We had the most magical time there. Oh, what a beautiful place! It looked as if it wasn't even real, as if I was a part of a Disney movie come to life.
So, I thought I'd share with you all about our trip to Cappadocia!
HOW TO GET TO CAPPADOCIA
So to get to Cappadocia, you need to get a flight to either Nevsehir or Kayseri. We got a flight from London to Istanbul, spent a couple of days in Istanbul, then we got a flight to Nevsehir. Nevsehir is the closer airport and the more popular one. From there, we got a shuttle transport that we organized with our hotel. Generally your hotel should be able to help you with finding you a shuttle transport there. We had a non-private shuttle transfer, so it cost us about £5-6 per person per way, which is pretty good!
GETTING AROUND CAPPADOCIA
We actually literally just walked or used taxis. You shouldn’t find anything to be too expensive. The average price from Goreme to Uchisar is roughly 35 lira, and similar to the other towns too. 35 lira is about £5, so a round trip would end up costing us about £10. We had considered hiring a car, but when everything is so close by or so easy to get to via taxi, there wasn’t any need.
WHERE TO EAT IN CAPPADOCIA
So our favorite restaurant there was definitely Top Deck. It’s so Turkish styled with its floor seating, and so beautiful as it’s in a cave as well! The food was delicious, and the service was great. We also enjoyed Buyuk Adana Kebap! Really tasty food. Dibek was also lovely for its pottery kebab (which we had to try), but I would say that it was slightly overrated to me because Top Deck definitely took the crown for us!
We didn’t get to try these other ones, but we were recommended these restaurants as well: Pumpkin Goreme, Mulberry Cafe (Chinese food), Kings coffee shop for desert, Seten, and Organic Cave Kitchen.
FOODS TO TRY
Testi Kebab - it’s like a stew that they cook the meat or veg in a clay pot for hours and break it in front of you!
Pide - it’s kinda like a Turkish version of a pizza and absolutely delicious!
Baklava - Honey, filo pastries - need I say more?
Apple tea - Oh the Turkish apple tea is on another level!
Kebab Durum - The most delicious wraps, especially when they add a little bit of cheese to them!
Freshly squeezed juices - you HAVE to try the freshly squeezed juices there! They are so cheap (around 10 lira, £1.50, $1.75) and so deliciously tasty!
HOW MUCH WILL YOU SPEND IN CAPPADOCIA?
Average prices in Cappadocia
- Food - For a nice restaurant, especially at dinner time, you’re looking at 50-90 lira (£5 -£13) per meal, but on average you’re probably looking at 30-50 per meal (£4-5). This of course doesn’t include dessert, but as you can see you won’t be spending too much!
- Drinks - Drinks were so cheap! You’d pay around 10 lira (£1.5 / $1.75) for apple tea, fresh juice (sometimes 15 lira), or coffee.
- Hot air balloon - This is where it gets super pricey! You’re looking at anywhere between 160 - 200 euros per person, all dependent on which company you go with and how many people you want in your basket. You can get baskets of 16-20 people or 12-16/12-18/12-20. The less amount of people, the more you pay. So bear that in mind if you’re thinking of going up one.
- Activities - 🌸 Red tour / Green tour - 40 euros per person (I personally think the green tour would be more worth it if you’re staying more than 2 days in Cappadocia as you can see the majority of the red tour by yourself, which is what we did! We didn’t go on the green tour this time around but in the future we most likely will as it includes the Derinkuyu underground city, ihlara valley (the river restaurant looks so fun!), and many more.🌸 ATV Quad bike tour - 30 euros per person roughly🌸 Horse back riding - 30 euros per person roughly🌸 Katpatuka mud cave - 25 euros per person
- Transport - We took taxis between the different towns, and they were around 30-35 lira per way (£5). The shuttle transport from the airport to our hotel was 40 lira each. I definitely recommend taking taxis, but if you’d like to hire your own car there is that option as well, but do bear in mind that most hotels don’t have parking, or at least if they do, it’s not directly outside the hotel.
WHAT TO DO IN CAPPADOCIA
🌸 ATV quad bike tour - So we got to do a sunrise tour, of which the majority of the companies when walking up Goreme don’t actually do. We stumbled across Cappadocia Red Line through a couple that was staying at our hotel - I asked them if there was anything they recommended, and they said they were doing an ATV tour the next morning and we could join them if there was space. There was! We’re so glad we got to go along with them, it was so fun to make friends on our trip and Mustafa was an amazing guide! He took us around to the balloon launch zone, Love Valley, Sword Valley, and a few other places. He gave us the history of all these locations and it was such an amazing tour! It was nice doing sunrise as well because it was just the four of us, and not a group of like 15 people. I would recommend also bringing a jacket and sunglasses - it gets so dusty! But this was definitely was my favorite experience so I highly recommend it! (pics above ^)
🌸 Uchisar - Uçhisar is a small town, and a lot quieter than Goreme. I would say I probably wouldn’t want to stay here as it’s too quiet for my liking, but it’s beautiful and worth a visit - our absolute favorite cafe is there! (More on that shortly) We arrived by taxi and walked around the small town through their pottery shops and seeing what they had on offer. We got a drink at Uchisar Cave House, and then continued walking. I had found Peri Cave Man Cafe recommended to me on another blog, so I thought we might as well give it a try. It’s a short walk down, around 10 minutes. When I got there, I was absolutely stunned. The scenery looks basically like a fairytale Disney movie set - my brain just couldn’t seem to process that it was actually real haha!
