Göreme is a tourist town – this is undeniable. Despite my visions of open swathes of desert, boutique accommodation and family-run restaurants, my realisation upon arrival was swift. From signs advertising photoshoots – from hot air balloon backdrops to carefully constructed carpet-strewn ‘shop’ sets and charming vintage cars – to the many ATVs and aforementioned vintage cars lining the streets, the manufactured nature of many of the visions I had of Cappadocia quickly became apparent. Despite this, my initial ideas about the area also ended up to be true – the landscape is incredible, the hot air balloons a surreal underscore to the jaw-dropping desert vistas and the families behind the hotels and restaurants charming and kind. 

While Cappadocia is famous for its hot air balloons, there are actually a few towns in the area (Ürgüp, Uçhisar, and Avanos), and the choice had me stumped on where to stay. As with the accommodation in Istanbul, hotel prices tend to be very reasonable, and many offer the unique experience of sleeping actually in the caves, or at least in rooms carved out of the volcanic rock ubiquitous to the area. One thing about me is that I have developed an inexplicable fear of natural disasters happening while on an overseas trip (I know it’s bizarre – I am wondering if it follows the Okinawa Missile Launch Incident?). For this reason, I was actually worried about staying in a cave hotel, should the area suffer a similar earthquake like the tragic one in 2023. It does seem like a crazier worry now that I see those words written down on the page, but anyway. The point was that I wasn’t super keen on a cave hotel to begin with. When searching for accommodation, I had my eye on Kayata Cave Suites in Ürgüp, which looked stunning and had great reviews. However, we wouldn’t have a car for our stay, and so my thinking was that we may not be able to get a taxi to take us just to watch the balloons take off at sunrise, or that it would be tricky. I was also wondering whether the town would have enough options for our three-night stay in terms of places to eat and so on. I’m sure this would have been fine, but Göreme had more options to eat and drink, and you could walk to the top of the hill overlooking the town to watch the balloons. In the end, we went with Göreme. Without a car, we arranged for a shuttle bus to and from the airport through our hotel. Compared to a taxi, which for the one-hour trip we were quoted a lot more, it cost us 15 euro each. It was a shared bus with guests from other hotels, but we were collected on time and what more can you really ask for?

Aside from getting a balloon flight, our accommodation in Cappadocia was probably the main thing I was indecisive about on this trip. I spent SO LONG browsing options, trying to figure out what actually looked good and what was just heavy photoshop (god, there was a lot of photoshop). As we have established, I was also not super fussed on staying in a cave – I personally felt that it looked potentially dark and semi claustrophobia inducing. We chose Amber Cave Suites, which ended up being a fantastic choice. Our room was big, comfortable and while it was partly carved into the cave, it wasn’t claustrophobic or musty at all (my other concerns with rooms I’d seen online that seemed to have few windows or airflow). The owner, Osman, was lovely, and ended up booking us into a fantastic hot air balloon trip – more on that soon. The breakfast spread was elite, and coffee great, which (of course) was a big plus for me. And the best part? Its location meant that we actually woke up one morning to balloons outside our window – it was totally surreal to step out onto the terrace and wave to the passengers, just a few metres above us!! The hotel’s location is just below the town’s well-known ‘Sunrise Point’, where you can pay 30 lira (approx $1.20 AUD) and take in the view from the top of the hill – a bit of a rort if you ask me, it’s literally just a hill, but we’re talking pocket change so of course we had a look anyway. 

We ummed and ahhed about actually going up in a balloon and only really decided the day prior, which is crazy, because it’s most of the reason we came to Cappadocia (alongside hiking the otherworldly valleys). The reason (for me) for the delay was twofold – I am a scaredy cat, and was apprehensive after two balloons crashed just a couple of weeks prior to our visit with someone sadly losing their life. Aside from my uneasiness about the flight itself, we were confused by the wildly different – and high – costs of the operators. My online research had come across prices per person ranging from $125 to $250 euros per person, with our hotel owner offering us a flight for $180 euros. With safety in mind, I definitely didn’t want to skimp, but from what I could see the reason for the price variance was 1. The length of the flight, 2. The amount of people on board and 3. The included breakfast prior to getting in the balloon. Considering that the flights set off pre-sunrise and I am generally not keen on much more than coffee before 9am, option 3 was not a deciding factor for me. Options 1 and 2 we took into account of course, but the balloon baskets are actually sectioned so that you have the chance to still stand by the edge. In the end, my indecisiveness paid off, as when we arrived we were also offered a flight for $110 euros per person, just in a balloon that carried more people. There were four people total in our ‘section’: Brandon, myself and another couple, and it was very comfortable. Our flight was about an hour long, which was a great length of time – enough to properly watch the sun come up, and then to enjoy the flight without feeling rushed at all. We ended up being on a balloon from Urgup Balloons, and they were lovely, and we felt safe the whole time – in fact, I had completely underestimated the skill of the pilots, and they were very impressive, including landing the balloon of 28 people back directly onto the trailer! If you have the chance or the funds to go on a balloon ride, I can only urge you to go for it. It was seriously a bucket-list-worthy experience, and one that photos struggle to do justice to. We booked three nights in Göreme to allow better chances to fly – the balloon flights can be cancelled if the weather or winds aren’t favourable. Luckily, we had the chance to fly on our first morning but if you can, I would book the first morning of your trip, just in case. 

