Cappadocia

Cappadocia is one of the most surreal landscapes on earth, a region of central Turkey where soft volcanic rock has been eroded into a fairytale of cone-shaped fairy chimneys, valleys and pinnacles. For centuries people carved homes, churches and entire underground cities into the rock, and today it is world-famous for the hundreds of hot-air balloons that drift over its otherworldly valleys at dawn.

History

Cappadocia was known as Hatti in the late Bronze Age, the homeland of the Hittite power centred at Hattusa, and its name first appears in the late 6th century BC as Katpatuka in inscriptions of Darius the Great and Xerxes I, probably from a Hittite phrase meaning place below. Under the Persians it formed part of a satrapy run by local lords; after Alexander, the former satrap Ariarathes made himself king of the Cappadocians in 332 BC, and although the regent Perdiccas crucified him in 322, his adopted son Ariarathes II recovered the kingdom and founded a line of kings, while Persian colonists kept up fire temples that Strabo still saw in the 1st century BC. The region later became a centre of early Christian learning, as its hundreds of rock-cut churches show (Wikipedia, Cappadocia).

What's there

• The dawn balloon flight - the hundreds of balloons over the valleys at sunrise.
• The Goreme Open-Air Museum - the rock-cut churches with Byzantine frescoes.
• The fairy chimneys - the surreal cone-shaped rock formations.
• The underground cities - the vast rock-cut cities like Derinkuyu.

When to go

Spring and autumn for the mildest weather and the best balloon conditions; summer is hot and winter cold, though snow on the chimneys is magical. Balloon flights depend on calm weather and can be cancelled, so allow a few mornings.

What to expect

The famous balloon flights depend on calm weather and are often cancelled, so build in spare mornings and expect a high price; they also book up far ahead. It is very popular, so the valleys and cave hotels are busy in season. A few days let you explore beyond the balloons.

Nearby

The underground cities and the Ihlara Valley are nearby; central Anatolia spreads around.

Key facts