My next trip started with a huge milestone: my 50th country! Considering that when I turned 20, I had only been to the US, Canada, and Denmark, where I had just started a semester abroad, it’s absolutely incredible how much I’ve had the opportunity to travel over the course of my 20s. My first goal was 30 countries by 30 and I have well surpassed that. I wanted to pick something cool for #50, so I went with a week in Türkiye! After landing in the Istanbul airport, I headed to the domestic terminal and boarded my flight to Kayseri.
I had booked myself into a cave hotel, which was absolutely the right call. I stayed at the Aza Cave Hotel, and they handled almost all of my logistics while I was in the region, including my airport transfers, my Red and Green tours, and of course, the all-important hot air balloon ride! I loved my experience there. Everything was so smooth, and there were amazing views of the valley from right outside my door.
The balloons didn’t run the first day I was there because of the wind. I was pretty jetlagged, though, so I still got up early and headed into town to explore a bit before my tour picked me up. The town of Göreme has tons of the traditional cave hotels, which is why it’s where a lot of tourists stay when they come to the region. It makes for an interesting town vibe, with lots of windy roads among the rock formations.
I was taking the Red tour the first day, which goes to many of the main sites in and around Göreme. It’s the most popular tour and is definitely a good introduction to the Cappadocia region. Fun fact, the term “Cappadocia” is more of a tourist region designation than any kind of real geographic/cultural designation. It’s in the Anatolia region of Turkey. The tour had a lot of cool stops, all clustered close to Göreme, and we had our lunch at the bottom of this canyon. This was the perfect first day tour – no long drives, and we got back on the earlier side. Between jet lag and the planned early wakeup the next morning, I was happy to have an earlier bedtime.
The next morning was the moment I had been waiting for – hot air balloons! I went with Discovery Balloons and had a great time. The morning started with a brutally early pick up from the hotel, and then we were driven to a dark field where we got pastries and coffee while we watched our team prepare the balloons. This was pretty cool in and of itself, because we got to watch as the balloons all around us started inflating and taking off.
Our guide started off by taking us as high as we could go, and then we worked our way back down through the valley. Something that really surprised me about the experience was how quiet it all was. Once you were up in the air, it was so peaceful – the only noise by the pilot was an occasional whoosh of flame to adjust the height and sporadic radio messages. I loved the experience of flying that way and seeing the rock formations from a different perspective.
As for how expensive your hot air balloon ride is, the main differentiator is the number of people in the basket. I did the standard one, which I think had capacity for 28 people, and I was happy with this. I personally wouldn’t have spent the additional money to do a smaller basket. I felt like our pilot did a great job maneuvering the balloon around so that we all got a chance to see everything, and it wasn’t like one side of the balloon ever had a “bad” view.
A hot air balloon ride is something I’ve always wanted to try, and I’m so glad I did it here in Cappadocia! I don’t think I need to do it again, because I think the experience of it wouldn’t necessarily feel that different even in a different landscape, and it’s a very expensive thing to do, but I do recommend that people try it somewhere that has a cool and interesting landscape. I also was so amazed by the pilots and crew and how smoothly everything ran – our pilot landed us on the truck that they use to transport the balloons, which was pretty incredible. Afterwards, we all got certificates and a sort of knockoff champagne to toast to our experience!
I got back to my hotel in time for breakfast and a very quick nap before my next tour, which was the Green tour. It goes a bit farther afield to the southern region of Cappadocia. We started at an underground city, which was fascinating to see how people lived in this region. For a long time, there were both cave dwellings and underground cities for security, which is similar to dwellings I’ve seen in the Western US as well. We also headed to Selime Monastery, which was high up on a cliffside.
Our lunch spot on this tour was super cool. We hiked down into a valley and along a river, and the restaurant had these little huts where you could sit and eat lunch. It was so relaxing, and the two other people with me had been on the Red tour the day before so we had a nice conversation along with our meal!
My last morning was a relaxed breakfast before heading back to Istanbul. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to Türkiye or a better celebration for country #50. Looking forward to many more!