Overwhelmed by choice in Cappadocia!
 

Hi all--

My husband and I will be spending 2.5 days in Cappadocia in late September. I'm trying to come up with a pretty tight itinerary to make the most of our limited time, but I'm feeling very overwhelmed by all of the options! (Especially after reading through so many Cappadocia posts on Fodors!) I've thought about just booking us on a group tour in order to remove the stress of driving ourselves around and figuring out where everything is. But I've yet to come across a tour that offers exactly what we want. So the next logical option is to hire a private guide. I know a few of you have done this, so I was wondering if those of you that have could answer a few questions:

-How much might we expect to pay per day for a private guide with car? And if we use our own rental car?

-My husband and I are avid hikers who are stuck living in virtual lockdown on the US Embassy compound in Kabul. Therefore we are DYING to get out and stretch our legs while in Cappadocia. What are the best hikes/walks?

-If we were to hire a private guide (either with or without car), who would you recommend?

-Are there any reputable tour companies that specialize in 2-day tours of Cappadocia for "very active" people?

-Our flight to Istanbul leaves Kayseri at 20:35. If we did a group tour, would we be done in time to get to the airport (we are staying in Goreme)?

Many thanks!

The Local Cave Hotel in Goreme set us up with a driver with a van (six of us). One day - 160 TL or about $100 US. He was terrific, good driver and lots of interesting commentary.

We had been quoted 160 TL as the price of renting a van for a day.

I've not been yet, but I have been quoted a cost of 100USD/day for car and driver from Rock Valley Travel--gas and driver expenses additional and a quote from Argeus Travel for $84USD/day for a station wagon. Both vehicles are large enough for 5 people. These quotes were both less than what I was getting on internet websites.

We arranged a private driver through our hotel. It was just a little more expensive than those quoted above, but I didn't really shop around. That arrangement worked well for us, though, as we were able to tailor our time exactly to our interests.

As far as hiking, we enjoy that, too, and did several nice hikes in Cappadocia. In particular, we enjoyed the walk through the Love Valley, which is very close to Goreme. Our hotel proprietor dropped us at one end (5 minutes from hotel), then we walked the length of the valley, over to Cavusin and then back to Goreme. We hardly saw anyone else while in the valley and the scenery, of course, is unique.

http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p852736119

Thanks all.

Our hotel (Divan Cave Hotel) quoted us 300EUR total for a guide and driver for 2 days. And Lirita tours quoted us $440 total for a two day private tour. Both seem to be much more expensive than the quotes/prices you all received!

I have inquiries out with several tour companies, so I'll continue to shop around and see what we can get.

Colduphere -- do you happen to have the name and contact information for your guide?

Hi Circusliz - sort of. We never quite grasped his firt name. But he is the cousin of the fellow who owns the Local Cave Hotel (whose name is Haroon). You might want to send an email to the hotel at:

[email protected]

There is an American there who answers emails so English is not a problem. We were staying at the hotel so maybe we got a guest driver rate, but I doubt it.

Thanks colduphere. I emailed the hotel, so we'll wait and see what they say.

We stayed in Urgup not quite a year ago and although we didn't arrange for a private guide, we used Rock Valley which was recommended by our hotel. We were with them all three days in Cappadocia and we loved them. I don't remember exactly what the cost was (for a small group), but we felt it was a good value. Here's their website: http://www.rockvalleytravel.com/.

As ms_go said, the Love Valley is beautiful and we also loved Ihlara Canyon. Whatever guide you settle on, you'll love Cappadocia!

Ellen