Cappadocia: Bucket List Destination or Total Tourist Trap?

Fairy chimneys, flying balloons, underground cities and enough quad bikes to supply a small army. Cappadocia was a bucket list destination for me, but I left with mixed feelings.

I've been to Turkey about eight times, but somehow I'd never made it to Cappadocia. It’s had been sitting on my travel bucket list for years, taunting me with photographs of hundreds of colourful hot air balloons floating over an otherworldly landscape.

But this time, I was finally going.

And I was so excited that I abandoned my usual slow-travel approach, where I potter about from place to place, taking my time. Instead, I spent roughly 24 hours travelling by bus from Georgia to central Turkey. Twenty-four hours. On buses, just to get there.

Fortunately, it turned out to be worth every sleepless hour and aching bone in my body.

The morning that made it all worthwhile

I arrived in Cappadocia, checked into my hostel, and started monitoring the weather and balloon flight updates, because the balloons don't fly every day. Flights depend on weather conditions, particularly wind, and can be cancelled at short notice. You can spend several days there without seeing a single balloon in the sky.

Having travelled all that way I was pleased to see that on my first morning, the forecast looked good.

I was up at 6am, got dressed, and headed straight for the hotel terrace. No breakfast, no tea, no faffing about. And a good job too, as there were already a few glowing coloured lights in the distance. The balloons were being inflated, their enormous shapes gradually appearing against the darkness. Then, one by one, they rose into the air.

And then there were more.

And more.

And more.

Hundreds of hot air balloons floated above the valleys in the distance, and they were heading in our direction. Their colours becoming brighter as the sun rose behind the strange rock formations. Some drifted surprisingly close, close enough that I could make out the expressions on people's faces in the baskets.

It was spectacular. Genuinely spectacular. I took lots of photographs, of course, but unfortunately, photographs simply didn't capture the scale of it all.

The sky changed colour, the landscape gradually emerged from the darkness, and the balloons drifted across the valleys for just over an hour.

And I was there, perfectly happy watching from the ground – admiring the scenery from terra firma, thank you very much.

And then it was over. The balloons disappeared into the distance, and I was left feeling ridiculously pleased with myself. I'd made it. I'd seen the Cappadocia I'd dreamed about. And, as it turned out, I'd been incredibly lucky, as the balloons didn’t fly again during my visit.

A landscape that looks like it's been made up

With the morning's main event over, it was time to explore the landscape itself. And what a landscape. Cappadocia's famous rock formations, often called fairy chimneys, were created over millions of years. Volcanic eruptions deposited layers of ash that eventually hardened into relatively soft rock. Wind and water then got to work, gradually eroding the landscape into the cones, pillars and bizarre shapes that are there today.

There are valleys full of strange rock formations, towering pinnacles and caves carved into the hillsides. Some of the rocks have been hollowed out to create homes, churches and monasteries. What I particularly liked was that you didn't need to pay for an organised excursion to appreciate it. I could simply head out on foot and explore.

Going underground. Literally.

My next adventure involved three buses to reach an underground city. But with Google maps and AI, is quite simple to do these days.

Cappadocia has numerous underground settlements, including the one I visited -  Derinkuyu - an extraordinary subterranean maze of carved out rooms, passages, ventilation shafts and wells, into the soft volcanic rock.

These weren't simply a few caves where people went to hide from the rain. There were living spaces, storage rooms, ventilation shafts and places for religious activities. Underground settlements provided refuge during periods of invasion and conflict.

The passages were narrow, the ceilings low, and some areas were very dimly lit, if at all. There were places where I had to bend almost double to get through and they required a kind of squat-walk – it was quite the workout.

By the time I emerged into daylight, I felt I'd earned my dinner.

Which brings me rather neatly to the subject of dinner.

Welcome to Cappadocia. That'll be £20, please.

