Helle, Peter and T had a one-week road trip in Türkiye from Ephesus to Cappadocia in early April 2026. We flew to Izmir, explored the ancient city of Ephesus, drove through the Taurus Mountains via Pamukkale and Konya, and spent three days hiking the fairy chimney valleys of Cappadocia. We returned the car in Konya, and enjoyed the ease of driving a rental car in Türkiye.
After picking up our rented Renault Austral at Avis in Izmir, It was a one hour drive to Selçuk, where we would be staying for two nights. It had been raining like crazy since we arrived and we saw water coming up from drainages and running down roads. We checked in to the cozy Stonehouse hotel in the village Sirince.
Day 1 – Ephesus, Selçuk and Sirince
The rain had stopped when we woke up, but everything outside was wet and dripping. We wanted to explore Ephesus first thing, but it turned out Ephesus Exploration Run was ongoing, so Ephesus was closed until midday.
Instead we started at Ephesus Museum, which has a great collection of artefacts found at the site. It was a good introduction, and after a short visit to Isa Bey Camii Mosque we heaeded to Ephesus, where we bought the Tûrkiye museum pass (165 € per person).
Ephesus is one of the largest and most intact classical cities in Europe. It has been inhabited since the 8th century BC and became the 4th largest city in the Roman Empire. The site is huge with a Great Theatre seating 25,000 people, agoras, temples, fountains, baths, the Library of Celsus and the “Terraced Houses” for the wealthy.
We spent 3 hours exploring and were especially impressed by the Terraced Houses. They are richly decorated with mosaic floors, marble panels on the walls and frescos in the ceiling. One house is approximately 950 m² with its own Basilica.
When we reached the top of the site the sky turned dark and shortly after we got soaked in a strong shower.
We explored the Temple of Artemis, St John’s Basilica and Ayasuluk Fortress before returning to our hotel in Sirince.
Sirince is a cosy mountain town with wine cellars everywhere, so we spent the evening having dinner and tasting wine from the many cellars.
Day 2 – Hierapolis, Pamukkale and Laodicea
We woke up to sunny weather and a fresh temperature of 8°C. We drove 2 hours drive towards Pamukkale, where we started with a visit to the ancient city of Laodicea. Laodicea is mostly in ruins, but the sewer underneath the Main Street “Syria” was easy to see as well as the once glorious Basilica with great mosaic floors.
Hierapolis is a much larger site and was known as a spa city due to the hot underground water. The Roman theatre has been nicely restored and sits on the hillside with a view of the valley and city below.
The Ploutonion temple was dedicated to the underground god Pluto and had a hot water pool in the courtyard with toxic fumes coming up from the ground.
Hierapolis sits on top of the Pamukkale Travertines, where minerals from the hot water are deposited into white pools terraced on the slopes.
The mineral deposits of the Travertines color the entire mountainside in bright white and we wandered around discovering new structures. At one place it’s possible to take off shoes and walk in the pools . The wind was cold, but the water was nice and warm.
Day 3 – Pamukkale to Konya via Sagalassos
Today was a long driving day. We had 6 hours of driving to Konya, but decided to make a detour to see the ancient Roman city of Sagalassos in the Taurus Mountains.
The Taurus Mountains are beautiful and at this time of year the tops are covered in snow. Sagalassos is situated at an altitude of 1400-1600 m, but with the sun shining through the drifting clouds it was quite pleasant.
Sagalassos is mainly known for the upper Agora with the Nymphaeum of Antonius Pius, a huge fountain richly decorated with water still running today – although it has been rebuilt after a major earthquake in the 7th century.
The area around Sagalassos is known for rose production and every product imaginable contains rose. Helle got to try a soda with rose taste. She was not impressed, and found that it tasted a bit like soap.
We continued towards Konya and passed the magnificent Egirdir Lake with turquoise water and snowcapped mountains as a backdrop.
At Beysehir we made another stop to see the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Esrefoglu Mosque from the late 13th century. It is made with huge cedar pillars and richly decorated with carvings and paintings.
Next to the mosque is the bedesten (covered bazaar) and Ismail Aga Madressi from the same period.
We arrived in Konya at 6 pm and dropped our luggage at the hotel before going out for dinner. T got a huge portion of kebab and we tasted the local pide, which is a pizza.like bread with cheese.
