Today’s Friday Travel Photo brings you to Cappadocia in central Turkey. Thanks to Verity (@verty) from With Sparkles for submitting the photo.
The rocks of this area of Turkey have been whipped into shockingly smooth curves – this volcanic terrain, with rock formations known as ‘fairy chimneys’ has been shaped by Mother Nature over thousands of years. The landscape of Cappadocia today seems to belong nowhere else other than perhaps the moon.
Most shocking about Cappadocia perhaps isn’t the actual landscape, yet it’s the work of humans who have built homes into these rocky cones. A stroll around Cappadocia will result in you finding hidden caves, churches, chapels, and other treasures built into the stone. Today, you’ll even find luxury hotels and hostels.
Here are some travel tips for your trip to Cappadocia:
Stay in a hostel built into the rock formations. Where else in the world can you spend the night in a well furnished hostel built into a cave?
Take a hot air balloon tour. As Verity did, I recommend you take the time to take in the magical landscape of Cappadocia in a hot air balloon. There aren’t many places where you can experience a hot air balloon flight cheaper than Turkey, and a trip up shouldn’t cost you much over €150. As Verity said, “It was so beautiful, balloons rising in the crisp morning air over twisting valleys, patchwork farms and the eery shapes of fairy chimneys.”
Hike around the Ihlara Valley. This valley is a 16 kilometer long gorge cut deep into the volcanic landscape of southern Cappadocia. The Melendiz Stream flows through the gorge and the result is an oasis of green in the middle of the otherwise barren landscape. Like the rest of Cappadocia, you’ll find underground dwellings and beautiful churches.
If you’re considering a trip to Cappadocia, you’ll want to allow three or four days at the minimum to fully experience everything this area has to offer. Cappadocia is a 50 Lira (approximately $30) and 10 hour bus ride from Istanbul.
Do you have a photo you’d like featured on Backpackingmatt? Email the photo to matt [at] backpackingmatt [dot] com.
Backpacking Matt 
Thanks for the tip! Cappadocia is one of the many reason I wish to go back to Turkey someday.
I always want to do hot air ballon tour!! It’s pretty scary though… Isn’t it? I mean, it’s up in the air with no barrier, basically.
But stunning view for sure.
Awesome! On my list now. 🙂
Cappadocia looks beautiful. I hear a lot of people say how much Turkey surprises them after they have visited there no matter which part of the country whether the city or countrysides.
I’ve never been in a hot air balloon, still can’t get my head around the idea of it. Nor planes for that matter.
Great post, nice that you’ve extended it beyond the norm of single photo posts. Adds much more appeal to the post type.
Stunning photo, too.
@Ant Thanks mate. I can’t say I’ll make a habit out of it, but I felt it would be a nice supplement to an already great photo.
Thanks for showing my picture Matt :). Cappadocia was definitely my favourite place in Turkey (though I pretty much adored everywhere we went except for Konya). It is so beautiful. I wish I could have stayed longer. Next time I go I’m going to stay and hike around that area for a week.
Hot air ballooning does feel kind of strange… you are just hovering up there so it doesn’t feel that scary. I think being in a plane is a lot more scary. Somehow you feel that if something went wrong in a balloon it would be in slow motion (not really true but that’s how it feels up there). My mum always panics me about everything (she tends to catastrophise a bit and not surprisingly did not come along) so I was pretty nervous, then it looked like we weren’t going to go because it was too windy and I suddenly realised how much I wanted to get up there. It was definitely worth it (especially since it was my birthday present and I didn’t pay 😉 and I would recommend it. It’s one of the great hot-air balloon rides on earth apparently (along with the Masai Mara).
It’s really hard not to love Cappadocia, isn’t it? We loved our time there and think it is a shame that most Americans miss this area and wonderful country. Fantastic place for family travel and cheap! 😉
Great tips, thanks, Matt!
@soultravelers3 It’s a shame that so many Americans miss Turkey in general! It stands out as one of my favorite countries after traveling around Europe for three months. Glad you enjoyed the post, and thanks for the comment!
Cappadocia was an amazing experience. The whole landscape was just surreal! Apart from viewing Cappadocia from the hot-air balloon and hiking around one of the many valleys in that area, don’t miss the underground towns as well! One of it would be the Kaymakli Underground Town. It was interesting seeing Cappadocia from above, on ground as well as underground!
My next trip is to Cappadocia and I was so looking forward to doing the hot air balloon trip, until I saw that photo. All of a sudden I felt like my fear of heights had returned!!
@Natalie – You’ll love it!
I didn’t get the chance to do the balloon trip the last time I was in Cappadocia, but just being able to walk around exploring the eerie landscape from the ground is enough to make me want to go back. I had a different experience that was ‘elevating’ though, climbing up to a high point on a full moon night and looking down on the lights and fairy chimneys shining up from below…totally magical. Great picture and post Matt. Thanks.
~vago
@Vago Thanks! But I can’t take credit for the photo! Would love to experience a balloon ride.
Cappadocia is one of the best places to go for a hot air balloon tour. It feels like you are somewhere different than earth, somewhere like Mars because of the geographical structure of Cappadocia.