Cappadocia Guide, Places to see in Cappadocia

The region is a paradise for those who enjoy discovering variety and contrast. In excursions to the valleys adorned with fairy chimneys you can discover places that have never been visited before, and if you are interested in photography you will be able to take extremely diverse pictures.

You can hike, ride horsback, enjoy a incredible hot-air ballon ride, and even observe a demonstration of sema, the whirling of dervishes. You can visit the valleys and underground cities, you can ride a bicycle.

Even if you’ve been there many times, every trip to Cappadocia will hold a surprise, and you can visit during every season of the year.

Places to see in Cappadocia

Cappadocia Goreme Open-Air Museum

You will see the Monastery of Monks and Nuns on the left. The monastery dates to the eleventh cetury and consists of a six to seven storey rock mass. The structure in which all the levels are connected by tunnels consists of a kitchen, dining room, cells and a chapel.

There is a chapel on the second floor and a church on the third. The church is domed and contains four columns and three apses. The most important feature in the nuns’ section is the fresco of Jesus executed directly on the rock with red ornamentation that completes it. The monastery of the monks was unable to resist the forces of time and erosion, and the passages between levels have collapsed. In the chapel of Saint Basileios near the entrance, the nave and the narthex are separated from one another by two individual galleries. You can also see graves that have been carved into the chapel.

Cappadocia Goreme Valley

The earliest examples of Byzantine churches can be seen in this valley, which would be used as a location fort he education of missionaries. Some researchers propound that Armenians were among the first architects as well. According to these researchers, the tambour and dome at the Halacdere Monastery in Avcılar, at Mavrucan/Güzelöz, is an outstanding example of the domed churches that display the work of Armenian architects. ( The tambour is the cylindrical or faceted wall with Windows that supports the dome.)

Zelve Open-Air Museum

Life in the Zelve Valley, which was one of the important settlements in the region from the fourth until the thirteenth ceturies, continued until 1952. It is generally acknowledged that the variety of large, small, conical, pyramid-shaped, pointed or blunt fairy chimneys in Zelve are the most beautiful in the region. Zelve presents a Picture of abandonment of a village that stil existed until a short time ago, with a Seljuk-type mosque and adjacent homes carved from the rock, some of which stil resist the ravages of time.

Cappadocia Red and Rose Valley

Rose Valley is a large valley located between Goreme and Cavusin village, and it is divided into many smaller valleys: Gulludere, Kizilcukur, Meskendir and Zindanonu valleys. This beautiful valley gets its name from the rose-colored rock that varies in hue and intensity depending on time of day, season and weather conditions. During the hike you will visit several cave churches, cave houses and cave tunnels. Rose Valley has paths for easy, medium and difficult levels. The most common path in the valley takes around 2 hours.

Ihlara Valley, a magnificent canyon

Ihlara Valley, which has the appearance of a canyon, surrounded as it is by 100-150 meter-high rocks and step cliffs. The Melendiz Çayı, winding its way along the cracks it had eroded,was origially amed Potamus Kapaduks,meaning Cappadocia River.

Some important churches to visit in Ihlara Valley

• Egritas Kilise (Church with Crooked Stone)
• Sumbullu Kilise (Hyacinth Church)
• Yilanli Kilise (Church with Snake)
• Karagedik Kilise (Church with Black Collar)
• Kirk Damalti Kilisesi (Church of St. George)
• Bahattin Kilise (Bahattin’s Granary Church)
• Direkli Kilise (Pillard Church)
• Ala Kilise (Mottled Church)

Cappadocia Uchisar

Uchisar is situated at the highest point in the region, the top of the citidel provides a magnificent panorama of the surrounding area. Many rooms hollowed out into the rock are connected to each other with stairs, tunnels and passages. In all the entrances to the rooms, there are millstone doors, just like ones in the underground cities, used to control access to these places. Due to the erosion in places of the multi-leveled castle, it is unfortunately not possible to reach all of the rooms.

Cappadocia Avanos

Avanos is the location of one of Anatolia’s most distinctive pottery workshops. The present-day residents of Avanos, like their predecessors since Hittite times, continue to make pottery with the red clay removed from the bed of the Kızılırmak River, using simple foot-powered wheels and their handicraft to create clay forms that are oe more beautiful than the other. The shores of the Kızılırmak are full of pottery workshops, and almost all of the potters are cotinuing the work of their fathers.

Best Time to Visit Cappadocia

The best season for visit Cappadocia and outdoor activities make April to May and September to October the best time to visit Cappadocia.

Spotting wildflowers and birds, hiking and cycling are marvellous during the spring.

Summer peak season brings the heat, crowds, and higher prices.

Winter season from December to March can be rainy and windy, but it also brings beautiful views over snow-dusted rocks along with sledding and skiing.

Things to do in Cappadocia

1. Take a tour to Cappadocia Goreme Open Air Museum
2. Discover Goreme Valley in Cappadocia
3. Explore the Zelve Open Air Museum
4. Admire the beauty of Cappadocia Red and Rose Valley
5. Hike Ihlara Valley, a magnificent canyon
6. Take Cappadocia  Photograph at Uchisar
7. Make your own pottery in Cappadocia Avanos
8. Hot Air Balloonning in Cappadocia
9. Visit the Cave Churches in Cappadocia
10. Dive to the Cappadocia Underground Cities
11. Stay in a cave hotel
12. Take a Jeep Safari Tour in Cappadocia
13. Take a Cappadocia Horseback Riding
14. Eat Cappadocia Pottery kebab

Further Informations

Things to know before travelling to Cappadocia

Best Time to Visit Cappadocia

Where to Stay in Cappadocia

What to Eat in Cappadocia

Cappadocia Travel Tips