Getting Around Nevsehir Ili

If you have enough time, walking is your best option in Nevsehir Ili. Walking also provides excellent views of the surrounding canyons, which are sights themselves. Available for rent are mountain bikes, scooters, motorcycles and all terrain quads. Dolmus service also runs approx. every hour to nearby cities like Nevsehir, Avanos and Urgup.
My stay there was very short and I enjoyed excellent views of Cappadocia out of a bus window, haha!

You can watch my 1 min 37 sec VIDEO-Clip Goreme Valley by bus with Turkish pop music by Kaan – Oynayalim out of my Youtube channel, or
1 min 58 sec VIDEO-Clip Goreme-Zelve road with popular Turkish music by Sertap Erener – Kumsalda out of my Youtube channel.
3 min 17 sec VIDEO-Clip Urgup - Kaymakli Road New with Seckin Piriler – Kirmizi Papucalar pop Turkish musik,
4 min 27 sec VIDEO-Clip Kaimakli-Goreme road with Cerdar Ortac – Dayan pop Turkish music.

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by plane
The easiest way to reach Cappadocia region is by plane. In 90’ you will be at the airport of Kayseri. The distance for Goreme/Urgup in big enough so the air companies have private buses that will take you to/from the airport with a small fee if you book in advance. I think the ticket costs 10YTL(6euro) but of course you can take a taxi to/from Goreme or Urgup but it will cost you more. For the bus you can visit Argeus Tours office at Urgup, call at +90 384 3414688 or visit their site :www.argeus.com.tr

By bus
A night bus from Istanbul is a good option also. It will take about 10 hours to Nevsehir and then a free shuttle bus will take you to your final destination (Goreme, Urgup etc). Don’t forget to tell your final destination when you book your bus ticket in the first place otherwise you will have to find a local bus on your own and you will be tired without a reason although there are buses from Nevsehir to all the villages/towns of the area.
For your return you can also choose between the 4 different bus companies(Metro, Kent, Nevsehir Seyahat and one more) that have their offices at the central square(pic 2) offering 1 or 2 night buses to Istanbul (usually around 19:30-20:30) and some of them one morning bus but in that case you will be all day in a bus. The 4 companies have almost the same prices, 45-50 YTL(30euro) so choose the one with better service. I used METRO which is one of the best bus companies in Turkey.

I didn’t take a direct bus to Nevsehir thought! I stopped for one day in Ankara and I took another the morning after for Nevsehir with Nevsehir bus company. The ticket costed 25YTL(14euro). The bus stations in Istanbul and Ankara are huge but the one in Nevsehir is very little. In Goreme there’s no bus station at all of course :)

All the buses in Turkey stop every 3-4 hours for 20 minutes so you can go to toilet (always carry 0,50YTL with you). During the bus ride the bus attendant will serve coffee/tea, soft drinks, water, and a small piece of cake or bisquits.

I found that flat landscape along the way (Istanbul>Ankara and Ankara>Nevsehir) boring except some lakes here and there. The city of Izmit that was destroyed by an earthquake some years before it is now rebuilt a few kilometers further! The Bolu tunnel is useful too because you avoid some kilometers now on a better road. On my way back I dint see anything because it was a night bus.

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Many say that flying with a hot air balloon over Cappadocia is amazing. It is beautiful, this is true! But! Try to do it the first day you visit the area otherwise you wont be so surprised of the landscape if you have already done some tour around. The unique landscape will give you the opportunity for some great photos but what I liked most was looking at the other balloons everywhere around.

The only problem is that one hour ride with a balloon costs 150euro per person! If it’s ok for you here’s the details:
There are many companies in the area, all with the same price. After a small research I found that there were no accident in Cappadocia the last years. I guess it has to do with their policy to cancel the flights when the weather is not good. Bad weather means some wind that will drive the balloon away from Cappadocia. In case you don’t know it the balloon goes where the wind blows so every time it’s a different route!

A shuttle bus will pick you from your hotel early in the morning, usually before usually before sunrise and you will be driven to take-off site. There, while you will feel the morning cold you will have a light breakfast with the other passengers of many balloons! Don’t spend all the time drinking coffee and eating cake though, go near the balloons and watch the inflation of the balloons! When we got inside the big basket (that had about 10 people and the driver) I was surprised that there was no stairs for the old people so it was impossible for some of them to get into! The gently take-off was another surprise, a good one this time. In fact you don’t feel the move if you close your eyes, you just listen the sound of the hot air inside the balloon from time to time (it also gives some heat around so it’s nice on a cold day).
We landed somewhere else, where they usually serve a champagne but who needs something like that at 08:00am?? After that, you get your flight certificate and the shuttle bus takes you back to the hotel. It’s good that the flights are early in the morning because you have time for touring after that. For example all the daily tours start at 09:30.

There are also some balloon rides that last more and they cost more (220euro) and some private flights for couples that cost 600 euros!!

car
If you have your own car you will enjoy Cappadocia, going everywhere easily because you have to reach different parts of the region. I dint see many gas stations though and the locals told me it’s not cheap but I don’t really know because I don’t drive.

local buses
There are many local buses from Nevsehir to any destination of the region. Nobody stays in Nevsehir though. I was staying in Goreme and there were some buses for all the main villages and valleys but not so many.

daily tours
All the travel agents of the area (in Goreme, Urgup etc) have at least two different daily tours, usually one for the SW part of Cappadocia and one for the NE part.
Usually, a daily tour includes a visit to one underground city, one hike in a valley (3-7km), a monastery, photo stops along the way, shopping stops(in Avanos for pottery demonstration, in Uchisar for wine tasting etc) and a lunch in a nice restaurant. The cost of a daily tour is about 60YTL(35euro) per person. I used Heritage Travel because some friends of mine have used it before and I was satisfied. The shuttle bus had no more than 10 people, the guide was very good with good knowledge of the area and in general all the people of the travel agent were friendly and helpful with me. They have their offices at Kelebek Hotel. of course you will find many travel agents around the central square and I noticed that all the hotels do their own tours or they cooperate with a travel agent of the area.

private tours
If you have only 2 days the daily tours will be a good option so to see many things. I stayed 4 days so I had the opportunity to see some other parts of Cappadocia. I used private tours and of course I payed much more than the daily tours. Heritage travel provided me a car driver for 60euro that I found a good price because he followed the route I suggested to some villages at SE part of Cappadocia, with many photo stops. We visited Soganli valley as the highlight of the day where I had the opportunity to hike along the valley. You can also have a private guide with you if you don’t know where to go, what to see etc If you are not familiar with the places/churches/paintings/history of the area it’s a good idea, you will enjoy it more but of course you have to pay extra.

walk/hike
If you have time its a pity not to walk at one of the beautiful valleys of the area, You will do some hike with the daily tours also but there are so many routes you can do on your own. You can ask for a map and then explore the area, starting for Goreme. It’s free of course so it is ideal if you travel on low budget.