The Absolute Best Hike in Cappadocia
While researching how to fill our time in Cappadocia, one thing was immediately apparent: it is a beautiful landscape to see by hot air balloon, but it must also be spectacular to explore by foot! Although online articles about hiking Red Valley and Rose Valley are sorely lacking, we gathered enough information to piece together a fantastic adventure.
Hike Basic Information
Distance: ~ 10 kilometers (we also went up the equivalent of 170 flights of stairs)
Time: ~ 5 hours (with a handful of breaks)
Starting/Ending Points: We started at Kaya Campground and ended at our hotel in Göreme, but the hike is customizable
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
What to bring: Small backpack with enough water (large water bottle per person should suffice), hat, light weight rain jacket, snacks, phone with downloaded offline map, camera, athletic shoes (hiking boots not necessary), sense of adventure
The most useful resource we found for planning our hike was Anywhere We Roam’s blog. They have plotted out how they did the hike, and have a offline map you can download. This is what we used as our compass, and I highly recommend you do too.
They had a car, so their hike had them starting and ending in the same place, Kaya Campground. We did not have a car, but our hotel, Aydinli Cave, happily dropped us off for free at Kaya Campground. On our way out of Red and Rose Valleys, we just walked back to Göreme/Aydinli Cave.
The map below shows our route, which differs a bit from theirs — the blue line is how we entered the valleys and the red line is how we exited back into Göreme. The highlighted areas show where each valley is located.
The first part of the hike is to gently descend into Meskendir Valley from Kaya Campround. Although the least written about, Meskendir is a charming, narrow canyon full of caves and tunnels. You follow along the riverbed with steep walls on each side much of the way, so you really can’t get lost.
One of the most unique features of this area are the rock formations. Mount Erciyes erupted approximately 2.6 million years ago, covering an area of more than 20,000 sq kilometers in volcanic ash and lava. This led to a soft rock that is easily carved out to create houses and churches. Early Christians in the area created thousands of structures throughout the hillsides of Cappadocia.
Once we got to the end of Meskendir Valley, if we were to follow Anywhere We Roam’s instructions, we would enter into Rose Valley at a set of vendors marked as “Bufe” on the map. However, a teenage boy at the shop told us the trail was closed. Perplexed by this, we decided to continue onward and entered Rose Valley at the next access point (which is where Anywhere We Roam exited). At no where along the trail did it appear “closed,” so I am not sure if he was kidding with us. It also doesn’t really matter how you enter or exit, and we were happy with the route we ended up on.
The incline is gradual and continuous going into Rose Valley. We didn’t see any other hikers and only passed people on a set of horses one time. It does not take long before the views are just incredible.
Soon we could see a small cafe tucked into the hillside across the valley. We were surprised to see any sort of vendor since we were completely alone in the valley at this point.
And low and behold, it was “Starbox”! (We were dying laughing at this discovery)
We stopped in for a tea and a mixed orange/pomegranate juice and to take in the views.
As we were packing up to get back on the trail, the owner asked us if we wanted to see the church. Clearly we had not done our research properly, since we had no idea there was a tourist attraction right there!
He pointed up behind the cafe to a set of stairs that led to a ladder into a cave. It crossed my mind briefly that this seemed a little sketchy but… it was adventure time! So up we went!
Inside Haçlı Kilise, the name of the church, we were startled to see a huge colorful fresco dating back to the 9th century.
After leaving “Starbox,” we were soon passing from Rose Valley into Red Valley. This stretch of trail has probably some of the best views of the hike.
From here we continued on to Panorama View Point. This is where you will run into a cluster of people since it is accessible by car/bus. There are pay-to-use toilets, and a variety of food and drink vendors. We decided to sit down for another tea, and some fruits and nuts (although barely an hour had passed since our last stop at Starbox).
From this point, we descended back into the Red Valley. There are several little trails that wind around various caves, but generally you want to be pointing yourself towards Direkli Kilise (Kolonlu), which is marked on our map. Along the way, we had fun just climbing on and around the various rock formations. You really start to feel like a kid in a big playground.
Again, we had not done a lot of planning for what to see along the hike, so we actually stumbled upon Direkli Kilise (Kolonlu) on accident. It began to rain so we decided to go into one of the caves to wait out the passing storm.
We crossed a small footbridge and then ascended the carved out stairs to get deeper into the cave.
Our jaws literally dropped when we got into the main part of the cave…
The cave is literally several stories tall, fitted with perfectly carved columns across multiple floors and rooms. It was breathtaking!
After the rain passed, we continued onward, exploring a few more caves but nothing was as spectacular as Direkli Kilise (Kolonlu).
It did not take long before we were exiting the valleys and we could see the “Bufe” down below us, which is who had told us the trails were “closed” in the first place. If you continue past the Bufe and up the next ridge to Sunset View Point, you can see Göreme, and can walk along the dirt roads back into town.
Summary Points:
- The hike is easy/moderate difficulty for someone that does regular exercise. However, there are a few steep sections/uneven ground so wear the proper attire
- We went in March and it was in the 50s-60s F and sunny, we were comfortable in pants and t-shirts. I imagine in the summer it can be VERY HOT and there is little shade along the trail. Again, dress accordingly and bring plenty of water
- Download Anywhere We Roam’s offline map to guide you. That said, the valleys are actually quite small, so don’t worry too much about getting lost because at any point on the hike, you’re not more than 1-2 miles from downtown Göreme
- Have fun! This was one of my favorite hikes ever — it reminded me of being a kid again with endless rocks to climb on and around, and secret caves to explore!
Hey nice pictures! Nice husband too!
Thanks! Don’t forget to pin your favorite one! 🙂
So interesting Brittany! Hope I can visit these beautiful valleys someday.
Oh, you’d love the hikes! So beautiful and just the right level of challenging!
To do this day Cappadocia has been the place that has most inspired me, it’s justs so gorgeous I can’t even believe it exists. I’m not normally much of a hiker but I couldn’t wait to get out every day and go walking! This is great eroute, definitely save it for my inevitable next visit!
NICE PIC. i’d like hiking after this article . the view looks really nice . thank you for sharing