With the huge amount of tourists that flock to Cappadocia Turkey every single year, many with the primary goal of seeing the hot air balloons, it is inevitable that there are going to be things you should avoid. In the same vein, I also think it is very important to highlight that Cappadocia on its own is neither a complete or accurate representation of what Turkey has to offer. We thoroughly enjoyed our three month van life trip in Turkey, and were taken in by the hospitality, and friendliness of the Turkish people. Beyond that we also enjoyed getting to know the huge variety of food that Turkey has to offer, and seeing how it changed as we went from the west of the country to the east. This is perhaps a very long winded way of saying that if you visit Turkey, you should definitely include Cappadocia in your travel itinerary, but do not make it the only stop on your itinerary as you would be missing out on a lot of the best parts of Turkey.
1. ATV Rides Around Cappadocia
Unless you enjoy breathing in a healthy mixture of dust and petrol fumes, then I would recommend skipping this activity entirely. The ATV tours take place in a huge convoy, so your off road nature experience will be more of a noisy traffic jam. That might be a worthwhile compromise if the tours took you places that you could not otherwise reach, but the fact is they do not. They simply take you through the different valleys that can easily be reached on foot, or even by van as we did.
2. Eating Out in Göreme
Do not eat out in the town of Göreme. Admittedly this will be difficult if you do not have a rental car, but if you are travelling in Cappadocia with your mobile home, or have a rental then you should definitely avoid it. Although some of the restaurants are very nicely designed, and comfortable, their prices are extortionate by Turkish standards.
3. Jeep Safari Tours Around Cappadocia
Do not take a Jeep Safari Tour. If spotting Land Rover Defenders in the wild gives you a special kind of enjoyment, then you will have a fantastic time in Cappadocia. It honestly seems as if all the old Land Rover Defenders from across Europe have ended up in Cappadocia, in fact I would not think it an exaggeration to say that there are at least 100 Defenders running tours in Cappadocia. With that being said, the term ‘safari’ is a bit optimistic in the context of these tours, although in all fairness you will probably spot a few stray dogs, and some horses, but beyond that I think using the term ‘safari’ for these tours is a bit confusing. We got to know these tours quite well, as they would usually end where we parked up in our van overlooking Love Valley. The drivers were all friendly enough, although suddenly being surrounded by 50 Land Rovers is a bit of a shock, and they do try to give tourists a fun experience.
However, as with the ATV tours, they really are not going to take you to places that you cannot walk to, or even take your van to if it has a modicum of ground clearance. Almost every day we spent in Cappadocia we would drive our 7 ton 2wd van up and down the exact same roads that the safari tours did, we even took a picture to prove it.
4. Fairy Chimneys
Do not visit the Fairy Chimneys. This recommendation is bound to be a bit controversial as the Fairy Chimneys are heavily promoted, and entry is included in the ticket price if you visit the Zelve open air museum. Unfortunately the Fairy Chimneys are simply not worth seeing, the entire site is heavily geared towards large tour buses, yet the only activity is walking along a paved path that weaves around the ‘chimneys’. Our recommendation would be to visit the delightfully named Love Valley instead, although the male population amongst you might feel a slight sense of inadequacy, where you can see the same type of rock formations; this valley is part of the Goreme National Park, and is completely free to walk around, and far less crowded.
5. Zelve Open Air Museum
Do not visit the Zelve Open Air Museum. Since we have already shown our controversial colours with our last point, we might as well keep the controversial ball rolling. As with the Fairy Chimneys, the Zelve Open Air Museum is promoted quite heavily, unfortunately the history of the area is a lot more fascinating than the site itself. A lot of the cave homes are closed off, for safety reasons, and a lot of the parts that are not closed have become so eroded that you do not get much of a sense of what the living conditions were like when the area was at its peak. Although we did not visit the Göreme Open Air Museum, we spoke to multiple locals who all told us that it was not worth visiting, and that the Zelve Open Air Museum was actually better.
The good news is that we have a completely free alternative for you to visit instead, as long as the merest thought of exercise does not fill you with dread. The Rose / Red Valley in Göreme National Park is home to multiple examples of cave homes, along with the most spectacular cave church we have ever seen. As alluded to, visiting this valley will require you to have a little bit of fitness ability, but as long as you start out early enough you can go slow, and complain about the lack of a shuttle service to your heart’s content. The best way to find this hike is by looking it up on the AllTrails hiking app, and making sure that your phone is fully charged as there are a huge amount of different trails, and you can easily get confused by the landscape.
Now that you know which activities are not worth doing, read our accompanying guide to learn which are the 5 best things to do in Cappadocia.
