Cappadocia

Spring and autumn are the most pleasant seasons, with mild days and stable weather for balloon flights. Summer is hot and busy. Winter is cold and often snowy, and the snow-covered fairy chimneys are beautiful, though balloon flights are cancelled more often.

Göreme, Ürgüp and Uçhisar are close together and connected by local buses and taxis. Renting a car, scooter or bike, or joining a tour, makes it easy to explore further. Kayseri and Nevşehir airports have flights from Istanbul, about an hour or so away by road, with shuttle buses to the villages.

• Book balloon flights with a licensed operator and accept that weather cancellations are common.
• A museum pass covers many of the region's sites and can save money.
• Wear sturdy shoes for valley hikes and carry water.
• Dress modestly when visiting mosques.
• Bring layers: nights can be cold even in summer.
• Respect the frescoes: no touching or flash photography.
• Sunrise viewpoints above Göreme get crowded; arrive before dawn for a good spot.
• ATVs and horse rides are popular; choose operators who look after their animals and machines.
• Many cave rooms are cool even in summer; pack a warm layer for the evenings.

Cappadocia's speciality is testi kebab, meat and vegetables slow-cooked in a sealed clay pot that is cracked open at the table. Try mantı, small dumplings with yoghurt, gözleme, and the region's wines, made from grapes grown in its volcanic soil for thousands of years.

The region is famous for its cave hotels, carved into the rock, many with terraces overlooking the valleys and balloons at dawn. Göreme is the most central and lively base, Uçhisar quieter with spectacular views, and Ürgüp an elegant town with fine hotels and restaurants.

Cappadocia's valleys are a joy to explore on foot, with marked and unmarked trails winding between rock formations, vineyards, orchards and abandoned cave dwellings. Popular routes include the Rose and Red Valleys between Çavuşin and Göreme, the Pigeon Valley from Göreme to Uçhisar, lined with dovecotes carved into the cliffs, and the Love Valley. Many walks take two to three hours and can be combined with a sunset viewpoint. Carry water and a map or offline navigation app, as paths can be confusing.

The volcanic tuff of Cappadocia is soft enough to carve with simple tools but hardens when exposed to air, which made it ideal for digging homes and shelters. People have lived here since prehistoric times, but the region flourished in the Byzantine era, when monks and hermits founded monastic communities and painted hundreds of churches. Underground cities, expanded over centuries, sheltered communities from raids. Some cave houses were inhabited until the twentieth century, and many have now been turned into hotels.

Mustafapaşa, a village south of Ürgüp, has elegant stone mansions built by the Greek community that lived here until the 1920s. Soğanlı, further south, is a quiet valley of rock churches, and Kayseri, the region's main city, has Seljuk mosques and a lively bazaar beneath Mount Erciyes, an extinct volcano with a ski resort.