🌸 Goreme - ah, Goreme. I loved staying in Goreme! It’s the liveliest of all the towns, and you’ll find lots of restaurants and shops in Goreme. You’ll also find Galerie Ikman, which is a gorgeous carpet and rug shop that you can walk around and also take photos in (you have to either buy something or pay to take your photos). I loved walking around Goreme - it’s such a beautiful little town and just exactly where I’d wanted to stay.
🌸 Valley hiking (Love Valley, Red Valley, Rose Valley, etc) - There are plenty of valleys to hike around Cappadocia. I loved Love Valley as there was plenty of beautiful installations at Ask Vadisi Salincak cafe. We didn’t get a chance to make it to all the valleys, but I hear Red Valley is gorgeous for sunset, so next time we’d love to hit it. I would definitely suggest hiking at sunrise/early morning or sunset time because it gets hot during the day!
WHAT TO DO IN CAPPADOCIA
🌸 Katpatuka Mud cave - We arrived and it was so beautiful. You get changed (bring your swimmers! Though they do have swimmers to purchase there should you not have any) and ready to go out and get your feet’s dead skin nibbled on by fish. It’s a tickly sensation and also so weird to watch but it’s a fun experience! We then went into the pool to relax, but honestly I now wish we would’ve gone to the mud bath for longer! Nathan had said, ‘either mudding is going to be amazing or horrible’ as if there wasn’t really an in-between… and it was AMAZING! We had such an amazing time! You go in, and it’s basically like a pool of mud. It’s very watery when you go in, but some areas are very dense and that’s where you want to squeeze yourself into. We immersed ourselves in mud and it was so dang good! It was like we were in a sea of softness - that’s the best way I can describe it!
WHAT TO DO IN CAPPADOCIA
🌸 Balloon launch zone - I got advised to contact companies to find out where the balloon launch zone will be throughout our stay, but honestly I just found that there were always some balloon companies launching from just outside Goreme on the way to Goreme Open Air Museum & across the horseback riding ranches.
🌸 Ortohisar - We made our way to Ortohisar because I’d seen a cafe on Instagram that I’d wanted to go to. Our taxi dropped us off and we started having a look around the area. I would say it’s the least touristy and the most local out of the towns. There’s a castle that’s similar to the Uchisar castle, so we kept on walking and stumbled upon this awesome onyx factory. We bought a really sweet camel and elephant made out of onyx and they are just gorgeous! I love bringing home things that remind me of our adventures. We kept on walking and went up the hill to Ethem cafe. It was worth it for the views! Thankfully at the time there was barely anyone there, so we ordered our drinks and took in the views. Be warned though - there are tourists buses that stop here and then the place gets rammed. So take your pictures if there’s no one there immediately to avoid disappointment - or wait it out a while and the tourist bus will leave.
🌸 Goreme open air museum - We didn’t actually make it to the museum but we made a lot of stops along the way! We loved the pottery shop and getting a drink at a restaurant, and the walk along the way is just beautiful!
🌸 Avanos & Pasabag - again we didn’t make it here but these two were on my to-go to list, and hopefully we’ll get to go next time! Pasabag is where the fairy chimneys are and where you’ll have seen some iconic Instagram photos taken. Avanos is a pottery town, and there’s a cute plate shop when you come in that’s perfect for your insta pics. Everything else looks really lovely, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you for sure as we didn’t manage to get there.
WHERE TO STAY IN CAPPADOCIA
Goreme is definitely the town you’re going to want to stay in. Uchisar is a lot quieter and doesn’t have as much to do and similar with the other towns. You’d want to visit them for a few hours, but in Goreme, you can just walk out your door and you have everything waiting for you! We stayed at a lovely cave hotel called Shoestring Cave Hotel. I definitely recommend staying at a cave hotel because it’s an experience in itself! I loved the bathroom especially!
Be warned though, there was no soundproofing so we definitely heard the mosque call at 5am everyday. The good thing is that you’re going to want to be up around that time everyday anyway because of the balloons!
Anyways,
I hope that was super helpful for you when you go to Cappadocia - you’ll have the BEST time there!
Love,
Nat x
"The Lord is righteous in everything he does;
he is filled with kindness." - Psalm 145:17
he is filled with kindness." - Psalm 145:17
4 comments:
Hi:) I'd appreciate a tip where this awesome heart swing is exactly :) It's magical <3
Stunning!! Can you tell me where you got these beautiful pink/ white dresses from?
How long do you recommend staying in Goreme?
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