I am going to be in Cappadocia for 2 full days -- I arrive at around 9 a.m. and depart 48 hours later. I have done some preliminary research both on this board and elsewhere about sightseeing and tours in Cappadocia and am still having trouble devising a strategy. I am hoping the good people on this board can offer me some advice. A few questions:

1. Do you recommend I hire a private tour guide for one day or two days?

2. How much does a private tour typically cost?

3. What are the benefits of a private tour versus a small group/private tour?

4. Is there a particular tour company/guide you would recommend?

5. Should I have the tour guide pick us up at the airport on the first day or at my hotel? We are staying at the Esbelli Evi.

6. If you recommend hiring a guide for only one day, do I need to rent a car for the other day?

7. If I need to rent a car, where do you recommend I rent it? We are flying into Kayseri airport.

8. Finally, people seem to wax poetic about Cappadocia in general, but rarely refer to specific sites of note. If you can recommend any particular don't-miss sites in Cappadocia, I would be much obliged.

Many thanks in advance.

Goreme is a good place to visit, We stayed there are wandered the town. Some ince restaurants. To see...the Open Air Museum is a must. Large area, you could spend a few hours there.

We also went hiking in the Ihlara valley. Very nice walk along small stream with short walks over to see religious shrines built into caves. Also a pleasant restaurant to eat at by stream.

There are several underground cities you can visit. We went to a small one about 5 miles off of the main highway. Very interesting.

Since you have only 2 days to explore this vast area called Cappadocia, you had better get a professional service (a tour guide/a travel agency)to arrange everything for you so that you can get the most of the area. If you ask Mr Suha (the owner of Esbelli Evi) he will arrange or recommend what you ask in questions # 1-7.

As for question # 8, here is my typical 2-day-itinerary for Cappadocia.

Day 1: Arrival in Kayseri. Met by the driver-guide at he airport. Start your tour visiting Göreme Open Air Museum. Lunch break in Göreme. After lunch visit love valley and Pasabagi for the best examples of fairy chimneys then proceeed to Zelve Open Air Museum and Dervent (Pink) valley before checking into hotel.

If you still have energy after dinner, you may try one of these. If you want to do both of them you may do one them tonight and the other the next night:

1. Turkish Night at Yasar Baba Rock Hewn Restaurant (Uchisar) Turkish live music and folk dancing, belly dancing and other stage shows.

2. Attend the Sema Ritual of Whirling Dervishes of Rumi in a 13th century caravanserai-Sarihan in Avanos.

Day 2: Baloon flight early in the morning, after breakfast, visit Sinassos (Mustafapasa) and Keslik Monastery (you may read my detailed post about this very special place at http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/p...=20&t=1718), Kaymakli Underground City. Then proceed to Ihlara Valley for a long valley walk. (You may have your lunch either at the entrance before the walk or a late one when you reach Belisirma village)

I hope this piece of information helps.

Enjoy your stay in Cappadocia.

ANATOLIANCRUISER,

Thank you so much for your detailed response. The information you provided is invaluable.

I welcome any and all suggestions from other Fodorites.

We had a very nice time with Cappadocia Tours (http://www.cappadociatours.com) friendly local people and expert knowledge. You will love all your time there. Try to fit a hot air balloon ride as well.

Apart from the Turkish Night part ( this is personal and may vary people to another) Anatolian Cruisers adveice is a good one to follow.

There are different styles of tours and typically a private tour for two would cost anything between 120 to 190 usd. per person including lunch....Anything less than that brings question mark in my mind....

If you are arriving early to Kayseri and did had a stop over in Istanbul, you can start the tour from Kayseri via Soganli village which saves you time and extra transfer cost.

Staying at Esbelli, next day depending on the plans better to hire a car or take a tour again. Especially for underground city and Ihlara.

Agaian if you have the car you can drop off at Kayseri and saves you transfer costs unless you use Turkish Airlines shuttle.

Do not pass without a visit to Mustafapasa, if you are in Goreme Open Air Museum which you should, I recommend to visit Dark Church with extra admission.

Happy travelling,

Murat

Desidero, if you ultimately decide to seek professional assistance while in Cappadocia, I highly recommend that you privately contact Murat, who coincidentally posted immediately prior to this post. I have been using his professional services for my upcoming trip to Turkey and couldn't be more satisfied. Others have also recommended him. His email address is at the top of his posts.

We used Ekol Travel for a two-day tour of Cappadocia, for just two people. The tour was pretty good and included:
-transfer from Istanbul hotel to Ataturk airport
-Istanbul-Kayseri return flight
-pickup/dropoff at Kayseri airport
-one night accommodation at Temenni Evi Hotel (very nice hotel)
-balloon flight
-air-conditioned minivan, driver and licensed English-speaking guide

Tour destinations included Devrent and Pasabag valleys, Goreme Open-air Museum, Uchisar Rock Castle, Urgup Fairy Chimneys, two-hour walk in the Rose Valley, Kaymakli Underground City, and a stop in an "old Greek village". There were also some requisite shopping visits (pottery, onyx, and carpets). Our must-see recommendations would be Goreme Open-air Museum, the underground city, Rose Valley, and Devrent/Pasabag. The Greek village was totally uninteresting.

Cost per person (including flights and balloon) was 660 USD per person. The only oddity that we encountered was that the restaurant where we had lunch the first day tried to put the guide and driver's lunch on our bill. It wasn't clear to us whether this is local custom, and it wasn't much money, but we preferred to tip at the end of the trip and asked to be charged only for what we ourselves ordered.