Love Valley

Bağlıdere - Love Valley - holds the tallest and most slender fairy chimneys in Cappadocia, columns of tuff up to thirty or forty metres with basalt caps, standing in clusters along a valley floor between Göreme and Uçhisar. Their shape is the reason for the nickname and for a good deal of tourist sniggering; geologically they are simply what happens when a hard cap protects a soft column from rain for long enough. A viewpoint on the rim road above gives the standard photograph, with a couple of cafés and camel rides, while the better experience is the walk: a path drops into the valley from Göreme or from the rim and runs among the columns for a few kilometres, joining Rose Valley or climbing to Uçhisar. This is prime balloon country - the dawn fleet flies low down the valley, and the combination of chimneys and balloons is the picture that sells Cappadocia.

What you actually see

• The tall chimneys - the region's most slender columns.
• The rim viewpoint - the standard photograph from above.
• The valley walk - the path among the columns.
• The dawn balloons - the fleet flying low through the valley.

When to go

April to June and September to November. Dawn for the balloons; late afternoon for warm light on the rock. Midday is hot and shadeless.

Honest expectations

The rim viewpoint is a small area with parking pressure and camel touts. Valley paths are sandy and unmarked in places - it is easy to take a wrong branch. No shade or water in the valley.

Nearby

Göreme is three kilometres east; Uçhisar's castle is at the valley's western end.