Travel Guide to Cappadocia – Are Hot Air Balloons Still Flying Now?

At the height of the second wave of coronavirus in Europe, I spontaneously planned a trip to Cappadocia, Turkey, to experience the dreamy hot air balloons floating in the morning sunrise amongst mountains in the background. Now that I think back, it seems like a crazy trip, I don’t know how I actually pulled it off, but I did. I travelled mid-October 2020, and at this point of time, United Kingdom had 15k coronavirus cases per day, Turkey had 1500+ cases per day, and each EU country were beginning to impose new restrictions on air travel (requesting a PCR test on arrival etc.).

Turkey was one of the few countries left that was available for travel. In fact, it was open for ALL countries to enter which was quite interesting. I was surprised that Turkey only had a thousand cases per day, and once I got to Cappadocia, I could understand why. That place is like a desert, the air so dry and thin, humidity so low, I don’t see how the virus could travel in the air. As I am writing this post, I am at home in the UK, day 7 into the so-called “quarantine” for the 3rd time this year in 2020. I know, crazy right? Why is it “so-called” quarantine? You can message me on Instagram to understand more about the quarantine experience in the United Kingdom.

First of all, I wanted to respond to the first and most pressing question — which was also a question I had too before I booked my trip:

ARE THE HOT AIR BALLOONS STILL FLYING IN CAPPADOCIA NOW?

YES, THEY ARE!!! When I visited in mid-October 2020, the hot air balloons were flying every morning as long as the weather permitted. During my trip, I counted approximately 50-70 hot air balloons each morning! The hot air balloons ONLY fly in the morning at sunrise. I didn’t feel like there was a lack of hot air balloons in the air due to coronavirus. In fact, I got enough photos of me + balloons, everything was PERFECT.

With every trip to Cappadocia, staying at one of their infamous cave hotels is something every tourist must experience at least once! Nothing beats a sunrise view from the hotel terrace where 50-70 hot air balloons rise simultaneously in the early hours of morning.

Stay Details: Koza Cave Hotel (family-run luxurious cave hotel), Sultan Cave Suites (amazing terrace and Instagrammable breakfast!), Mithra Cave Hotel (multiple terraces to take photos in the morning), Local Cave Hotel (swimming pool with the cave hotel as a backdrop).

Don’t know which cave hotel to choose from? See my extensive blog post comparing each of the cave hotels – Which Cappadocia cave hotel is best to view the hot air balloons?

HOW DO I GET TO CAPPADOCIA?

The nearest airports to Cappadocia are from Kayseri and Nevershir airports. Depending on which airline you are used to taking, they will land at different airports. Kayseri is further away and the drive will take about 60 minutes. Nevershir is closer and about 40 minutes away. I flew with Pegasus airlines from London to Kayseri airport with a transfer at Istanbul airport. Total flight time around 7 hours with a 1.5 hour transfer (very tiring, I know).

HOW DO I GET FROM THE AIRPORT TO CAPPADOCIA?

When you arrive at the airport, make sure your hotel arranges a transfer to the hotel. All the hotels in Cappadocia provide this service for an extra fee with options to choose from, such as a group shuttle transfer or private transfer. The group shuttle transfer has prices ranging from €10 and a private transfer costs approximately €80.

The group shuttle transfer means that you will be traveling with 10-12 other people. At the airport, you will all be collected and board the same shuttle van, and the driver will proceed to Goreme town and start dropping everyone off at their respective hotels. Just note that the airport pickup took 1h45m – 2hrs in total just because we had to wait for everyone to come out of the airport with their luggage. Also, right after we left the airport, the driver also stopped at a gas station for 15minutes for everyone to pick up snacks/coffee/go to the washroom (at 11PM WTF?, washroom break? we just got out from the airport!!!, can we GO already? we have a LONG drive!!!). So consider that if you want to take the public shuttle transfer. Nonetheless, your hotel can help arrange both transfers.

The airport drop off on the way back took MUCH FASTER and cheaper only 70TL (Turkish Lira) per person and the whole trip just took 1h10m – 1h20m, partly because our flight was at 6AM and we were picked up at 3:30AM in the early morning. To this day I am not sure why there is a difference in price for airport transfers, but they should not cost more than €10 per person.

HOW MANY DAYS SHOULD I SPEND HERE?

