Cappadocia with kids: Fairy Chimneys, Underground Cities and Balloon Ride

2 Days in Cappadocia with kids, are just enough to experience the breadth of landscape and history Turkey offers in the form of natural phenomenon of Fairy Chimneys and numerous valleys, centuries old underground cities and breathtaking experiences like the balloon ride.

This itinerary covers the interesting parts you can visit in Cappadocia with kids without getting into checking each box. We wanted some fun experiences for our kids along with some which would get their interest and helps them learn some more about the world around them.

Day 1: Fairy Chimneys, Rose Valley, Avanos Pottery Village

Our flight was in the morning from Istanbul to Keyseri. By the time we checked into our hotel it was almost noon. We highly recommend staying in a cave hotel which is naturally occurring caves converted into hotel rooms with some modifications. To complete your experience in Kapadokya with kids, this is a must do. There is an abundance of such cave hotels in this region. Some do not accept kids and that is something that you need to check before finalizing and booking the hotel

After lunch (see here for vegetarian food in Turkey including Cappadocia), we headed for Avanos: the pottery village with stops at Fairy Chimneys and Rose valley on the way.  The touristy part of Avanos is pretty much a street that starts with the pottery shops and ends at the Hanging bridge, at the other end of which is a park.
Avanos is at a driving distance of about 45mins from where we were staying and we decided to visit as this pottery made from the soil found in the river beds was unique to this area. Some of these experiences made Kapadokya with kids, super fun

Sightseeing we did on the first day includes:

• Rose Valley: The multi-hued landscape which is best seen from the Hot Air Balloon Ride. 
• Fairy Chimneys: En route to Avanos, our first stop was Fairy chimneys. These are huge carved out rock formations, dating back to millions of years, formed by a mixture of volcanic eruptions, geological processes and erosion. These were used by the persecuted Christians fleeing from the Romans, as residences, churches, storehouses, by digging caves into these formations. A sight like no other in the world. 
• Artisan Pottery and Make your own pot: You will find a lot of small shops and artisans selling ceramic ware, making vases like hittite jugs, pots of different varieties, plates and tiles with the characteristic Iznik designs of red and blue tulips. Most of the artisans have a shop and a workshop together and offer anyone who would like their hand at pottery to try it for as low as 20TL
• Buying Pottery: Buying pottery from here is highly advisable. Especially if this is your last stop on the journey or you’re through with most of your travel in Turkey as pottery could be a little difficult for carry-on baggage over multiple flights. See here to know more about shopping for souvenirs in Turkey.
• Chez Galip Hair Museum: When I was planning for our trip, I had read a lot about this hair museum. It’s just a cave with thousands of hair hanging in all direction. There is even an entry fee to it and if you ask me, I would never recommend anyone to go there except if you want to give your hair and get selected in the year end draw of lots among the hair submitted that year, to attend a full blown pottery workshop with the master craftsman Chez Galip.
• Hanging Bridge: A fun bridge for kids to run or walk on. Our little one liked it as well as it was a bit shaky and hence adventurous for him.

For in-between snack, Corn on cob and Turkish icecream was our staple wherever we went in Turkey and Avanos was no exception.

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Day 2: Hot Air Balloon Ride in Cappadocia, Goreme Open Air Museum Cappadocia, Uchisar Castle, Kayamakli Underground City and Imagination Valley

Hot Air Balloon Ride in Cappadocia: These are conducted early morning with your pickup at around 4:30 -5am and drop back at the hotel by around 7:30am. See this to know everything about the Hot air Balloon Ride in Cappadocia, including where to book it from, timings, what to see, what to carry etc

Goreme Open air museum Cappadocia (2hrs) –

• Opening and Closing Time: 8am to 6pm
  Since it starts getting dark around 5:30 to 6, make sure to reach the museum by 3:30 or 4pm to ensure you get to see it in broad day light.
• What to see:
  • Goreme Open air Museum Cappadocia is known for post Christ period cave paintings in various structures made from natural red colour
  • The noteworthy ones are from the Yinali (Snake) church (of St. Onuphrius) and they are the scenes of Jesus holding the bible with the donor of the church depicted alongside Jesus on one side of the vault and other saints depicted on the other side of the vault.
• Things to Note:
  • No guides or audio guides are needed as there are enough descriptions about each cave and cave painting in the information boards outside each cave.
  • If you are traveling with kids, you may have to skip a few caves, especially with the young children (4yrs – 9yrs) as they may find the paintings in caves repetitive after a point and its novelty may be lost on them
  • Also, there is little history to these and the paintings are fairly simple. Having seen the cave paintings from the prehistoric paleolithic period of Bhimbetka (India) and paintings and frescos of Ajanta Ellora (India) we did not spend inordinate amount of time there
  • If you are there in summers (June – Early September) the afternoons are really hot and walking around the open air museum with kids will be exhausting

Uchisar Kalesi or castle (1hr) –

• This is the highest point in Cappadocia and hence offers a fantastic view point to enjoy the multi-hued landscape of Cappadocia.
• Opening and closing time: 8am to 8pm
• What to see:
  • The view from the top is what is really worth seeing at Uchisar so be ready to climb up the 5 fleet of stairs. The stairs are man-made and hence you need not worry about the natural terrain
• Things to note:
  • It is not disability or stroller friendly castle as there are no ramp alternatives to the stairs

Kayamakli underground city (2hrs)

• A must do when you are visiting Cappadocia.
• While there are known to be 150-200 underground settlements in Cappadocia of varying sizes of settlement, not all have been discovered. The ones that tourists mostly go to were the ones large enough to accommodate over 30,000 people thus worth visiting. Two of the most famous ones are Derinkuyu and Kayamakli. While Derinkuyu goes vertically much deeper, Kayamakli is spread horizontally. Although, currently only 4 floors are open to the public, the city was built much deeper going upto almost 60mtrs.
• We chose Kayamakli for the following reasons: One of the largest underground city known so far, Wider and spread horizontally so easier to see with kids and closer from Goreme (26kms, 30mins) vs Derinkuyu (36kms, 40mins)
• You can refer to this post to know all about the Kayamakli underground city.

What we did not do:

Pigeon Valley, Love Valley and the Evil Eye Tree. Essentially, with small children, we shortlisted 2-3 places requiring extensive walking, of all the sightseeing options. We picked the ones which were absolutely un-missable for us.