Solo Hiking Through Cappadocia: 7 Majestic Valleys + GPX Guide
I've been traveling solo for as long as I can remember. I'm the type of traveler who likes to wake up early and be on the trail all day. I avoid classic tourist traps, like organized tours with lunches included, and I organize and do everything by myself. What I like most is exploring nature, historical sites, and hiking trails. I avoid cities, famous museums, churches, waiting in lines, etc. I don't think I'm special or brave about it. I travel this way because it comes naturally to me, because that's who I am.
So, in April I went on a 6-day solo trip to Cappadocia, the region of Turkey best known for hot air balloons. I didn't go because of the hot air balloons, I only saw them on the last day and I didn't fly in any of them.
The goal of this trip was to explore some of the valleys (and there is plenty of them), and I chose a total of 7, which are actually the most visited. On average, I hiked about 10 km a day. Cappadocia is actually a small region and all the famous valleys are located between the two towns: Uchisar and Goreme, about 6km apart, so it was very easy to plan everything and it wasn't difficult to find a way around at all.
LOVE VALLEY & PIGEON VALLEY
On the first day of my adventure, I decided to connect the towns of Uchisar and Goreme by hiking through two valleys, which actually connect these two towns. The valleys are Love Valley & Pigeon Valley. I started from Uchisar (where I was staying) via Love Valley to arrive at Goreme and back to Uchisar I hiked through Pigeon Valley. In total, I hiked 15 km with an hourly rate of 5 hours. I am attaching my gpx track for anyone who wants to embark on the same solo hike.
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| Love Valley |
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| Pigeon Valley |
RED & ROSE VALLEY
These two valleys are known as one of the most beautiful, and here too, hot balloon flights start at dawn, as well as all the other typical tourist activities; ATV rides, biking, cycling, horse riding, professional photos for social media, etc. This trail took me about 11 km in total, with a time of 3:30. I am also attaching the .gpx for this track here.
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| Red Valley |
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| Rose Valley |
MASKENDIR & SWORD VALLEY
For the next two interconnected valleys, the starting point of the trail was in the same place as for Rose&Red valleys. Maskendir is the greenest valley of all, very little visited although it has a beautiful church carved into a single volcanic rock, and a stream ran through the entire valley. I walked this two valleys in about 4:00 h, and I covered 12.50 km. I also add a link to the .gpx track here.
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| Sword Valley |
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| Maskendir Valley |
ZEMI VALLEY
This valley is perhaps the least visited, but it was on my way (on the way to the Goreme Open-Air Museum) and I couldn't missed it. Precisely because it only took me 1 hour to hike it and I only covered 4km. However, I wanted to see the El Nazar church here, which was unfortunately closed. I am attaching my .gpx track here.
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| Zemi Valley |
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| Zemi Valley |
Takeaways from My Solo Journey
On this solo adventure, I never felt threatened or unsafe for a single day or moment. I hiked alone through all the locations and even to other locations which I didn't cover here. Most of the time, I went completely unnoticed, because every day my hiking tour would start early in the morning (around 9am) while all the people were still sleeping warmly and comfortably after the exciting hot balloon flight, and on the trails I met a tourist here and there and only one private paid guided tour. Cappadocia is a beautiful historical and geological pearl, every valley is full of perfectly shaped rock formations, which throughout its turbulent history served as dwellings for people (probably the Hittites, about whom there are very few historical records), Orthodox churches and even shelters, and the entire region is full of underground cities. I was thrilled by this history and I am grateful to myself for having directed myself to set foot in these ancient, yet still well-preserved landscapes.
And yet, for the end, a view of the hot balloons ...
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Finally, I'll leave you a link to my Google Drive where you can download every .gpx track and load it into your hiking device if you decide to have this type of freedom on your trip to Cappadocia.
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