Göreme

This bustling town with a cluster of restaurants and numerous hotels is the most convenient base for exploring Cappadocia. Traditionally, Göreme has been more or less inundated with backpackers, who still find plenty of inexpensive lodgings, but recently some mid-range and higher-end hotels have opened, too. There are Internet cafés in the main square, and a used-book shop stocks a surprisingly good collection of foreign titles. You can live cheap and meet other travelers in Göreme, but the reason to be here is to see some of the most spectacular fairy chimney valleys in the region and the open-air museums here and at nearby Zelve, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. They are the two requisite must-sees of Cappadocia and are normally packed with tourists. Göreme is a fairy-chimney valley famous for its spectacular cave churches. Zelve is a valley filled with rock caves about 6 km (4 mi) away, which provides a glimpse into how people lived in the rock-cut communities.