A Guide to Visiting Cappadocia, Turkey

Cappadocia is a historical region in Turkey and the name continues to be used as a tourist concept to define a region of natural geological wonders characterized by fairy chimneys. Sedimentary rocks formed by the deposits of volcanic eruptions, eroded over the years to form these structures. People carved out houses, churches and monasteries from these soft rocks.

How to Reach Goreme – We booked overnight bus tickets on Nevsehir Seyahat as they were the only ones who didn’t ask for a Turkish ID for booking. We boarded the bus from Esenler Otogar, Istanbul. It was a very comfortable bus journey.

Stay and Tours – We stayed at Charming Cave Hotel in Goreme. They were the friendliest lot helping us with tours (as there is no public transportation to the various sites), free pickup/drops, unlimited free Turkish tea and coffee 🙂 and just about anything we need. We booked a Green Tour on day 1 which included Derinkuyu Underground City, Ihlara Valley, Selime Monastery and Pigeon Valley vista point. We booked ATV tour for day 2 to cover love valley, red valley etc.

Selime Monastery

The monastery includes a church, monks’ quarters and a large kitchen.

Love Valley

Named so because of the phallic shaped chimneys 😀

Red and Pink Valleys

Derinkuyu Underground City

It is a multi-level underground city large enough to have sheltered as many as 20,000 people together with their livestock and food stores and was used by the Christians to protect themselves from the Mongolians. It is the largest excavated underground city in Turkey. Video below –