CAPPADOCIA
Cappadocia: Balloons, Caves, and Layers of History
In the heart of Anatolia, geology and human history intertwine in remarkable ways. In Cappadocia, volcanic eruptions from long-extinct mountains hardened into soft tufa stone, and where, over centuries, people carved their mark into that rock.
Cappadocia is a significant journey from Istanbul, which will almost certainly be your entry point into Turkey. No matter whether you fly (an hour and some, but then all the airport fussing), take a train and bus (about ten hours), or drive (about seven), you're looking at at least the better part of a day's travel, all told.
This is a place once walked by Hittites, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Seljuks. It became a refuge for early Christians fleeing persecution, and later a crossroads for Silk Road caravans threading their way between Europe and Asia.
Today, it’s known for the surreal beauty of its “fairy chimneys” and the dreamlike spectacle of hot air balloons rising over valleys at dawn, but there’s far more here than this beautiful visual cliché. Here you’ll find underground cities and monastic cave churches next to vineyards clinging to volcanic slopes, and old stone villages where modern life still pulses with ancient rhythm.
Cappadocia is less a destination than a slow revelation of the way that all its parts come together.
Here's what we think should form the core of your experience:
Caves, Churches & Underground Cities
Beneath Cappadocia’s surface lies an entire underworld of human resilience.
The underground cities of Derinkuyu and Kaymaklı are feats of ancient engineering, boasting multi-level mazes complete with wine cellars, ventilation shafts, livestock pens, and chapels. Originally carved by early Anatolian peoples and later expanded by Christians fleeing Roman persecution, these subterranean cities were once capable of housing thousands.
The Göreme Open-Air Museum holds some of the most vivid Byzantine frescoes in Turkey, hidden in chapels etched into stone: Christ Pantocrator, the Dormition of the Virgin, saints rendered in ochre and blue. Many of the churches remain unrestored, their silence part of the spell.
Stepping into them is a sort of act of empathy with those who once vanished into the earth to survive.
A private guide here helps make sense of the dizzying layers and silent stories embedded in the stone.
Surreal Geology & Sunrise by Balloon
Cappadocia’s topography feels almost lunar.
Its “fairy chimneys” are actually the work of wind, ash, and time. These strange spires are best explored on foot in valleys like Zelve, Love Valley, or the Ihlara Gorge, where the path winds past carved hermitages and vineyards tucked into volcanic folds.
Cave Hotels in Cappadocia: If you’re staying overnight, and you should, if for no other reason than to be up early enough for a balloon ride at dawn, opt for one of the region’s iconic cave hotels, where you’ll sleep within ancient stone walls smoothed by time.
The best of these balance modern comforts with original architecture, letting you rest in the quiet cool of a space that has sheltered travellers for centuries.
And so it is that the true magic begins at dawn. A hot air balloon ride over Cappadocia is an experience like no other—floating silently above rose-gold canyons as the sun lifts mist from the valley floor is one of the most iconic things to do in Cappadocia
It's well worth the early alarm, the cold, and worth the cliché of it all.
Living Culture: Villages, Vineyards & Craft Traditions
Cappadocia is not a strictly a museum, much as the numbers of visitors might give you that impression.
It’s still lived in, layered, and still tied to the land. In the old Greek town of Sinasos, now Mustafapaşa, in Ortahisar and Üçhisar, daily life unfolds in stone courtyards and narrow alleys.
Farmers tend plots carved into hillsides; vintners produce wines from local Emir and Kalecik Karası grapes grown in volcanic soil. This is a chance to explore a winemaking world that is likely less familiar to the visitor than the usual European suspects, but which is much more a blend of old and new techniques than the wines you'd find in the Georgian Countryside, for example.
Stay in a traditional cave hotel, ideally one run by a local family. Many are housed in former monastic cells or centuries-old homes. Eat slow-cooked testi kebab baked in sealed clay pots, broken open at your table.
Visit the town of Avanos, where red river clay is spun on ancient wheels, or explore a carpet cooperative where weavers still knot by hand.
Cappadocia is beautiful, yes, but the land holds its memories in stone, and those who spend time here tend to remember it in turn.