I'm travelling for months, trying to make my money last, and I tend to measure prices against what I've been paying elsewhere. I'd just come from Georgia and Armenia, where my money had generally gone considerably further, so perhaps I was always going to find Cappadocia expensive. But blimey. Ten pounds for a wrap? Eight pounds for a basic soup? Twenty pounds for kebab meat and rice? Have I accidentally wandered into central London?

The accommodation wasn't exactly aimed at the budget backpacker either. Cappadocia has some beautiful cave hotels, complete with terraces designed for admiring the balloons at sunrise. They also come with prices that can make your eyes water as a long term budget traveller. I get it though. If you're coming for a few days, perhaps as a once-in-a-lifetime trip, you might happily splash out on a special hotel and a few memorable meals. But for those of us travelling long-term, the sums add up rather quickly.

And it's not just the prices. There's a particular kind of tourism that seems to have taken over the centre of Göreme town. Walk down the main streets and you'll find souvenir shops, restaurants and businesses competing for your attention. Shopkeepers and restaurant staff call out, "How are you?" as you walk past, hoping to draw you inside.

It's understandable. Tourism is their livelihood. But after the twentieth invitation to sit down and eat, it was tiresome. And the tacky souvenirs? I can barely fit in a clean pair of socks, let alone a ceramic fairy chimney.

The quad bikes. Thousands of quad bikes.

Although the prices were irritating, the quad bikes were something else entirely. I'd come to Cappadocia expecting a peaceful, almost mystical landscape. Strange rock formations, quiet valleys, beautiful walking routes and the occasional donkey.

What I hadn't anticipated was the apparent obsession with driving noisy motorised vehicles through it. Quad bikes. Dirt bikes. Groups of them everywhere.

There were enormous parking areas filled with quad bikes around the outskirts of town. It seemed as though every other visitor had decided the best way to experience this extraordinary landscape was to drive through it while making as much noise as possible.

Cappadocia is a place where you want to stop, look around and absorb the scenery. You want to hear the wind, watch the light change and appreciate the extraordinary shapes of the rocks. Instead, in some places, the sound of quad bike engines shattered the peace, the smell of petrol fumes hung in the air and I struggled to see the scenery through clouds of dust. I thought it was a shame.

I appreciate that tourism businesses need to make a living. I'm not suggesting that everyone should be forced to explore on foot in the manner of a slightly grumpy middle-aged woman with a backpack. But surely there's a balance to be found?

And where does all the tourist money go?

This is the question I kept asking myself. Cappadocia attracts visitors from all over the world. People pay for balloon rides, cave hotels, guided tours, restaurants, transport, souvenirs and countless other experiences.

But step even slightly off the main tourist strip and Göreme looks like a building site - unfinished construction, crumbling roads, run-down infrastructure. It has the feeling of a place being rapidly developed for visitors without much of that investment reaching the community itself.

So, bucket list destination or total tourist trap?

I think both.

The balloons were every bit as spectacular as I'd hoped. Watching them rise over the landscape at sunrise was one of those travel experiences that will stay with me.

The valleys and fairy chimneys were extraordinary to walk around, and the underground city was a fascinating historic experience.  So Cappadocia absolutely deserves its place on a bucket list.

But I also found it expensive, heavily commercialised in places, and noisier than I'd expected. The quad bikes frustrated me, the restaurant prices made me wince, and I couldn't help wishing that more of the visitor experience focused on the landscape itself rather than on selling people increasingly elaborate ways to consume it.

Would I recommend going? Yes. Without hesitation. Explore the valleys, visit an underground city, and, if seeing the balloons is your dream, allow several mornings rather than relying on a single chance.

I'd also budget more generously for food and accommodation than I would for many other parts of Turkey, while leaving room to explore beyond Göreme's main tourist streets.

As for me, I'm glad I went. Very glad, in fact.

But that's travel. You can research a destination, look at hundreds of photographs and read every guidebook going. You still won't know exactly how it will feel until you get there.

Sometimes a place exceeds your expectations. Sometimes it disappoints you. And sometimes it manages to do both before lunchtime.

Cappadocia did all three.