What's up guys! We're here in Cappadocia and in this video we're going to show you the best hikes
in the area. We're here for about two weeks so it's lots of time to explore all the different
valleys and cool rock formations. So we're going to find the best for you and count them down.
So enjoy the video.
We are Zac and Ine, full-time digital nomads from the United States and Belgium.
We met while studying abroad in 2018 and have been traveling the world together ever since.
We're here to inspire your next adventure, whether it's hiking in the Canadian Rockies,
a road trip through the US, or backpacking across Africa. On our channel you'll find
unfiltered videos of hiking guides and the best things to do in destinations around the world.
Cappadocia is located near the center of Turkey, about 300 kilometers from Ankara,
500 kilometers from Antalya, or 800 kilometers from Istanbul. It's actually a region, not a city,
and the majority of the hikes are located in the valleys of Göreme National Park.
Now that you know the lay of the land, let's get into the top Cappadocia hikes.
The sixth best Cappadocia hike is Pigeon Valley. You can start this hike right from
the town center of Göreme and finish at Uchisar. Doing the route this way will allow you to take
in the amazing valley views, caves, and rock formations first, and then finish with stellar
panoramic views from Uchisar. You can take a cheap taxi back to Göreme or walk back.
The route is about four kilometers one-way if you walk all the way to Uchisar Castle.
In the middle of the route you'll find an authentic tea house to enjoy some Turkish tea.
As with most cappadocia hikes, there are not a ton of well-marked trails
so we definitely recommend downloading maps.me prior to any hike that you do.
This way you can easily find your way through the network of caves and rock formations around you.
We're hiking in the Pigeon Valley today and we just stopped at this beautiful viewpoint.
The trail is not very straightforward but there's just a lot of different little
trails you can take. But you should be fine as long as you're heading towards Uchisar Castle.
We just stopped at a little tea house as well and you can just get a little tea to warm up.
At number five we have Swords Valley. This valley is one of the shorter
hikes you will find in Cappadocia at 2.5 kilometers, but it's extremely beautiful.
This is thanks to the number of fairy chimneys scattered in and around the valley.
We accessed the edge of the valley from the parking lot of Göreme's Open-Air Museum.
Accessing from here allowed us to see a beautiful viewpoint at the end of the hike for sunset.
Take time to discover the cave houses and ancient churches during this hike is essential.
Devrent Valley is about a 20-minute drive from Göreme town center and the trailhead
is easily accessed by taxi or bus. This valley boasts some of the strangest rock
formations you'll see in all of Cappadocia. The majority of rocks here have a red tint
to them as well which reminded us of places like Sedona, Arizona, or Zion National Park
in Utah. There are so many trails throughout this valley that it's impossible to pick one.
Enjoy getting lost among the rocks and find hidden places to take in the views.
You can spend one to three hours here depending on how long you want to admire the rocks for.
So we're in the heart of the Devrent Valley which is also called the Imaginary Valley
and if you use your imagination you can see lots of different shapes in these rocks,
like camels and human faces. So it's really fun to just come and explore for the afternoon.
The third best Cappadocia hike is Ihlara Valley. It's also the hike that's furthest
away from Göreme town center and takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes to drive there.
For this hike we recommend renting a car for a day so you can enjoy it at your own pace.
Starting at the edge of the town Ihlara, you will pay a small fee to enter the valley.
After five kilometers, and hundreds of rock houses and churches, you will come to Belisirma. Here you
can enjoy a unique lunch on the river. The hike itself is about 10 kilometers total if you go
to Belisirma and back to the Ihlara starting point like we did. If you don't rent a car,
you could also book a tour which takes you to the Ihlara Valley as well as the underground
city of Derinkuyu. We put a link in the description below if you want to do that option.
So we are here now right at the entrance of Ihlara Valley and we're gonna walk all the way to
Belisirma right here. There's like a nice place to have lunch and then we'll come back.
The runner-up goes to Love Valley. This is one of the most photographed valleys in
all of Cappadocia because of its odd-shaped rocks.
You can easily access the starting point of this hike from the ridge above Göreme. Again, download
your maps.me to find the exact route since there aren't many signs from the town itself.
These wild shapes formed after volcanic eruptions covered the area in ash.
Then, after 60 million years of erosion, the rocks took the shape you see today and some are 40
meters high. Another cool way to see this valley is by hot air balloon and we'll leave a link in
the description below of our balloon experience in Cappadocia. If you go the entire way through the
Love valley and up to Uchisar, then the hike takes about two to three hours to complete.
We are in the Love Valley today in Cappadocia and it's one of the most impressive sites in the area.
We're doing just a little hike in between the valley and
why it's called the Love Valley... It's up to your own interpretation.
Our favorite Cappadocia hike is Rose Valley. The color of the pink rocks is absolutely magical
and there are so many unique fairy chimneys and churches that we found ourselves stopping
for pictures every 10 minutes here. There are sections of the hike where it literally looks
like a rainbow was painted on the rocks. We accessed this stunning valley from the
Red Valley viewpoint parking lot, which is about a 15-minute taxi ride from Göreme.
We then made a loop out of it to enjoy the sunset back at the same point where we started.
You could also start the hike from Göreme which is about a five-minute taxi ride to the trailhead
and then finish at the sunset viewpoint as well if you want to do it one way.
Doing it as a round-trip like us took about three hours and was around eight kilometers total.
We are in the Rose Valley right now which kind of connects to the Red Valley as well
and it's very known for its sunset. But if you come before sunset and you
actually hike in the valley then there's almost no one here so it's pretty cool.
All right, that's it for our video on the best Cappadocia hikes. We hope you enjoyed it.
Cappadocia is definitely a hiker's paradise and a special place to enjoy the wonders of nature.
For more hiking videos, make sure to subscribe to our channel, and also don't forget to download
our free giveaway in the description below. Catch you on the next adventure!