Car Rental and itinerary in Goreme Cappadocia

There's no airport in Goreme. You can fly in to Nevsehir (NAV) or Kayseri (ASR). NAV is a bit closer, but there are more flight options to ASR (at least there were when I went, March 2020). We rented through Autoeurope; it was fine. Driving around the area is easy.

If you are hoping to do the balloon flight, schedule that for you first morning in Goreme. Balloon flights are often cancelled due to excessive winds; if your flight is cancelled, you get priority for the next day's flights, so you want to try for the first possible morning, giving you multiple shots at actually going.

Just was in Goreme for five nights a couple weeks ago. We flew into Kayseri and took a taxi for about $50 in Turkish Lira to reach Goreme. You can walk the mile or so to the Goreme Open Air Museum. We also hiked the Pigeon Valley which was fantastic and starts just outside Goreme’s town limits. It is a UNESCO designated site and part of the Goreme National Park. With enough time and bottled water, you can hike the Pigeon Valley trails all the way to Urchisar.
I also highly recommmend the Zelve Open Air Museum. It’s incredibly beautiful with geological features and very uncrowded. It is about 5 miles and a $6 taxi ride from Goreme.
The other big attractions are the underground cities at Kaymakli and Derinkuyu, about 14 miles and 21 miles from Goreme. They are on the same local bus line and only 7 miles from one another- so you can visit both on the same day for the bus fare of about $5. You change buses in Nevsehir. All in all, our transportation costs for the 5 days came to about $85.
I was glad we did not rent a car because our hotel had no parking and many of the Goreme hotels are uphill in a medieval-type street area that was set up way before cars. Parking is difficult and driving the really narrow streets above town a challenge.

Great info
We are definitely taking the shuttle or transport to the hotel when we fly in as opposed to navigation the first night in the dark after travelling all night from western Canada
We will do the first day around Goreme on foot, and then the next 2 may be similar to your itinerary.

Still looking for recommendations on rental options in Goreme?

Any other sights suggested if we do have the vehicle?

Thanks again

If you are staying in Goreme (and I can't help you with the hotel - mine is now closed), and if you like off-the-beaten path places, I highly recommend going to a nearby village called Çavuşin, which is about 4 km from Goreme. I walked there one day (I did not have a car) and enjoyed it immensely. The town itself is rather nondescript, but as I walked through the narrow cobbled streets I began to see evidence of a long-ago culture; like the young girl sitting on top of a load of straw in a wooden cart that was being led by a donkey, and a woman leading a goat down the street.

The villagers used to live in the caves above the town but as erosion began to cause problems, they moved into houses below. However, you can still visit the cave houses if you don't mind climbing a bit. When I got to the caves, I sat there with a view for miles around. All around me were magical fairy chimneys and caves dating back thousands of years, and hills covered with bright yellow wildflowers and poppies. The only sounds I could hear were birds and tiny insects – no planes, trains or roaring cars. It was one of those travel experiences that last a lifetime. This was 15 years ago but I hope it is still the same serene village it was back in 2007.

Our hotel had easy, free parking -- so it depends on which hotel you choose.

Yes, there's some fairly steep, hilly terrain starting in, and around the edges of town. We made good use of our rental car.

We stayed at the Hotel Kelebek in Göreme (I believe this is used for Rick Steves tours or once was). I thought it was pretty good, for sleeping in a cave — a nice cave, to be sure — but in the end, its still a cave. (Dirty little secret: most of these cave hotels — and there are a lot of them — are not really caves; our room was mostly constructed of common, concrete cinder-blocks and block-shaped stones, and yes, with part of the space excavated out of part of some rock formation). Our room was warm and felt secure on cold, very windy days (most of the time we were there the weather was not very good). But, to be honest, I’m not sure I’d do it again or recommend sleeping in a cave hotel anywhere. As far as I can tell, ours was one of the better/nicer ones; staff was friendly and helpful, the breakfast spread was awesome. But the bathroom stank from all the drains, overall it was a bit musty, and ultimately it lacked some comfort. It certainly wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t awesome, either. It’s like sleeping in a cinder-block room (which it was).

I stayed here: https://www.kelebekhotel.com/en (really fantastic breakfast)
They arranged a driver for us, which made more sense because we wanted to do a one-way hike in the Ihlara Valley, where there are a number of cave churches. It was an extraordinary day! We stopped at the underground city first (don't recall which one we did, it was many years ago). After the hike, we stopped at Selime monastery (also extraordinary!), and last at a mosque (where we were treated to an up-close call to prayer). He offered to stop at a jewelry store, but was fine when we waved it off (we had stopped in while hiking on a previous day). He also made a quick stop at a crater lake for a photo op. It was a lot in one day, but I would not change a thing.
This gives you many highlights in one day, and frees your other full day up for hiking, which we found we did not really need a car for. There are several valley hikes close to Goreme.

ETA Kelebek offers a number of tours but I assume they still offer this "bespoke" kind of experience based on their website.
Also, if you do need a car, there are several agencies in Goreme, but i think it's good to ask your hotel for convenience and possible relationships.

More great info! Much appreciated!!
Seeing the hikes and itinerary that everyone did, we are now thinking we may only grab a vehicle for one day.
Great info on all the hikes and sights within hiking distance. The village close by also seems like a great walking destination.

Are you able to see some of the ihlara valley churches on an in and out hike as opposed to one way?
Also if you were to do one underground city?

Thanks again?

yvonneandjeff: Sorry, I don't remember how far we got into the Ihlara valley before we started encountering churches to enter, but I'm sure you can dig up that info online, likewise for a comparison of the two underground cities. It was a deep descent/easy ascent if memory serves, so I recall one-way being far preferable--and I had young knees then (lol). This day remains one of my best travel experiences--women were waist deep in the stream, perhaps catching fish?
I would also search for info on the various hikes (google can be more satisfying than waiting for the right forum response to come along). I'm sure we did the pigeon valley hike, and I know the rose/red valley was the one we almost got lost in, and I believe love valley was the best--most rock formations. I googled "compare hikes in Goreme" and got results like this: https://www.journeyera.com/hiking-in-cappadocia/
I find that kind of stuff helpful, good luck!