Hiking Cappadocia’s Red and Rose Valley

During the Roman period, persecuted Christians fled in droves to Cappadocia. They discovered that the soft tuff could easily be excavated and built homes and churches in the fairy chimneys. They expanded existing ancient caves into underground cities like Derinkuyu — a massive shelter that could hold around 20,000 residents.

The thought of visiting Derinkuyu and going at least four stories deep down into the earth in a country known for its sizeable earthquakes was not appealing to me - though technically caves are generally safer places to be, depending on the characteristics of the cave. Turkey is one of the world's most active earthquake zones because it is located in an area where three tectonic plates interact. There are 485 faults known so far in the country that can cause earthquakes larger than 5.5-magnitude. Turkey's seismicity is increasing; last year's quake that killed 50,000 people occurred on the East Anatolian Fault, which is similar in origin and structure to the San Andreas but is only about half as long.

Instead of going to one of Cappadocia's underground caves, we spent a couple of hours at other nearby sites: Devrent Valley and Ortahisar Castle.  While they gave us something to do, neither are highlights in a Cappadocia itinerary.  First we spent about an hour exploring Devrent Valley, also known as Imagination Valley. It is a popular stop on the tourist route.

Everyone who goes to Devrent Valley gets this picture - you can get it from the roadside where all the tours stop

The landscape in Devrent Valley is unique from the rest of Cappadocia. We had fun using our imagination to guess what the different shapes are.

"Ok I'm not seeing it. I just see a bunch of camels." — Greg

In Devrent Valley, you can get up close to the various eroded landscape

Another nearby quick stop is Ortahisar Castle.  Climbing to the top of Ortahisar Castle on its narrow and steep stairway ladders is a bit of an adventure. The ticket man told us we could go all the way to the flag at the top.  It was a little unnerving passing through the open gate at the midway platform and its sign that says, "From this point it is dangerous and forbidden to go up."  Gulp.  Although the castle has been refortified in recent years, in case of a pending earthquake, I climbed to the top and then hurried back down.

Ortahisar Castle one of the highest points of Cappadocia

At 282 feet high, Ortahisar Castle offers expansive views over the surrounding area

Climbing up steep Ortahisar Castle, you get a sense of what it was like to navigate through multi-storied ancient caves 

While geographical events created fairy chimneys throughout Cappadocia, many centuries ago the people carved houses and churches inside these chimneys.  The most popular way to see inside them is to visit the crowded Göreme Open-Air Museum.  Another way to experience them is our anticipated activity for the afternoon, and yet another unmissable Cappadocia hike.  

One of the best things about today's hike through Cappadocia's amazing landscape, the Red and Rose Valleys (as compared to either Love Valley or Pigeon Valley) offers the opportunity to see ancient rock-cut churches and monasteries adorning Byzantine wall paintings dating to the 13th century!  

On the hike into the Red and Rose Valleys, starting at the Sunset Viewpoint, this is one of our first tremendous views

Though information on hiking in Cappadocia is decidedly poor, do your best attempt to research it prior to going. There are so many intertwining paths through the Red and Rose Valleys that I felt like we could walk in frustrating circles for miles. Knowing where we wanted to go in advance, we were able to guide ourselves pretty well with the AllTrails maps. If I didn't know what we were looking for, we probably would've missed at least one of the churches, like the Australian couple in front of us.

Hiking the Red and Rose Valleys, with its numerous paths splitting off in every direction, would be confusing without a good map

If you don't know where you're going, it would be easy to take a wrong trail or walk right by Kolonlu Kilise, a church that camouflages as one of the numerous caves scattered throughout the valleys.  The massive Kolonlu Kilise, one of Cappadocia's largest churches, is named after its four soaring columns. The top of the dome is 25.5 feet above the ground making this the largest cruciform cave church in Cappadocia.

The entrance to Kolonlu Kilise (Column Church) is off the trail and pretty easy to miss

After entering the small cave, it was mind-blowing to walk up the stairs inside to discover this huge area and massive columns of Kolonlu Kilise

Hacli Church, named after the impressive Roman cross so precisely carved onto the ceiling, is an absolute do-not-miss.

 Thankfully it is actually pretty hard to miss Hacli Church because of the prominent cafe set up right in front of it - and all the main trails through the valley converge here

You'd never guess from the outside of Hacli Church that you'll step inside to see such an intact 1200-year-old Byzantine painting

The painting of "Christ in Glory" (Christ seated on a throne as the ruler of the world) is impressingly well-preserved and fills the large domed apse.  I was in awe to be witnessing it so closely.

I was hoping to see Üç Hacli Church (Church of the Three Crosses) along our hike but the route we were following didn't go by it. We would've seen it if we followed the longer AllTrails hike.  Greg read there is a rope climb on that part of the trail to help you through its steepest section. If you continue along to that part of the path, then following the route clockwise takes you up the rope (rather than the more difficult counter-clockwise route going down the rope).

Rose Valley Viewpoint - one of the many staggering views on our short hike!  We could see the front of Üç Hacli Church in the valley below.

Picture of rope section from AllTrails review.  Hike the route clockwise so you can climb up with the rope.

The plan was to end the hike back at the Red Valley Sunset Viewpoint right in time for Golden Hour and the sunset, when the sharp sandstone rocks reflect a beautiful shade of red.  Lucky for us we got a glimpse of the sun when it briefly broke through the cloudy sky.

Red Valley Sunset Viewpoint is well known to be the best place to watch the sunset in Cappadocia

If you watch the Red Valley Sunset from Crazy Ali Cafe and you want THE best seat in the whole place - right on the edge of the cliff - I read to arrive at least one and a half hours before sunset. Apparently so did other people because all of the seats were taken.  (There was a reserved sign on the table for what looked to be a tour group.)

Score!  The best seat in the house at the Sunset Viewpoint (Crazy Ali Cafe) quickly cleared out when the wind picked up and a few drops of rain came down

There are two shared AllTrails maps for Red and Rose Valleys, both with longer distances than I wanted for our afternoon hike. I found a shorter hike on a blog that included the sites I wanted to see.  Below you can see a map of the route we actually took and a map of our route overlaid onto one of the AllTrails maps.

Here is our actual hiking route through the Red and Rose Valley

I overlaid the shorter hike (see the red figure eight) onto the AllTrails map recently renamed "Göreme Loop". Note: We found the blogger's points of interest marked on the map to be slightly incorrect.

1) Red Valley Cappadocia Sunset Viewpoint 2) Rose Valley Viewpoint 3) Hacli Kilise 4) Joachim and Anna church? 5) Kolonlu Kilise.  Unmarked: Uc Hacli Kilise is on the green AllTrails route just above #2

Hike Logistics:  Our route was a distance of 3 1/4 miles and took under 1 1/2 hours.  The easiest way to get to the trailhead is by car – starting/ ending at the Red Valley Viewpoint / Crazy Ali Café (and afterwards watching the sunset from there); it is about a 15-min drive from town.  (Note: The AllTrails map doesn't start/end at the sunset viewpoint.)  Entrance fee to sunset area is 50 tl per car. Do not miss the Hacli church (marked on AllTrails map)! 

In the evening, the sun finally broke through the clouds and painted the sky for us

Cat of the Day