Cappaddocia’s lunar landscape was such a haven for hiking enthusiasts like us! Due to time constraint, we had to choose which valley to hike and we settled on Love Valley and Rose/Red Valley. We had absolutely no regrets and both valleys were extremely gorgeous!

We started off our hike with Love Valley which was very easily accessible from Goreme itself. The moment we entered the Love Valley, we understood how its name came about. Just look at this huge interesting rock structures that resembles…..an intimate part of the male. Haha. There were like 100 of these structures of different sizes and shapes! It was such an interesting experience hiking in Love Valley!

Tip: For beginner hikers or families with young children, Love Valley would be a great place!

What a nice view of……cute mushroom rock structures!

There is also a hut for you to rest mid way while hiking at the Love Valley.

From the Love Valley, you can continue on trekking towards the Red/Rose Valley. It took us around 6 hours to complete  both Love Valley and Rose Valley. It forms a nice loop back to Goreme.

The famous 3 Sisters Rock

The ever gorgeous Rose Valley, check out the beautiful varying colour tones of sedimentary rock!

We really enjoyed hiking the Rose/Red Valley as there were so many interesting caves to explore! Some caves had a really nice carved interior, probably used to be a church in the past.

Oh and fun fact of the day, we met this 70 years old man from China and his stamina was UH-MAZING! We met him when we were resting mid way at Love Valley and he decided to join us for Red/Rose Valley. The directional signs weren’t clear and all he had was his paper map! It was kinda embarrassing when he walked upslope faster than us and he did not even appear tired!

Towards the evening, one if the best things ever happened to us! Suddenly we heard this loud airy sound and when we turned around, we were greeted by huge hot air balloons rising gracefully right in front of our eyes!

Tip: Start your trek around mid day from Love Valley and hike towards Rose Valley. Towards the end of Rose Valley, you will be able to see hot air balloons rising!

No wonder people say that Turkey is one of the best places to take a hot air balloon ride. Unfortunately we weren’t blessed with good weather when it was our turn to take the ride 🙁

Tip: Taking the hot air balloon in Cappadocia is highly recommended!

Ending our trek with a breathtaking view of the hot air balloons rising over Cappadocia

Overall, we really enjoyed hiking in the valleys of Cappadocia! We just wished we had more time to explore all of the other valleys as well. Furthermore, it’s free! 🙂 Definitely a must do if you’re thinking of heading to Cappadocia!