Rock formations in all colours: My favourite hike winds through the Rose and Red Valley.
Nowhere else in Cappadocia does the rock shimmer in so many colours. Abandoned churches, pigeon houses, steep ladders and a brilliant view from Sunset Point make the tour a real highlight!
The Göreme National Park is like a labyrinth criss-crossed by small hiking trails. However, you don't end up in a dead end here, but a new highlight awaits you at every corner: small cafés, pigeon houses and imposing churches carved into the rock surprise the visitor on the hike through a landscape that looks like a giant meringue.
SHORT FACTS
♡-Factor: ♡♡♡♡♡
Starting and Endpoint: Göreme
Duration: 5:30 h
Distance: 14.3 km
Difference in altitude: 320 up and downl
Refreshment stops: At the Haçli Kilise church there is a small café with fresh orange and pomegranate juice.
Level of difficulty: blue - easy
Tip: Be sure to climb the ladder to the colourfully painted Haçli Kilise Church. It is really worthwhile to be at Sunset Point at sunset. The valleys then glow a deep red.
Directions
If you start directly from Göreme, walk on the tarred road towards the Göreme Open Air Museum. Behind the "Cave Season Deluxe" accommodation, a road branches off to the left, which then turns into a gravel path.
Follow this for about 2 km until you reach the turnoff to Rosenthal. This is where the real hike begins. If you are travelling by rental car, you can park here and start. We leave the Rosental to the right and hike down the valley a bit to take the next hiking trail up to the right.
After a total of about 4 km you come to the Haçli Kilise cave church. There is a small café here. Continue in the direction of the Rose Valley, past a cave church and pigeon houses, through which we descend until we come to the crossroads where we stopped before going downhill. Now we walk slightly uphill to the left and also keep left at the next junction and climb up the red valley via ladders and narrow gorges.
The highest point of our hike is Sunset Point from where you have a wonderful view over all the valleys. We follow the hiking trail just below the northern cliffs until shortly before the village of Çavuşin from where we walk back to Görme.
I will tell you about 4 hikes with GPS data in the next blogs:
If you want, you can also read the article in ALPIN magazine 03/2023 (only in German.) You can order the magazine here.
Click on the first picture to start the photo gallery of the hike through the Rose & Red Valley:
INFO
General information and some photos and films for a first impression are available at:
ARRIVAL
From the airport in Kayseri (ASR) it takes one hour by bus to Göreme, which is the best starting point for all adventures.
Maximum flexibility? Then a rental car is a good idea; these can be rented relatively cheaply directly at the airport (research, for example, at billiger-mietwagen.de). Caution: Many hotels are in small alleys and have no parking space. It's best to ask beforehand
BEST TIME
April to May and September to October are the best times for an active outdoor holiday in Cappadocia.
Spring is beautifully green and there are lots of flowers, but the humidity can make it hazy.
In autumn, nature is parched and brown, but the air is clear and the weather tends to be more stable.
LITERATURE
The travel guides I found are out of date. The most recent one is from 2016. There are no printed hiking guides (at least I couldn't find any).
MAPS
So far there is no detailed walking map (at least I couldn't find one) of Cappadocia.
There is not really good map material yet I have saved some tours with GPS data on my blog
If this is too wild for you, you can also book a hiking guide.
HIKING GUIDE
Ali is a Turkish original with Berlin roots, or the other way around. His family comes from Cappadocia and he came back 30 years ago. Since then he has been showing visitors his country with a great sense of humour and in perfect German.
Ali Kaya +90 532 614 4132 (WhatsApp), aliguide@yahoo.com
Bilal also speaks perfect German, can be booked for hiking and sightseeing.
Bilal Coskun +90 533 719 99 42 (WhatsApp), coskunbilal@gmail.com
EQUIPMENT
Hiking shoes with a good tread, rain and sun protection, and - for cooler days - warm clothes are recommended. Göreme is situated at 1104 m. We had sub-zero temperatures and snow at the beginning in March.
Click on the first picture to see the beautiful Henna Hotel
ACCOMMODATION:
The Henna Hotel is so Influencer-worthy that we hardly dared to book there. Balloons fly over a perfectly appointed terrace with fresh fruit and silver teapots that look like Aladdin's magic lamp. A 400-year-old tea room in velvety green and with stained glass windows resembles my idea of 1001 Nights luxury.
The rooms are beautiful, the staff super helpful, the breakfast a rich blast and although the hotel was always booked up, the roof terrace was never crowded. Priceless? Not even that: double rooms with breakfast start at 45€ in low season.
At Hotel Utopia in Ürgüp you can sleep in original cave rooms. These look super great, but are not necessarily something if you don't like narrow rooms and want to sleep with an open window at night.
The hotel has a great hammam and delicious breakfast is served on the roof terrace. The only drawback is that the balloons rarely pass by here.
EATING:
Our absolute favourite restaurant with mega scenery and rooftop bar is Seten in Göreme. We found the meze particularly delicious - especially the muhammara made of peppers, tomatoes with pomegranate and walnuts.