HappyCheesehead

We will be in Cappadocia for two days in May. We will have a rental car. One day we will have a guide, one day we will be on our own.

Can you help us decide what worthwhile places we can easily visit by ourselves and what sights/activities would be most appreciated if we are with our guide?

sewitall

Outside of Goreme, there is a 7th-9th century monastery that has been carved out of the tufa rock. It is phenomenal and not to be missed. You definitely don't need a guide. We walked from our hotel - Goreme House and loved it. We also took a day trip around to many churches with frescoes that had been carved into the rock, and it also went to one of the underground cities - Derin??? We found that on the main street. If you let your hotel book it for you it will cost more since they have to add on their cut. Cappadocia is wonderful, and I loved Goreme. I would go by myself as much as possible since a guide will just drag you to shops so they can try and sell you something. The guide gets paid for bringing you there.

NWWanderer

I did a small group day tour with Rock Valley tours when I was in Cappadocia last June (their "Blue" tour). We did it because we didn't want to rent a car. The main sight we saw on the tour that I thought was particular helpful to have a guide for was the Zelve open air museum because it's so huge.

Other than in Avanos (where I happily bought some beautiful pottery) there was no forced shopping, and the demonstration there was interesting enough, I think, that even those who didn't buy anything enjoyed the stop. If you were to hire a reputable private guide I'm sure you could specify no shopping and not have that be a problem.

Are you planning to do a balloon ride? We hesitated a bit due to the cost but it's overwhelmingly the best memory of that part of our trip--I'm so glad we did it.

propertravel

Hi Happy;
Goreme Open Air Musuem, Underground city with a guide is nicer....

Greetings,
Murat

julies

We had a rental car and did everything on our own with no problems and felt we understood everything quite well. We did, however, hire a guide for the underground city, and it certainly helped there to comprehend what life was like in this place. He was just standing around soliciting business when we arrived. If you do this, be sure you find out howlong the our wil last. We felt taken advantage of because he rushed (I'm not kidding when I say that he was nearly runnning in some of the passageways)us through the entire place. He told us we could then explore on our own after the tour was over. Frankly, I wouldn't want to be with a large tour group in the underground city. I could see how in this situation people might tend to feel somewhat claustraphobic trapped with the hordes in the tunnels.

HappyCheesehead

I realized I had not thanked you all for your helpful advice - so thanks!!

We leave tomorrow and these are the sights we will see with our guide for the day.

- Kaymakli Underground City
- Goreme Open Air Museum
- Pasabag
- Devrent
- Sarihan Caravanserai

NWWanderer, we are not doing the balloon ride. I thought long and hard about it - it will be over $700 US for 90 minutes for the 2 of us. I just cannot do it although I know it would be wonderful. I have many character flaws and inappropriate frugality is one of them

yorkshire

Don't feel bad about skipping the balloon ride--I did too (no regrets). I slept in and then spent all day hiking in the valleys--for free and more to my liking.
You may want to do Kaymakli on your second day and then drive on to Ihlara Valley since it's on the way. You can pick up a guide at the underground city. Just since it's on the way.
The guide is most useful for explaining the frescoes in the chapels.

linawood

bookmarking