Walking in Cappadocia

Our trip starts today in Goreme, a remarkable honey-hued village and our base for a week of exploring the impressive landscapes of Cappadocia. This area is famous for its unique geological formations as well as a history that stretches back to before the Hittites (2000 BC). Our tour leader plans to meet you in the hotel reception at 6pm for a welcome meeting and for those that wish, there'll be the chance to go out for dinner. There are no other activities planned today, so you're free to arrive in Goreme at any time. If you'd like an airport transfer today, you'll need to arrive into Kayseri Airport (ASR), which is around a one-hour and fifteen minute drive away. Should you miss the welcome meeting, our tour leader will inform you of any essential information as soon as you catch up. Our comfortable base for the week is the Sobek Stone House - a characterful, stone-built, hotel located on the outskirts of Goreme. The hotel is set in beautiful gardens and offers wonderful views of Cappadocia. Each of the 40 rooms is tastefully decorated in an individual fashion with private bathrooms and air-conditioning. Facilities include an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, sauna, restaurant and a terrace bar. If you're up early in the mornings, you'll be able to see hot air balloons filling the sky from the terrace.

If you're interested in the optional sunrise balloon trip, we recommend booking it for your first morning in Cappadocia. This gives you plenty of time to rebook in the case of cancellation. Please see the optional excursions details for more information. This morning, we'll drive a short distance to Kizilcukur (Red) Valley, the start of our first hike. Sometimes known as the 'red hole', Kizilcukur is possibly the hottest valley in the region. Hidden in its array of fairy chimneys is The Church with Grapes where there are frescoes depicting viticulture and fruit growing. Eventually, we'll reach the small village of Cavusin which lies on top of a collapsed section of an early Christian cave city. This was caused by a huge rockslide which, together with earthquakes and natural erosion, caused a split in the plateau. The atrium of the church at Cavusin has cascaded down, exposing some of the frescoes. We'll then ascend Bozdag Table Mountain for views of the surrounding area from Cappadocia's highest point at 1,300 metres/4,265 feet above sea level. After the walk, we'll drive to the local town of Avanos, famous for millennia for its pottery. Here, we'll have a pottery demonstration followed by the opportunity to explore this riverside town. Today's 12 kilometre/7.5 mile walk is expected to take around five to six hours with a total ascent of 250 metres/820 feet.

Today's walk is slightly further afield in the Ihlara Valley, located a 90-minute drive from Goreme. We plan to make a stop en-route to visit Kaymakli Underground City either at the start or end of the day depending on timings. Built by Christians escaping Arab oppression and once home to 3,500 people, this troglodyte cave-city is one of the largest of 34 similar excavations in Cappadocia. Built under the Citadel of Kaymakli, it contains nearly 100 tunnels on eight subterranean floors. We'll explore the four that are open to the public, containing stables, a church and storage places. We'll start our walk in the Ihlara Valley, along a trail that follows the river downstream passing the villages of Belisirma and Selime. The narrow, steep-sided Ihlara Valley, dotted with rock-cut churches, was once the favourite retreat of Byzantine monks. This valley was formed by primeval earthquakes and the once rushing river is now a quiet stream. As we walk along the winding valley, with cliffs reaching up to 170 metres in some places, we'll see small garden cultures that originally would have provided for the colonies making them self-sufficient. There are many rock-cut churches in this valley with well-preserved frescoes dating from the 9th century. Today's 13 kilometre/8.1 mile walk is expected to take around five hours with a total descent of around 100 metres/328 feet.

As it's the mid-week point of our tour, we've planned a shorter walk for today. Today's bus transfers are included but you might prefer to take it easy and relax in Goreme instead. We'll start the day with a short drive to Cat town where we'll begin our walk. The route follows a path with yet more great scenes for photography enthusiasts, passes by huge dovecotes that hosted thousands of pigeons, and continues on the valley floor. The route is filled with hawthorn, oleaster, and rosehip bushes and the walk ends at Aciksaray ruins - a 10-11th century Byzantine site of cave houses, churches and a monastery. After our walk and some time for lunch, the rest of the afternoon is at leisure back in Goreme. In the evening, we'll drive the short distance to Uchisar town for dinner. Here we will try some regional food prepared by local women. This is a local community initiative supported by the municipality to help local development. Today's optional 7 kilometre/4.4 mile walk is expected to take around two to three hours with a total descent of around 350 metres/1,148 feet.

This morning, we'll walk in Akvadi (White) Valley where we can further appreciate the geology of the region. Three volcanoes erupted 10 million years ago, spreading ash all over the region. This hardened into a soft, porous stone called tufa. Wind, water and sand have eroded portions of the tufa to form the almost alien landscape which we see today. The walk leads us to Uchisar, an area renowned for its number of 'fairy chimneys'. These remarkable structures are formed as a result of a hard boulder being caught in the tufa so that as the erosion process occurs, it leaves the boulder delicately perched on top of the slender pillar. We'll also visit Uchisar 'Castle' which, situated high on a rocky outcrop, gives commanding views of the entire region. This afternoon will be spent walking along Pigeon Valley to Goreme, where we'll visit a traditional Turkish tea shop and learn how to make Turkish tea or coffee. Finally, we'll visit Goreme Open Air Museum to explore the splendid cluster of monastic Byzantine artistry with rock-cut churches, chapels and monasteries - a UNESCO World Heritage site. Today's 15 kilometre/9.3 mile walk is expected to take around five hours with a total ascent and descent of around 350 metres/1,148 feet.

After breakfast this morning, we'll drive to the Gomeda Valley where today's walk begins. As well as the landscape, this region is also renowned for its wine as the fine volcanic soil is very fertile. Viticulture has been here since the Hittites, but it was the exiled Christians who really developed the vineyards, and, for a while, wine was exported under the label of mineral water. Alcohol is prohibited in Islam, and so much of the wine is now grown for export and for the non-Muslims in Turkey. Our trail takes us through the fascinating old Greek village of Mustafapasa whose ruins we can explore. After lunch here we'll continue on our hike leading to Ortahisar village. Today's 14 kilometre/8.7 mile walk is expected to take around five to six hours with a total ascent and descent of around 400 metres/1,312 feet.

The final walk of our tour is from the hotel on a circular route that takes us through the Zemi Valley to Kiliclar (swords) Valley and finally the Meskindir Valley back to Goreme. The Zemi Valley is around 7 kilometres/4.4 miles long and the path makes its way gradually downhill passing apple and grape orchards. Today's 12 kilometre/7.5 mile walk is expected to take around five hours with a total ascent and descent of around 250 metres/820 feet.

There are no activities planned today, so you're free to depart from Goreme at any time. If your flight is departing later in the day, luggage storage facilities are available at our hotel. If you'd like an airport transfer today, you'll need to depart from Kayseri Airport (ASR) which is around a one-hour and fifteen minute drive from the hotel.