Cappadocia

Currency

The lira moves fast, so change small amounts often rather than everything on arrival, and check the rate the morning you change it. Balloon flights and cave hotels are usually quoted in euros and payable by card; everything else — dolmuş fares, village lunches, the pottery you will inevitably buy — is lira and often cash.

ATMs & cards

Use Garanti BBVA, İş Bankası or Ziraat machines in Göreme, Ürgüp or Avanos. Turkish ATMs charge a foreign-card fee that has grown steep, so take out larger amounts less often, and always decline the machine’s own conversion.

Turkish banks now charge a substantial fee per foreign-card withdrawal, so take out more and less often.

Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.

Safety

A very safe place with one genuine risk, and it is the balloons: flights are cancelled for wind more often than visitors expect, so book for your first morning and keep the next two free rather than the other way round. Fly with an operator that publishes its licence. In the valleys, carry water in summer and note that the paths are unfenced above long drops.

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

Entry & visa

Health & emergencies

Required to enter

No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.

Worth having

• Routine vaccinations up to date
• Hepatitis A
• Typhoid if you will eat widely outside restaurants

Getting treated

Private hospitals in Istanbul are genuinely excellent and a fraction of Western European prices, with English spoken in the international departments. State hospitals are free for emergencies but slow and rarely English-speaking. Insurance is strongly advised — you will be asked to pay up front at private hospitals.

Tap water is chlorinated but heavily mineralised; almost everyone drinks bottled.

Orientation, not medical advice. Entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history and where you have been — check with a travel clinic or your national health service four to six weeks before you go.

Food tip

Testi kebab — meat slow-cooked in a sealed clay pot that is cracked open at the table — is the local dish and worth having once, at a place that does not have a man outside inviting you in. Cappadocia is also wine country: Kalecik Karası and the local Emir grape are poured everywhere and are better than their reputation.

Getting around

• Hire car or scooter — the valleys are spread over 20km and this is the one place in Turkey where a car earns its keep
• Dolmuş — the shared minibus loops Göreme, Ürgüp, Avanos and Uçhisar for a few lira
• Walking — the valleys connect on foot: Rose, Red and Pigeon are all half-day walks from Göreme
• Red and Green tours — the standard group day trips, and a reasonable way to reach the underground cities
• Airports: Nevşehir is 40 minutes away and Kayseri 75, both with flights from Istanbul several times a day

Internet speed

Broadband here runs at 66% of the global median of 128 Mbps. Mobile runs at 1.3× the global median of 110 Mbps.

Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured May 2026

Must-see

Things to do

• Go up in a balloon at sunrise, and book the first morning of your stay
• Walk the Rose and Red valleys at the end of the day
• Go down into Derinkuyu or Kaymaklı
• See the frescoes in the Göreme rock churches
• Watch the sunset from Uçhisar or Sunset Point
• Sleep in a cave room — most of the good hotels are dug into the rock

Nearby day trips

Say a few words

Turkish

• HelloMerhabaMER-ha-ba
• PleaseLütfenLOOT-fen
• Thank youTeşekkürlerte-shek-koor-LER
• Yes / NoEvet / HayırEH-vet / HA-yuhr
• Excuse meAffedersinizaf-fe-DER-si-niz
• How much is it?Ne kadar?neh ka-DAR
• The bill, pleaseHesap, lütfenheh-SAP
• Cheers!Şerefe!sheh-reh-FEH

Religion

Sunni Muslim, secular state

Around 99% Muslim by heritage, but the state is constitutionally secular and Istanbul is cosmopolitan. Women cover their heads to enter mosques, everyone removes shoes, and mosques close to visitors during the five prayer times.

Do's and don'ts

Do

• Accept the offered tea — refusing it outright dismisses the gesture
• Take shoes off entering a home or mosque
• Cover shoulders and knees at mosques; women cover their hair, and scarves are lent at the door
• Haggle in the bazaars, politely and with humour

Don't

• Do not point the sole of your foot at anyone, or cross your legs so it shows
• Do not blow your nose at the table
• Do not make jokes about Atatürk; insulting him is a criminal offence
• Do not photograph people, especially women, without asking