The hook
A surreal landscape of soft volcanic rock eroded into "fairy chimney" spires and honeycombed with cave homes, churches, and entire cities dug deep underground, all watched each dawn by a sky full of hot-air balloons.
01Why it's worth it
Ancient volcanic ash hardened into soft tuff here, and wind and water carved it into a dreamlike terrain of tapering rock cones, ridges, and valleys. For thousands of years people didn't just live among the rocks but inside them, hollowing out cave dwellings, rock-cut churches with Byzantine frescoes, and astonishing underground cities like Derinkuyu, which plunges many levels and once sheltered thousands from raids, complete with wells, stables, and rolling stone doors. Today many of the caves are hotels, and at dawn dozens of hot-air balloons rise over the valleys in one of the most photographed sights in the world, which is either the magic or the crush depending on your mood. Beyond the balloons, the valleys are superb for walking among the strange formations and the abandoned rock churches.
02How to experience it
Sleep in a cave hotel, and either take a dawn balloon flight or simply climb to a viewpoint to watch them rise, which costs nothing. Hike the valleys, Rose, Red, and Ihlara, for the rock churches and formations, and go deep into an underground city like Derinkuyu or Kaymaklı.
From the locals
It lives up to the hype for the people who go: "Cappadocia is such a gorgeous place," one traveller wrote plainly, "I visited there a few years ago and loved it" — and in the same breath they tend to pass on the region's quieter secret, the Lycian-coast ruins of Olympos, as "another amazing spot" worth the detour.