. Each valley seemingly has its own identity, based on the colour of its rocks (Rose Valley), the shape of its formations (Swords Valley) or its ornithological inhabitants (Pigeon Valley).
None of the hiking trails in are too strenuous – each valley can take anywhere between one and 3 hours to complete – although multiple trails can be combined to extend hikes for longer. Here are my favourite short and easy hikes in Cappadocia.
Love Valley (Aşıklar Vadisi) to Uçhisar Castle
Distance: 7km
Time to Complete: 2.5 – 3 hours.
Seeing the towering phalluses-like rock formations of Aşıklar Vadisi (Love Valley), it’s easy to see how this part of Cappadocia gained its name. Often hundreds of feet tall, these narrow columns topped with mushroom-like summits are not a man-made homage to male fertility but have been naturally formed over millennia by wind erosion. Of Cappadocia’s geological wonders, the columns of Love valley are certainly some of the most arresting, but also some of the easiest to explore. The valley is within walking distance from Goreme and the area containing the rock formations can be traversed easily in half an hour, clustered as they are just a 10-minute walk from the valley’s entrance (or exit, depending on your walking direction). There is even a small, rustic café sitting at their centre where you can escape the Turkish sun and enjoy a cup of cay or ice-cold Efes, usually alongside the owner’s chickens that seem to enjoy the comfort of the café’s sofas.
The majority of visitors to Love alley will just either just take a brief detour from the trailhead on the Nevşehir Merkez Road and take a few moments to gawp at the humorous structures, of view them from above at the more tourist-heavy viewpoint. However, continue along the dirt path past the phalluses and you will find one of Cappadocia’s most gentle, yet rewarding hikes.
To extend the walk, it is possible to continue down the valley all the way to Uçhisar. The path isn’t all too well defined in places, splitting into multiple tracks, but they all run in the same general direction. Eventually, Love Valley gives way to White Valley, characterized by its rippling white, sheer walls that blindingly reflect the Turkish sun and contrast with the splashes of green from the verdant vegetations lining the valley floor.
Eventually, as you start to gain elevation and reach the end of the valley, you will notice multiple trails and exit points leading to the valley’s edge. Take any of these and you will find yourself on a small road. Using the now-visible Uçhisar Castle as a waypoint, head in its general direction and you should arrive in Uçhisar village within 10-15 minutes.
I highly recommend making your way through the village and climbing to the top of the castle. The highest point in central Cappadocia, Uçhisar Castle is a 200-ft turret of volcanic rock that was sculpted into an imposing fortress, first by the Hittites, and then subsequent settlers. The castle’s summit provides a sublime panoramic out across Uçhisar village, neighbouring castle crags (Uçhisar translates to ‘3 fortresses’) and across Cappadocia’s surreal landscape.
Read More: The 10 Best Things to do in Cappadocia
Getting to Love Valley
Love Valley is around a 3km trip from central Goreme, taking just 5-minutes by taxi or dolmus and 40-minutes on foot. Head north on the main road out of Goreme, before taking a left onto the smaller Nevşehir Merkez road (signposted Nevşehir). Entering ‘Love Valley’ into Google Maps will, unfortunately, lead you to the viewpoint high above the formations, so you will need to take a left a few hundred metres beforehand, taking you into the along the bottom of the valley. It is a 10-minute walk from here to the main rock formations.
Guvercinlik Vadisi (Pigeon Valley)
Distance: 4km
Time to Complete: 1.5 hours.
Conveniently stretching in a line between Goreme and Uçhisar, Pigeon valley is one of Cappadocia’s most popular hiking trails due to the fact that it is easy to reach and relatively short. Named for the thousands of dovecotes – many still richly decorated with painted patterns and glyphs – that are carved in the rock and cliff faces from a time when pigeons provided an important source of food and fertiliser for Cappadocia’s residents, as well as acting as messengers, the valley itself is beautiful, filled with wind-shaped, mushroom topped chimneys and wide areas of greenery where you will come across Byzantine era dwellings, cave churches and stunning viewpoints.
There are two options for hiking Pigeon Valley; either from Göreme to Uçhisar or in the opposite direction. Many people choose to start in Uçhisar due to the trailhead at the Pigeon Valley Viewpoint being an easily located starting spot and the journey to Göreme being downhill, however, if you do this trail in reverse, it is easily linked up with the Uçhisar to Love valley trail mentioned above.
Güllüdere Vadisi (Rose Valley)
Distance: 4km
Time to Complete: 2 hours.
If you are only to do one hike in Cappadocia, navigating through the corrugated and fluted ridges of Rose Valley amongst tuff chimneys, little-visited rock-cut churches and intricately carved Byzantine homes should be top of your list. The multiple trails that loop around Güllüdere Vadısı (Rose Valley), named as such because of the pink-hued valley walls caused by minerals in the sandstone – are all relatively gentle and can be easily traversed by hikers of varying abilities and offer up some of the best fairy chimney-scattered views in the region.
Much of the trail is signposted, either by trail markers or with makeshift arrows daubed in paint on the surface of rocks and eventually loops back on itself, making it relatively difficult to lose track of where you are.
Make sure to follow the signs from the Güllüdere Valley trailhead to Kolonlu Kilise, a rather non-descript looking church accessed by a narrow bridge that is more impressive than expected from first glance. Continuing along the main trail, you will come across Haçlı Kilise, entered via a rickety wooden staircase and containing wonderful frescoes that date from the 9th century.