Day 4 – Konya to Göreme in Cappadocia
Konya is known as the home of Sufi mystic Mevlânâ (Rumi), who founded the whirling dervishes order in the 13th century. The whirling dance is actually a meditation practice. We visited the Mevlânâ Museum to see his tomb, mosque and the dervish lodge with great exhibitions about the order and their distinctive clothes.
The center of Konya is Alâeddin Hill with Alâeddin Mosque. The hill and mosque was nothing special, but it was a nice stroll through the old, still working bazaar to get there.
We were eager to get to Cappadocia, so we left Konya before noon for our 3 hour drive. We made a stop in Sultanhan to see the caravanserai from the Seljuk-era (13th century) and enjoyed the warmth from the sun at a clear blue sky.
It was already 15:00 when we arrived in Göreme, but we really wanted to see some of the area. We went to Rose Valley and hiked 8 km between magnificent stone formations in colors from red to yellow and white. It was truly the highlight of the day.
Day 5 – Cappadocia, Göreme open air museum and Love Valley
We had a slow start as it was raining again. Once the rain stopped we headed to Göreme Open Air Museum to see the famous cave churches decorated with frescos. Especially the Buckle Church and Dark Church have impressive frescos picturing the life of Jesus. The churches are from the 2nd century, but were only decorated with frescos much later. Unfortunately we have no photos as it was forbidden to photograph inside.
It started raining again so we went back to town for lunch. After a rest Peter and Helle were ready to explore more. The sky had cleared and we went to hike Love Valley and White Valley. The fairy chimneys of Love Valley are very distinctive and it is not difficult to see how the valley got its name.
We continued into White Valley, which again was completely different scenery. Wherever we walk the landscape changes and it never becomes boring.
Day 6 – Cappadocia, Pigeon valley, Pasabagi and Zelve
T was extremely tired, most likely because he had had gluten in yesterdays lunch. He stayed at the hotel while Peter and Helle hiked Pigeon Valley from Göreme to Uchisar Castle and back, a total of 9.5 km.
Pigeon Valley is famous for the many dovecotes. The inhabitants kept doves for the production of fertilizer and eggs. They had fields of fruit trees, vineyards and vegetable gardens. The wine is said to be excellent due to the dove fertilizer.
The valley was beautiful with rock formations, green fields, blooming trees and in places turned into a canyon. It is amazing to see how the landscape changes all the time.
We visited Uchisar Castle cut into the rock on a hill above the city. It had great views of the area although it was hazy.
In the afternoon we drove to Pasabagi Valley – yet another valley with outstanding fairy chimneys.
From there we went on to Zelve Open Air Museum. The valley was inhabited until 1950, when it was abandoned due to risk of falling rocks. It felt more alive than the other valleys. We saw the mill, winery, a mosque, monastery, decorated dovecotes and dwellings with carved out firepits and alcoves.
On our way back to Göreme we stopped briefly at Devrent Valley, famous for the camel rock formation.
Our last stop was Aynalı Kilise, a pleasant surprise. It’s a rock church with a monastery where you can visit the second floor to see the dovecotes from inside as well as a beehive accessed through a narrow dark tunnel. The “doors” were still intact – huge rock wheels to be rolled in front of the entrance.
For dinner we went to the more quiet part of town and found the excellent Kilim Restaurant, where we had the best meal of our trip.
Day 7 – Kaymakli, Derinkuyu and Ihlara valley
Our last day in Türkiye, but we had the entire day as we were flying out at night.
The two underground cave cities Kaymakli and Derinkuyu are 30 minutes south of Göreme. The cities have been entirely carved out with churches, graveyards, kitchens, wineries, living rooms and ventilation shafts.
Narrow tunnels connect the rooms, so it’s not for people with claustrophobia. Peter was uncomfortable, but managed. Kaymakli is only a few stories high and very spread out, while Derinkuyu is up to 8 stories deep – 85 meters underground. The cities had their heyday between the 9th and 13th century as a refuge for Christian communities in a time of conflicts.
Another 45 minutes west we stopped at Ihlara Valley, a gorge with many cave churches with more or less intact decorations. They were similar to the churches near Göreme. The gorge was beautiful and we could easily have spent more time to explore and hike the valley, but we had another 2.5 hours of driving to reach Konya.
We drove past Helvedare, a small local village, to get a nice view of the mighty stratovolcano Hasandagi covered in snow. Since it was Saturday many locals were having a picnic at the lakeshore and we wished we had had time to join them.
We continued to Konya where we dropped the car at Avis and got on the flight home.