We (a couple) will be in Cappadocia April 29 & 30.
Looking for a local guide.
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We will be there in late May for 3 days and have engaged Middle Earth Travel.
They are Turkish-owned and operated and do mostly serious trekking and biking tours but also offer some less strenuous purely cultural & hiking tours. (I believe they have a 2-day tour.) My experience thus far is positive: friendly, enthusiastic and very accommodating. You set the dates. They will help with airport transfers, hotel reservations, and hot air balloon rides if that’s your thing.
https://middleearthtravel.com/tours
Please please post about your experience upon your return as we’d love a firsthand perspective of the current overall mood and travel experience in Türkiye given it’s proximity to the current disruptions in the Middle East.
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We’ve spent some time in Cappadocia recently and one thing I’d say is that having a guide can be helpful, but it really depends on what you want to get out of your visit.
For historical sites like underground cities and open-air museums, a licensed guide adds a lot of context that you wouldn’t get otherwise.
But for valleys (like Love Valley, Red Valley, Pigeon Valley), many people actually prefer exploring more freely or with just a driver, since it’s more about the scenery than explanations.
A mix usually works best:
– one guided day for the main highlights
– one day exploring independently
That balance tends to give a much better overall experience.
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I just returned yesterday from two weeks and the mood is fine - we never felt uneasy or unsafe. Regarding guide in Cappadocia, I used - but do not recommend - Deniz Ozbucak Turgut who was Rick Steve's recommended guide in the current Turkey edition. We used her for three days at $200 USD per day and she arranged a car and driver for an additional $200 USD per day. I do not recommend her. She was friendly and she took us to all the right places but she provided very little background or guiding information. So much so that we started using chatgpt during our tours. She was extremely distracted on her phone with her other businesses (she's co owner of Butterfly Balloons), as well as being on her social media constantly, taking calls (including face time) while in the car with us and guiding us, etc. We were really unimpressed with the guiding quality. She also no longer lives in Cappadocia so it was our feeling she is picking up clients as a side job and "fitting them in". She also mentioned she is very good friends with the editor of the Turkey edition so that gives me pause to take Rick Steve's recommendations at face value in the future- lesson learned. I would look for a guide that is more dedicated to guiding and client service.