Göreme Open Air Museum
The rock-cut monastic valley at the heart of Cappadocia — which churches matter, when to come, and whether the Dark Church ticket is worth it. (It is.)
Know before you go
Things to Do in Cappadocia
The 16 places below are the things to do in Cappadocia that actually earn their place — each with a full guide written by people who walk them weekly.
The north
Göreme & the classic valleys
The Red Tour country: painted churches, castle rocks and the famous cones.
The Dark Church (Karanlık Kilise)
The jewel of Göreme — an 11th-century church whose lack of windows preserved colours the rest of Byzantium lost.
Uçhisar Castle
A castle that is simply an enormous hollowed rock — the region’s highest point, its best panorama, and its most underrated village.
Paşabağ (Monks Valley)
The valley of the multi-capped chimneys and the hermit cells — Cappadocia’s most photographed rocks after a certain camel.
Devrent Valley (Imagination Valley)
Home of the camel: a short, funny, weirdly moving stop where erosion does the sculpting and your imagination does the labelling.
Avanos & Its Potters
The pottery town on the Kızılırmak — foot-powered wheels, Hittite wine jugs, and your own inevitable, lopsided bowl.
Çavuşin Village
The ghost-cliff between Göreme and Avanos — abandoned cave houses, the basilica of St John the Baptist, and blissfully few people.
Love Valley
Forty-metre chimneys, vineyard floor, golden-hour glory — the valley every balloon pilot hopes to drift over.
The south & beyond
Underground cities & the green gorge
The Green Tour country: the deep cities, the Ihlara valley and the rock cathedral.
Derinkuyu Underground City
The deep one: 85 metres of stables, wineries, schools and millstone doors, engineered against sieges a thousand years before ventilation had a textbook.
Kaymaklı Underground City
The friendlier underground city: four open levels, broader tunnels, and the best wine-and-storage architecture in the region.
Ihlara Valley
Cappadocia’s gentlest surprise: a green river gorge with Byzantine chapels in its cliffs and a teahouse in the middle.
Selime Monastery
The biggest rock-cut complex in Cappadocia: a cathedral inside a mountain, at the end of the Ihlara valley.
Pigeon Valley
The valley of the dovecotes: Cappadocia’s old agricultural engine, its easiest good walk and its most photographed tree of evil eyes.
The towns
Where you will eat and sleep
The villages of the region, honestly compared.
Göreme Town
Cave hotels, rooftop balloon views, lokanta dinners and every trailhead: how to use Cappadocia’s basecamp town properly.
Good to know
Things to Do in Cappadocia — quick answers
What are the absolute must-sees in Cappadocia?
The Göreme Open Air Museum (with the Dark Church), one underground city, one great viewpoint (Uçhisar or Love Valley at golden hour) and the balloons at dawn — flown or watched. Everything else is wonderful; those four are the core.
Can these places be visited without a tour?
Many can — the free valleys and viewpoints especially, and our guides say so honestly on each page. What a guide adds is context (the churches and underground cities barely speak for themselves) and timing (the difference between a queue and an empty chapel).
Not sure which day suits you? Ask a local.
Tell us who is travelling and what you love, and we will suggest the day that fits — then make it happen.