Authors:
Luke, Katie and Cora @ungracefulguide and theungracefulguide.com
It goes without saying that one of our Turkey highlights, and favourite sunrises to date, has to be from Cappadocia home to the iconic dawn balloon flights.
Even if heights aren’t your thing and you’ve no desire to take to the skies, watching this magical setting is definitely worth the trip alone.
We did both and it’s just as good, if not better, to simply sit, look up and enter this incredible dream scene.
Best balloon flight viewpoints:
Alarms set, layers on, coffee in flask and overnight oats bursting from the lunchbox, we headed to one of the many, many viewpoints to watch the skies fill with colour. The quick blast of gas killing the cold, dark, silent morning. The pockets of fire illuminating the impressive landscape so many sit and gather on.
Since the 90s, Cappadocia has been high on the bucketlist for anyone who wanted to ride a hot air balloon. Hundreds of which can carry up to 24 people each float to the skies every morning, 250 days of the year. Weather permitting of course.
The best towns for watching the spectacular sight is either tourist hotspot and backpacker favourite, Göreme, or the slightly more chilled – Uçhisar.
You have a crazy selection of accommodation that offer terraces to fall onto from your bed. Some will even set up the perfect scene with comfortable cushions and a breakfast spread to act as props for the ultimate Instagram shoot.
Navigate your way up through Göreme’s steep hill to the bird eye viewpoint (20cent entry) and grab a spot where you can almost touch the bottom of the basket.
You’ve also got the valley. No crowds, plenty of places to pick and watch both landing and take off, less of a walk (depending on where you’re staying) and ideal for anyone who wants to enjoy a very surreal moment where you feel like you’re the only people witnessing it. Throwing down our picnic blanket, pilots drifted overhead, gifting us with second hand heat from the balloon flames while we sat waiting for the sun to take over shift.
Chuck this into Google Maps for our exact location 8GCPJRWP+HJ.
Another interesting spot is the take-off area. Safely start your morning here and follow the floaters back into town, just in time for the sun to jump from behind the rugged volcanic rocks.
There’s so much more than balloons though. With ancient rock formations and open air museums to explore, an endless amount of tours to take you to the depths of every corner, underground cities, salt lakes, castles, mountain biking and even the chance to hire a vintage car and be chauffeured around the moon-like landscape. That’s just the tip really.
Cappadocia has an insanely impressive terrain, we spent each day exploring a different valley. Using our trusted Maps.Me app to find routes that were a nice mix of challenging and fun, but doable, with a baby on the back!
Our top hikes:
Meskendir – Rose Valley – Red Valley. We started near Kaya Camping (take a left after the campsite), looped back into Göreme near Çavuşin & caught an unbelievable sunset here: MR4V+PHR
Love Valley – we walked up Bilal Eroglu Cd, in the opposite direction of Göreme centre, and turned left into the Valley. Here we enjoyed a somewhat long but flat hike with plenty of shade and lots of phallic rock formations – giving it the name! You can also climb and hike the top of the valley for insane views!
Uçhisar Castle – we jumped on the local bus for 6TL (29c) from Göreme bus station (leaves every 30mins from 7am-7.30pm) to visit the castle. Entry for foreigners is 20TL (€1.30).
To make the Uçhisar visit more interesting, we recommend hiking back to Göreme via Pigeon Valley. We did see the valley from a spectacular viewpoint as we walked back to Göreme (via main road) and instantly regretted not walking back through Pigeon Valley. Let’s just say, the sunrises and hikes caught up on us …
We had phone coverage on all hikes. Each one taking way longer than anticipated because we couldn’t help but stop and take in every inch, plus allow Cora a stretch.
We relied on Maps.Me more than Google to keep us on the right trail, brought lunch, plenty of snacks and water. Not all the valleys have cover so SPF it (delighted we also had our umbrella). We helped ourselves to the abundance of fruit found on all routes and even got to meet a gorgeous (wild) pack of puppies.
Where we stayed:
We stayed at Apollo Village Cappadocia and such a lovely experience. The family took amazing care of us, our breakfast was included and we also had access to kitchen, washing machine etc. We booked our balloon trip via them and got a fantastic rate
We didn’t eat out much but when we did we had the best grub in Nazar Borek Cafe and Fat Boys.
The Ungraceful Guide:
Katie, Luke (and baby Cora) describe themselves as “two (and a bit) tight-arsed, potty-mouthed backpackers ungracefully laughing our way around the world”.
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