Cappadocia has so much more to offer than the hot air balloons we see on instagram all the time. While a hot air balloon ride is a must-do (unless you’re afraid of heights of course), these are the places in Cappadocia that are worth a visit as well.
I’ve put them into three categories: open air museums, castles/ cathedrals, and valleys. For an unforgettable Cappadocia experience, you should try to visit at least one place out of each category.
List of best places in Cappadocia
Here’s a list of the best places to visit in Cappadocia after you’ve enjoyed the hot air balloon sunrise:
1. Open Air Museums
2. Castles / Cathedrals
3. Valleys
Open Air Museums
Cappadocia’s open air museums offer the most amazing rock formations and old cave villages, giving you a good idea of how people in Cappadocia used to live. Here are a few of my favourites:
Zelve Open Air Museum
The place in Cappadocia that surprised me the most is Zelve Open Air Museum. Its grounds are so enormous, that we could have easily spent half a day here if we had the time. As comparison, it is four times as big as the Goreme Open Air Museum.
Zelve housed one of the largest communities in Cappadocia, but is now too dangerous to live in because of erosion risks. Just look at the wonderful sights we encountered while walking through the valleys of Zelve. Compared to the Goreme open air museum and the Pasabagi Fairy Chimneys, Zelve was the quietest open air museum.
To get to the Zelve Open Air museum from Goreme, we first took a local bus to the Uchisar castle, and then we took a taxi from Uchisar to Zelve. It costs a small entrance fee (about 15 Turkish Lira / less than £2) to visit Zelve Open Air museum. Its opening hours are daily from 8am until 6pm.
Pasabagi Fairy Chimneys
The Pasabagi Fairy Chimneys are very popular on Instagram, so I was surprised that it wasn’t full of crowds during our afternoon visit. Except for the few tour groups that came and went, it was actually very quiet in this beautiful place. Especially towards the end of the afternoon the crowds had cleared up. Just make sure to be there before 6pm
A must-do in the Pasabagi Fairy Chimneys is to buy an ice cream at the ice cream van. The guy at the van will give away a true performance while scooping your ice cream. I had never seen anything like it! Just beware of the chicken who is a huge ice cream fan 😊 :
The Pasabagi Fairy Chimneys are a 20-minute walk from the Zelve Open Air museum, and we took a taxi to get back to Goreme town.
Goreme Open Air Museum
Because of its vicinity to Goreme town, this open air museum is much more crowded and also more expensive to visit. The entrance fee in 2020 is 54 Turkish Lira, which is slightly over £7.
From 1 April until 30 September, the Goreme open air museum is opened from 8am until 7pm. From 1 October until 31 March, the opening hours are 8am – 5pm.
The Goreme Open Air museum is on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1984. It is full of cave churches that still have their original frescoes.
You can visit the Goreme Open Air museum as part of the Cappadocia Red Tour, but it’s very easy to visit it by yourself. We walked from Goreme town, and it only took us 15 minutes to reach the open air museum. The views we encountered on our way were very beautiful as well:
Castles / Cathedrals
The castles and cathedrals in Cappadocia are NOT like the ones anywhere else in the world. They are so unique, that it would be a true shame to miss out on them.
While Uchisar castle can be easily reached from Goreme Town by a short bus ride, the Selime Cathedral is much further out. We visited the Selime Cathedral as part of the Cappadocia Green Tour. According to Google Maps, it would take 1 hour and 10 minutes to reach Selime Cathedral by car.
Uchisar Castle
When you look at the picture below, would you ever guess that I am standing in front of a castle? Well, you better believe it, because this is what Uchisar Castle looks like:
As if the unique looking outside of the castle isn’t enough reason to visit, you can also climb up to the roof of the castle to enjoy some wonderful views:
The easiest way to get to Uchisar castle from Goreme Town is by bus. From Goreme Town, there is a bus to Uchisar every half an hour, and it only takes about 10 minutes to reach Uchisar. The locals in Goreme are friendly enough to help you find your bus when you’re in doubt.
Selime Cathedral
Although Selime Cathedral is over 80 kilometers away from Goreme Town, it is definitely worth a visit when you have enough time.
We visited Selime Cathedral as part of the Cappadocia Green tour, about which I have written a separate blog post.
Valleys
The valleys are another unique feature of Cappadocia, as they offer rock formations and landscapes that can’t be seen anywhere else in the world.
Pigeon Valley
Pigeon Valley is part of the Cappadocia Green Tour, but can also be easily reached by foot from Goreme Town. In fact, it is the perfect place to escape the town and spend some time hiking in nature. Just look at how colourful the valley was when we visited in May:
On our way from Goreme to Uchisar, we stumbled upon the cutest tea house in Pigeon Valley. Of course I had to order a Turkish apple tea – my favourite tea. The tea house also has amazing views and wonderful trees on its terrace:
If you have enough time, you should be able to walk from Goreme Town to Uchisar castle through the Pigeon Valley. However, we didn’t make it any further than this amazing crater canyon:
Rose Valley
Rose Valley is another valley within walking distance from Goreme Town, and it has the most wonderful rock formations I’ve seen:
If you feel adventurous, you could walk through Rose Valley before or after your visit to the Goreme Open Air museum. We did it afterwards, and to our surprise we found ourselves in the middle of a canyon.
Ihlara Valley
The Ihlara Valley is 80 kilometers away from Goreme town, so we’ve visited this valley as part of the Cappadocia Green Tour. If you have some extra time in Cappadocia, the stunning Ihlara valley is worth a visit:
Add to your bucket list:
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If you prefer to book your Cappadocia tours in advance, check out Viator for organised group and private tours:
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This reminded so many amazing memories from my Cappadocia trip last year! I have done all of your suggestions apart from the 2 spots in Green tour, we chose other places instead 🙂 So many things to do there!
I’ve only been able to go to Turkey on long stop overs with Turkish Airlines but have been dying to go for longer to go to Cappadoca, It looks like such a bucket list destination!! Such a great guide, thanks!
Cappadocia Looks so beautiful. It looks straight out of Flitstones. It’s so pretty. It has been on my list but will definitely need to plan soon. Thank you for this guide. By the way your pictures are stunning.
Awesome list, I didn’t know that there are so many places to visit in Cappadocia, It looks so nice, will have to book my flight when I can
Cappodocia is definitely on my bucket list. Love your photos. Goreme Open Air museum looks fascinating and the rock formations in the Valleys are amazing. Wonderful article.
Such a great post, I never realized there were so many other things than hot air balloons in Cappadocia! Thank you for sharing.
Cappadocia is so high on my bucketlist, I’m so hoping I’m able to visit Turkey in the next couple of years so thank you for sharing this!
What an amazing place! I wish I made the time to visit Cappadocia when I was in Istanbul. There is so much more to it then I realized.
Adore this post! This fairytale place has been on my Turkey bucket list forever and you’re making me want to go so badly! Thanks for all the insight 🙂
Wow, the open air museums look awesome! Thanks for showing that there really is more to do here than the hot air balloons haha.