This gem in Cappadocia is so hidden that I wasn’t able to find it in Google Maps – I’m not even sure what the real name of this canyon is. We discovered it on our way from the Goreme Open Air museum to Goreme town, so I’m just calling it Goreme Canyon. Read my post to learn how to get there.
How to get to Goreme Canyon
Our unexpected Canyon adventure all started at the exit of the Goreme Open Air museum:
We had already walked the conventional route from Goreme town to the open air museum, so we wanted something different on our way back. Little did we know that our way back would be that different!
By walking up the road from the exit of the open air museum, we reached a parking lot from where we could see Goreme town in the distance:
This parking lot is where a very innocent looking footpath towards Goreme starts, so we took the path without any suspicions:
However, soon enough, the path kind of disappeared and turned into a rocky landscape. As you can see from my handbag, I wasn’t prepared for rock climbing at all. Luckily I was wearing flats and not heels.
The rocky landscape felt more like an obstacle course to me, and soon enough the path was gone and I could only see a massive deep hole in front of me.
At this point, I knew I lacked arm strength to climb my way back, and we were too deep underground for our phones to have reception. I was so scared that we would be stuck underground where no one could ever find us (we were literally the only people in the Canyon)…
I’m forever grateful for the person who built some wobbly stairs inside the massive hole – absolute life saver:
Very shortly after climbing down the stairs, we found ourselves in the middle of the canyon. It is such a wonderful landscape, that it was worth facing all my fears:
To get out of the Canyon, we had to climb stairs again:
Rose Valley
Once we got out of the Canyon, we found ourselves in the middle of Rose Valley. This valley offers the most wonderful and iconic Cappadocian landscapes.
So even if the canyon is too adventurous for you (and I don’t blame you at all!), a hike through Rose Valley is a must do when you’re staying in Goreme. It is probably the most scenic hike I’ve ever done in my life.
Turkey is on my future bucket-list and your photos make me even more excited to visit! Love all the itinerary suggestions!