One thing I love about Cappadocia is that you can visit multiple times and always find new things to do! We went in August with my in-laws for 2 nights and repeated some old favorites and discovered some new sites. One of those new sites was Göreme National Park. You take a road into the center of the park (paved, 10 tl/car entry) and park on an overlook at the far end. There are some little cafes and souvenir shops and porta potties.

From the parking lot, we followed a hiking trail that wound its way down into the valley itself. The views were amazing. The main trail is marked with arrows and signs, though some are faded and some have fallen down.

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At one point, we had a steep descent, aided by a rope attached to the rock, and a steep metal ladder. It was sturdy and seemed safe, but freaked DD8 out! She does not like heights like that.

About halfway through the hike, we came across a small cave church and a cafe selling coffee, tea, wine, and other beverages. While we did not stop, it looked like a cute spot for a break.

We then did a loop around the grapes to bring us back to the cafe and then took the path up out of the valley (marked “exit”) and back to our car. It took us about an hour to do the hike, but you could easily hike for much longer if you did a larger loop.

Tip: Apple Maps has much better satellite imagery of Turkey than Google Maps. You can see the various trails on Apple Maps when you need some navigation help.