The Rose Valley trail eventually leads to the village of Cavusin which is an attraction in its own right, featuring an ancient rock-cut fortress and the 5th-century church of St. John.
There are two options for hiking Pigeon Valley; either from Göreme to Uçhisar or in the opposite direction. Many people choose to start in Uçhisar due to the trailhead at the Pigeon Valley Viewpoint being an easily located starting spot and the journey to Göreme being downhill, however, if you do this trail in reverse, it is easily linked up with the Uçhisar to Love valley trail mentioned above.
Extend The Hike
The Rose Valley can easily be extended by incorporating both the Meskendir & Red Valley trails, increasing the distance to just over 10km and will take around 4 – 5 hours. To reach the Meskendir valley trailhead, take a dolmus or taxi to Kaya Camping, situated 2.5km outside of Goreme, past the Open Air Museum. Taking a left directly after the campground, the path leads into Meskendir.
Because the trails for Rose and Red Valleys are both loops that connect in an almost figure 8 formation, directions and waypoints for the two trails can be a little confusing. While it is easy to get lost, the area covered by the hikes isn’t too large so you will eventually find yourself on another section of the path. Red Valley’s sunset point makes for the perfect stopping point at the end of a long day of hiking.
Ihlara Gorge
Distance: 4km
Time to Complete: 1.5 hours.
Most visitors to Cappadocia remain firmly within the well-trodden domain of the Nevşehir–Avanos–Ürgüp triangle during their visit and really, it’s hard to blame them. Beyond the main tourist centres, there is relatively little to see other than the barren brown and red landscape of porous volcanic stone.
However, southern Cappadocia does have its charms – namely the verdant basalt gorge of the Ihlara Valley stands out. Snaking beneath the Hasan Dağı Volcano, 44 miles south-west of Uçhisar, this is a different Cappadocia to the ‘fairy chimney and balloons’ version that is normally depicted. Here, trees and greenery line the banks of the Melendiz River in the 10-mile-long, narrow canyon that stretches between Ihlara Village and Selime.
The majority of visitors tend to walk just the central portion of the trail, from the main entrance above Sümbüllü Church along to Belisırma about 1.5 hours away, ambling along the Melendiz. Amongst the lush greenery of the valley, there are interesting signs of human activity; Churches cut into the rock of the dramatic canyon cliffs and chiselled pigeonhole-like doorways and windows rising high above the river that hide hidden dwellings, so high that reaching them seems impossible. Some, such as Kirkdamalti Kilise (St. Georges Church) are still covered in perfectly preserved Greek paintings.
The village of Belisırma is the perfect endpoint for a walk, or resting spot if you are planning on hiking the entirety of the trail. Here you will find a concentration of riverside restaurants where tables perch on wooden jetties above the water, or tiny cafes were the table legs are partly submerged in the shallow stream, allowing you to enjoy a çay or cup of Turkish coffee with the feeling of cold water rushing through your toes.
Read More: A 3-Day Cappadocia Itinerary
Extend the Hike
The Rose Valley can easily be extended by incorporating both the Meskendir & Red Valley trails, increasing the distance to just over 10km and will take around 4 – 5 hours. To reach the Meskendir valley trailhead, take a dolmus or taxi to Kaya Camping, situated 2.5km outside of Goreme, past the Open Air Museum. Taking a left directly after the campground, the path leads into Meskendir.
Because the trails for Rose and Red Valleys are both loops that connect in an almost figure 8 formation, directions and waypoints for the two trails can be a little confusing. While it is easy to get lost, the area covered by the hikes isn’t too large so you will eventually find yourself on another section of the path. Red Valley’s sunset point makes for the perfect stopping point at the end of a long day of hiking.
Kılıçlar Vadasi (Sword Valley)
Distance: 3km
Time to Complete: 1 hour.
Possibly one of the shortest and most accessible hikes in Cappadocia, located as it is just across the street from the Göreme Open Air Museum. Its ease of access doesn’t make it any less worthy of exploration though: The stunning spires of the trail’s sword-like fairy chimney formations are as beautiful as any you’ll see elsewhere in Cappadocia.
Despite its diminutive size, Swords Valley does have a number of interesting diversions. The Kiliclar Church contains a stunning fresco featuring 33 painstakingly painted bible scenes, while the Virgin Mary Church predictably contains multiple paintings of the Madonna herself.
Tips for Hiking in Cappadocia
Despite some of the trails winding through steep-sided valleys, tree cover and shade isn’t too common so you will spend a lot of the day in the Cappadocian sun. Ensure you bring plenty of water and make sure to smother yourself in sun cream.
The majority of Cappadocia’s trails are well-marked enough to be navigated easily, but can occasionally be confusing with obtuse signage. If you can, download maps and save markers for trailheads on your phone’s Google Maps app for offline use, just in case you are unable to get a signal while hiking.
Make sure to pack a camera or GoPro as the scenery that you will experience is unlike anywhere else on earth and just begs to be photographed.
Getting to Cappadocia
Cappadocia is served by two airports, Kayseri Airport and Nevsehir Airport, both offering multiple flights each day to and from Istanbul and Izmir with Turkish Airlines and Pegasus.
Shuttle bus services operate from both airports to the majority of the region’s popular villages. Tickets must be pre-booked online (Helios Transfer or Cappadocia Express come recommended), however, if you have already booked accommodation, they should be able to arrange a shuttle for you.
Travelling by local bus is cheaper if a little more arduous (trust me on this one, it was a pain). From the airport, you will need to catch a Dolmus or taxi to Kayseri bus station and then wait for an onward bus to your destination of choice.