When not taking in the landscape from a giant piece of nylon held aloft by hot air, we also enjoyed Göreme from the ground. In terms of restaurants, my favourite was a tie between two excellent family-run establishments. First up is Retro Cappadocia, which has grandpa greeting guests, grandma in the kitchen and the grandson running tables. Wide open windows frame jaw-dropping views of the valley and when the sun drops, the glittering restaurants perched amongst the rock faces. The fare is typical of the area, including Testi Kebabı, also known as Pottery Kebab, slow-cooked meats and fresh salads. The complimentary entree is a hefty basket of fresh Turkish bread, an assortment of house-pickled vegetables and a garlicky cacık (similar to tzatziki). Bliss. It was here that I first tried manti, Turkish ravioli with yoghurt, mince and tomato sauce. Truly delicious, and we ended up going back a second time. I actually left my phone in a taxi (eek) and the taxi driver kindly returned it to us, and then later that evening we ran into him downstairs – it turns out that this is his family restaurant! So if you ever need a taxi driver in Göreme or Cappadocia, hit up Ismail Odentaxi on +90 542 398 69 51 on WhatsApp! 

My other favourite find for dinner was Nazar Borek & Cafe. A little walk out of town, into a more peaceful part, the ambience of this restaurant made it feel like you’d just stumbled upon something really unique and special. In no way flashy, the menu is simple, heavily featuring borek (surprise surprise), gozleme and other home-style fare. Nestled into the foothills of a fairy tower and framed by a vineyard and a small farm plot, it has views back out to the glimmering skyline of Göreme and the mountains beyond. The service is relaxed and welcoming, and we loved chatting to the owner and his dad (particularly enjoying his Aussie accent picked up from a friend that lived in Melbourne in the 80s?!). Make sure you get the Nutella gozleme for dessert, and arrive early, as tables are snapped up fast. 

Closer to the centre of town, we also ate at Göreme Kadın Kooperatifi, A women’s Cooperative serving up no-frills, delish plates at affordable prices. Home cooked vibes in the middle of a touristy town are hard to go past, and that’s exactly what you’ll find here. We ate here for lunch, and you can either order off an a la carte menu or choose a set meal. We went a la carte, but I would probably get the set menu after seeing the selections of other diners (who seemed to be all locals, when we were there). Also in the centre of town is Cancan Cafe – we had a delicious lunch here, and also enjoyed their inclusion of çay (tea) and complimentary assortment of appetisers. The food was delicious and great for a lunch. Set on the main road, it was just down from a morning market that we enjoyed checking out – it seemed to be mostly geared for the locals, selling produce and second-hand stuff. I actually picked up a very rustic, clearly handmade but very endearing clay hot air balloon magnet that is now adorning my fridge (of course). 

Also just around the corner from Cancan was… (pause for dramatic effect)… the rug shop! It’s little surprise that there are many stores selling Turkish carpets and kilims in town, and some more commercial set-ups even offering drone photoshoots amongst the towering piles of textiles (this is the instagrammy element of Göreme that I wasn’t obsessed with). I had already decided that I didn’t even want to entertain the negotiations or knowledge that purchasing a rug would take, until I saw this shop. Also decorated with rugs outside, it was no doubt also overpriced, but I was charmed by how it looked a bit more unassuming than some of the bigger operations, and I was sucked in. After much discussion, fretting about baggage limits (strict) and currency conversions (not favourable to Aussies), I had selected The One that was to grace our floors for the foreseeable future. It’s never a good sign when you’re leaving and the shopkeeper gifts you something extra – but that happened, so I daresay my bargaining skills were lacking in this instance, but such is life. It isn’t marked on Google and I couldn’t see a name, but here is the pin on maps.

You may be sensing a theme here, in that all the restaurants I recommended are fairly low-key. We actually stopped for a happy hour beer at TUMA, which was pretty reasonably priced for a beer with a great view, but otherwise we avoided the flashy places. There are certainly fancier options in Göreme, but I suspect that this is a town where that would very quickly become quite expensive. Also, we just aren’t fancy people in general.

Speaking of expensive: as a pottery lover, I had gotten a tip from a friend to check out a pottery shop in Avanos. Without a car, we ended up grabbing a taxi in the middle of town to take us there and back. While – of all people – Brandon was bamboozled by the pottery place and immediately wanted to buy something, I was less keen. Perhaps it really was handmade, but I had my doubts about the pricing and the selection, having seen a lot of similar items already in Istanbul. We (Bran) bought a couple of small items but nothing substantial, and I was grateful for this when we consistently saw similar things at lower prices for the rest of the trip!! If you’re only visiting Istanbul and Cappadocia, or you’re really interested in the pottery demonstration itself, then my advice would maybe be different, but if you’re heading somewhere like Kas afterwards, I would put the brakes on buying anything. It did scream ‘tourist trap’.

Aside from viewing the landscape from the sky, we also set out early one morning to take a hike through the valleys. My Lonely Planet guide had foreshadowed that the Love Valley trailhead was tricky to find, and so we approached a taxi in town to drop us off. He actually declined, explaining that if we walked through town we would come across it, no need to be dropped off. This turned out to be incorrect (or maybe we took a wrong turn) – we ended up on the cliff overlooking the valley itself, and despite our attempts, after about an hour following various trails through the arid landscape, we gave up and instead just decided to take it in from the aerial viewpoint that we’d come across. This was slightly disappointing, but also beautiful, so I wasn’t too upset. Aside from the surreal landscape of the towering stones and the peach-coloured rock, the flora-obsessed part of me loved seeing all the wild desert flowers as we walked. 

If you’re planning to visit Türkiye and you have the opportunity to visit Cappadocia, I totally would. While it requires a flight in and out and the dedication of at least a couple of nights of your itinerary, I will never forget how beautiful it was to be floating above that desert landscape. Aside from the balloons, the town itself, carved into the fairy chimneys and tucked into the sculpted rocks is like no other place I’ve visited so far, and taking in the valleys and landscapes is also incredible.