Everyone recommends 4-5 days in Cappadocia and I heartily agree. I spent 6 days which means I was able to experience 4 sunrises. The first and last days didn’t count because I had super early/late flights. I would recommend staying for at least 3 sunrises in Cappadocia, just in case the weather is bad and the hot air balloons decide not to fly that day. That happened once during my visit and sadly I had booked an expensive cave hotel with a terrace that day. Nonetheless, these things happen and I had three other awesome sunrises in Cappadocia. Once you get that hotel terrace shot, spend at least another sunrise experiencing the hot air balloons from the mountains outside (more on that later)

WHAT TO EAT

Unfortunately, compared to Istanbul, the restaurants here in Cappadocia are not noteworthy if you’re traveling on a budget. I’ve eaten a fair share of terrible restaurants in Cappadocia, none worth mentioning. Only on the last two days of my trip I found a restaurant called Old Cappadocia that I really liked, with fair prices and delicious food. I tried the Chicken Shish and Chicken Pottery Kebab (which is essentially soup) both with was delicious.

There are two experiences you have to try in Turkey, one is trying out the famous Turkish coffee/tea as well as tasting Turkish ice cream. For the best Turkish coffee I had, I went to King’s Coffee situated in Goreme – I went there two times in a row! Try out their Menagerie Coffee, it’s black coffee with a hint of pistachio. So So delicious! To be honest, I am not a big fan of black coffee as it is too bitter. I usually drink cappuccino or flat white, but THAT Menagerie Coffee, I was able to drink it without having to add any sugar! (For reference: 1 cup cost about 15 Turkish Lira).

Now about Turkish ice cream, you will notice that all the vendors in Cappadocia selling ice cream do NOT have prices clearly stated outside. Obviously there is a huge reason for this, it means they can easily rip tourists off! To AVOID BEING SCAMMED AND RIPPED OFF WHEN BUYING TURKISH ICE CREAM IN CAPPADOCIA, read my blog post dedicated to this problem (coming soon!)

HOW TO GET AROUND CAPPADOCIA

When you get to Cappadocia, you will find that the region is known as Cappadocia but not the town. The main town with all the cave hotels is called Göreme (more cave hotels here!) and the nearest town to Göreme is called Uçhisar. Most of your time will be spent in these two towns. Scooter is the best way to get around Cappadocia because they are easy to park and the cheaper option. I didn’t have an International Driver’s License so I decided to walk and take the bus. The bus leaves Göreme every half hour and there is a bus schedule posted right at the bus station. Bus tickets are super cheap, around 3TL per person depending on how far you are traveling.

OTHER THAN HOT AIR BALLOONS WHAT IS THERE TO SEE?

Besides seeing the hot air balloons in the morning, there are a number of activities to do in Cappadocia:

Go horseback riding at sunset: I booked my sunset horseback riding tour with Mithra Cave Suites when I was staying at their hotel for 200TL per person for 2 hours.

Explore the hiking trails

I explored the path from Göreme town to the Open Air Museum. The museum is a pleasant 20 minute walk from the town and on the way you will see different hiking trails up the mountains and around. There is no set hiking trail I can recommend, I wandered around and got lost. Take time to explore different trails and take photos– you might be surprised at what you see! Along the walk towards the Open Air Museum, to the left you will see a huge, wide piece of land — this is the balloon takeoff point, so come here for photos at sunrise!

Visit Uçhisar Castle

At first we didn’t know how to get from the town of Göreme to Uçhisar — so we considered walking since it was about 2km. We brought a lot of water and set out during midday and regretted it completely after 20 minutes of uphill walking. On a sunny October day, it was quite hot (not sweaty hot, dry hot) and thirsty. Within the span of 20 minutes we had finished one bottle of water each. I believed it had to do with the desert-like weather in Göreme. Remember to bring bottles of water wherever you head out to the hiking trails! Eventually, we gave up and found out there was a regular bus service (once every 30 minutes) from these two towns and it cost only 25TL for a bus ticket.

Visit the highest landmark in Cappadocia by stepping into Uçhisar Castle. To get here by public transportation, take the bus from Goreme bus station (station is situated in the middle of the town, very easy to spot). Pay on the bus, someone will come collect money after the bus departs from the station. Tell him that you want to go to Uçhisar or else you will be taken to the last stop, which is Neveshir. You will be dropped off at this bus stop located in the middle of nowhere and use Google Maps to locate the castle. It is about a 20 minute walk from there. Don’t be afraid to ask Turkish people for directions, they are some of the nicest people we’ve met!

Admission price to walk up the castle is really cheap — I believe it was 9TL — and take your time climbing up the steps for breathtaking views of the city. Drones are not permitted from the castle, but we saw people flying them anyway.