If you had to pick just one, which one would you pick?

I don;t think we will have time for both, but if we do ... is it worth seeing both? Or are they pretty much the same? Thanks.

They are different and I was glad to visit both.

The Goreme Open Air Museum is a collection of cave churches with some stunning, well-preserved murals in various styles.

The Zelve Open Air Museum was a town once; what you visit are what were once (I believe until the 1950s) people's homes and just a few churches (which have minimal interior decoration).

To be clear: The churches of the Goreme museum are hewn out of the rock of the "fairy chimneys" in the area. The homes and churches in the Zelve museum are also carved out of rock.

Thanks, kja.
As always, I appreciate your perspective. We'll try to fit them both then...you would think that in 3 1/2 days that would not be a problem...but there's so much to see there!

I agree! I also had about 3.5 days in the area, also thought (initially) that it should be sufficient, and then struggled to figure out how to fit everything in and what to cut. Ultimately, I was able to make that time frame work for me. But it really does depend on the traveller(s) and his/her/their interests.

Did you drive and see things on your own or did you take some tours. Trying to figure out if I want to rent a car .

bnpast,
kja had a car, you can read her trip report by clicking on her name.

We will not rent a car, and plan to do things mostly on our own (get a driver/taxi to take us to the hike starting point in the morning, or to a caravanserai dinner in the evening) and take the green tour on one day.

can one walk from goreme museum to zelve? It looks like you can when I do google map.

I think you can, check out this map
http://www.cavehotelincappadocia.com...alking-map.jpg

Goreme is the national park, and the priority.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...th/4208678315/

Please see the answer I provided to your question on my trip report.