Cappadocia: A Journey Through Time

You are driven to the ranch in the morning to meet your horse, and get acquainted with the riding equipment. You will have time to try your horse on a training course going around the farm.

Your first long canter is the ascension of the Avlak mountain (in case of rain, the Avlak mountain is unridable and will be avoided), with a magnificent encompassing view of Cappadocia. The rocky hills could provide the perfect background to a Western movie... Arrival in the center of the old Greek village of Mustafapasa.

After lunch, you may stroll among Mustafapasa’s old stone houses, its Ottoman madrasa and its painted church.

In the afternoon, you can enjoy varied scenery of narrow tracks, small canyons, farmed land and the wide-open spaces, where shepherds lead their flocks, before arriving to your guesthouse in Ayvali.

We start this day by cantering through fields of the high Anatolian plateau (1600 m high): barley, wheat, oat and beans fields. We ride throught a steep single trail down to Damsa lake. Villagers cook lunch for us on a woodfire. Opportunity to visit the monastery.

Passing by and overlooking a valley of fairy chimneys, the afternoon scenery is made of bare hills surrounding the lake. Visit of the underground village of Golgoli.

You canter along tracks of soft red clay leading you to the village of Ayvali through a hidden canyon, and stop at your hotel, for the second and last night in this village.

Today’s itinerary takes you to the beautiful valleys of north Cappadocia, and to the village of Uchisar. You trot and canter through vineyards and orchards and over rolling hills of white tuffa to reach Ibrahimpasa, where you will have your lunch.

From this picturesque village, you start ascending the ‘twin hills' of Cappadocia. A nice canter at the top takes you to a panoramic viewpoint encompassing northern Cappadocia and the towering rock fortress of Uchisar. As you ride towards the village, you can admire the multicolored rock formations of the famous Pigeon Valley, and Uchisar’s picturesque fairy chimneys.

Night in Uchisar

Optional hot-air balloon ride in the early morning: travel with the wind over Cappadocia’s magical landscape at sunrise.

You enter another beautiful canyon called the White Valley. You sneak your way through arches, rocky labyrinths and lush vegetation, then into the Sword Valley and Red Valley. With its citadels of red, pink and ochre rock, and its beautiful troglodytic churches, this is Cappadocia’s most spectacular ensemble of geological formations. A cave café located in an ancient monastery welcomes you for lunch.

In the afternoon, you keep exploring the Red and Rose Valleys, then ride out into the fields, surrounded by the rocky hills of north Cappadocia.

The winding paths of the Shepherd’s valley take you back with a long canter to your guesthouse in Uchisar, in time to admire north Cappadocia in the sunset light.

Leaving the village on horseback, you ride through the rock tunnels, arches and small woods of the spectacular, 4 km-long canyon called the Green Valley. You make a detour through the famous Love Valley and its gigantic phallic rock formations, then ride till the village of Ortahisar, where you will have lunch.

You canter on a sandy track lined with trees. You cross the Valley of Pancarlik and it’s multicolored fairy chimneys, and you arrive at the ranch in the afternoon. Short transfer to your hotel in Urgup.

After breakfast, departure to Kayseri (or Nevsehir) airport for your flight to Istanbul.