Istanbul-Cappadocia
Getting to Cappadocia from Istanbul is pretty straightforward. I took a nightbus twice. The bus was not full, so you did have some space to sleep. Make sure you have a sweater or sleeping bag at hand. It might be hot when you leave, but at night it can get cold, especially if they put the AC on.
From Istanbul you can get dropped at any destination in Cappadocia, even the smallest village like Uchisar is OK.
Where to stay in Cappadocia
Uchisar When you read the LP posts on this subjects, most people will advise you to stay in Göreme or Ürgup.
I strongly advise you to go to Uchisar. This is a marvellous little village which is situated on a hill. This means that from most hotels, you have a really fantastic view over Cappadocia. Sunrise is really great.
We stayed at the marvellous "
La maison du Rêve". We had a nice room with mandi, balcony and view over Cappadocia for 10 US$ including breakfast. They have a terrace for breakfast and dinner from where you also have marvellous views. One of their visitors was so enthusiastic about the hotel
they made them a great website for free. Prices are now between 14 and 18 $ for a double (10/2001).
If you want to sleep in a room hewn out of the rocks, go to "
Jardins des 1001 nuits", but that's more expensive and the views are not that spectacular.
Another good one, especially for families or small groups wishing to stay a bit longer is the "
Les Maisons de Cappadoce". They rent beautifully restored village houses at reasonable prices. Some have gardens with beautiful views over the valley. They have their own website at
http://www.cappadoce.com You've noticed you see a lot of French names here. That's because there's a Club Med just outside of town, but you won't notice unless you go there. They have a swimming pool.
Uchisar is also a good place to start some marvellous walks.
Ürgup 
The Almira Buyuk hotel was recommended by Sara Wise (8/98). It's a classy 4* hotel charging 60 US$ for a double room wit AC, bathroom and hot water. They all have balconies overlooking a pool. They have a pool bar and outside dining around the pool. The price includes a good breakfast and dinner buffet.
another place recommended by Tom Brosnahan is the Esbelli Evi Pension. He describes it as one of the best places in Turkey. They have their own website at
http://www.esbelli.com.tr/ and you can e-mail them on
suha@esbelli.com.tr Göreme The place to be for backpackers is the
Kose Pension. They also offer a two-day camping trip in Cappadocia.
What to do
Walking 
There are some absolutely superb walks to be done (and this is coming from someone who usually hates walking). As I said, Uchisar is a good place to start:
A short and easy walk on which you can't get lost is the walk from Uchisar to Göreme through the pigeon valley. It takes 60 to 90 minutes.
Even better, but a bit more difficult to find the good track, is the walk from Uchisar to Cavusin. You start at the Ucler Onyx factory. There you take the dirt track (this is left when coming from Uchisar). Were the vineyard starts, you take right, this is a track suitable for horse carriage. After 400 metres you see a valley on your le
ft hand side. There is a small track down to the valley. Once you are in the valley, just follow the (dry) watercourse all the way, even if it disappears in the rocks. We once went into a natural tunnel of 20 metres, really spectacular! After 2h30', you come to a road. Going right you go to Göreme, left is Cavusin. The first 2 trips are suitable for children too.
From Cavusin, we wanted to walk to Zelve, but we got lost. That was a frightening and also dangerous experience, since we were following a watercourse which took height differences of 2 metres sometimes (this was not the case on the previous walk). Luckily, we met another couple, and it turned out we were in a completely different valley.
Finally we did get on the right way and arrived in Zelve around 4 pm. Don't do this trip with children since you are now walking on mountain rims with precipices. You can find descriptions of other walks in the French "Guide du Routard". This is actually the only good chapter of this book.
Visiting natural sights and villages Kaymakli - Ihlara Valley trip
The Ihlara valley is about 50 km from Uchisar, so we thought that would be a bit too far to do by Vespa. So we decided to join a tour group. Asking price was 1.200.000 TL, but we haggled till 1.000.000 TL (=20 US$) (9/95). It's possible to be picked up in Uchisar even if you book the trip in Göreme.
The Ihlara valley is about 50 km from Uchisar, so we thought that would be a bit too far to do by Vespa. So we decided to join a tour group. Asking price was 1.200.000 TL, but we haggled till 1.000.000 TL (=20 US$) (9/95). It's possible to be picked up in Uchisar even if you book the trip in Göreme.
Before going to Ihlara, you visit one of the underground cities. In 1995 they did exactly the same trick as in 1986 saying that Derinkuyu is more famous than Kaymakli and therefore would be crowded with tourists. The whole bus agrees to go to Kaymakli instead of Derinkuyu, thus saving a lot of entrance fees for the guide (Kaymakli is 20 % cheaper then Derinkuyu). Still Kaymakli is also spectacular, so don't miss to visit an underground city. The Ihlara valley is definitely worth the trip. By tourgroup you will only do half of the trip starting at the steps. This trip is about 7 km. You will have lunch at one of the 2 restaurants in Belisirme.
Trip with Vespa For the other sights we rented a Vespa, since they are closer to Uchisar. We payed 20 US$ for 24 hours at Haybil. This firm has a representative in Uchisar and Göreme. First we went to Ortahisar to visit the fort, one of the highest points of Cappadocia. You can go to another mountain in the center of town to have a picture from the fort, but in the morning the fort will be in the shadow from that point.
Next we went to the Red Valley which is really spectacular. To get there, go left on the road Nevsehir-Urgup just behind Ortahisar, and follow the sign "panoramic viewpoint". Entrance is 25.000 TL (9/95). Go inside the valley for some nice walks, but take plenty of water with you. You will have great views and some churches too.
We passed Ürgup and drove south to Mustafapasa where we had a drink in the nice Hotel Sinassos, and then returned to Ürgup. We had a Turkish pizza at the Göreme-restaurant behind the busstation.
We drove to Avanos, but we didn't like it very much there, so we soon drove back to Göreme over a dirt road.
Finally we went to the Göreme open air museum (entrance 4 US$, students 2 US$). It is worth a trip, but it is very crowdy with "beach" tourists. Better is to climb up a small hill above museum, which provide superb views.
Trip to Nemrut Dagi See "Nemrut Dagi" page Go to Kayseri page
Article Comments:
| 03/20/2006 |
| John Aughton (4) |
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We're going there next week so I think this info will be useful
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