2-Day Cappadocia Tour with Optional Hot Air Balloon Ride

Day 1:

Pickup from your Istanbul hotel and transfer to airport for a morning flight to Cappadocia. Upon arrival in Cappadocia, transfer to start your full-day tour of Red-Cappadocia tour.

Start the tour by visiting Devrent Valley, also known as Imagination Valley, one of the most surreal looking landscapes in Cappadocia. The next stop will be Pasabagi, also known as Monks Valley, where Christian hermits chose to build Hermit Cells and Churches in these 3-headed Pinnacles symbolic of the Holy Trinity. It is possible to see all stages of the fairy Chimneys at this spot. Proceed to Avanos, the pottery center of Cappadocia, a village set on the banks of the Red River. Here, you can watch the potters at work using the traditional kick wheels, a technique that has remained unchanged for generations. Lunch will be served in a local restaurant.

After lunch, continue to the Goreme Open-Air Museum. Important Byzantine cave churches are found in these once remote valleys where monks and nuns pursued monastic life the 3rd century. See the preserved Byzantine cave wall paintings and frescos from the Iconoclastic period through to the end of the Selcuk rule. Icons with scenes from the Old and New Testament can be seen above portraits of saints and church fathers depicting the structure of the Byzantine period. End your day with a view of Uchisar Castle. This tall rock is the highest point of the Goreme region. Transfer to your hotel and overnight stay in Cave Suite Room.

Day 2:

(Optional: Pre-sunrise hot air balloon tour)

After pickup from your hotel at 9.45am, hike along the Red and Rose Valley, the most breathtakingly and mysteriously beautiful valleys in the region. Conclude your hike at the Cavusin Cave Village. Marvel at the rock castle and troglodyte dwellings where people lived until the 20th century. Enjoy lunch in a local restaurant.

Descend towards the center of the earth with a trip to the Underground City of Kaymakli, one of the largest and deepest of Cappadocia’s many such settlements. Discover this underground city and its stables, cellars, storage rooms, refectories, churches, and wineries.

Visit the Pigeon Valley. See spectacular view of dovecotes (pigeon or dove houses), old abandoned cave homes and old Greek houses of Uchisar and Ortshisar Castle, the biggest mass of fairy chimneys in Cappadocia. There is also an optional pre-sunrise hot air balloon tour for those who want to see sights from the air.

Check out of your hotel and then finish your tour with a transfer to the airport or You can stay in the Hotel.