Cappadocia in Winter: How to Combine It with an Erciyes Ski Holiday

Under snow, Cappadocia's fairy chimneys look like a different place: the soft rock turns white, the valleys go quiet and the balloons rise over a winter landscape. For skiers, the best part is that Cappadocia is only about an hour's drive from Kayseri, so one trip can include ski days on Erciyes and a couple of days in the valleys. The two are connected in another way too: Cappadocia's soft tuff was laid down largely by eruptions of the region's volcanoes, Erciyes among them, as we explain in our guide to Mount Erciyes.

Why visit Cappadocia in winter?

Apart from New Year, winter is one of the quieter times in Cappadocia. The sights are less crowded than in spring and autumn, and after a fresh snowfall the valleys are at their most photogenic. The trade-off is the weather: nights are usually below freezing, it gets dark before six in December and January, and some mornings are too windy or snowy for the balloons. Leave a little slack in your plans and winter rewards you.

Balloon flights in winter

Balloons fly all year round, but only when conditions allow. Whether they can take off is decided every morning according to wind and visibility, and in winter more flights are cancelled than in other seasons. The simple rule: book your flight for your first morning in Cappadocia, so that a cancellation still leaves you a second chance. The sun rises later in winter, so pickups are later than in summer, but they are still before sunrise and in the cold: dress as you would for the slopes. And if the balloons fly without you, watching dozens of them rise at sunrise from a viewpoint is a memorable sight in itself.

What to see in winter

• Göreme Open-Air Museum: Rock-cut churches with frescoes, at the heart of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
• Underground cities: Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu were carved several floors deep into the soft rock. The temperature underground changes little with the seasons, but the passages are low and narrow.
• Uçhisar Castle: A rock fortress at the highest point of the area, with views over the valleys and, on a clear day, Erciyes on the horizon.
• Paşabağ and Devrent: Valleys full of fairy chimneys and strangely shaped rocks, easy to see from short paths.
• Avanos: A town on the Kızılırmak river known for its pottery workshops, good for a cold afternoon indoors.
• Rose Valley and Red Valley: The classic sunset viewpoints. Paths can be icy or muddy in winter, so wear proper boots.

Sample itineraries

Our ski packages start on fixed days: the 2-night package runs from Friday to Sunday and the 4-night package from Monday to Friday. Check-in at the hotel in Kayseri is from 14:00 on the first day, and the last day ends on the pistes in the afternoon. That makes it easy to plan your Cappadocia days around them.

Five days: Cappadocia and a weekend on Erciyes

• Wednesday: Travel to Cappadocia. Göreme Open-Air Museum and sunset from a viewpoint.
• Thursday: Sunrise balloon flight, then Paşabağ, Devrent and Avanos. An underground city in the afternoon.
• Friday: Spare balloon morning and Uçhisar Castle, then on to Kayseri for check-in and the welcome dinner.
• Saturday: A full day on Erciyes.
• Sunday: A last day on the pistes, then head home.

A week: Cappadocia and four nights on Erciyes

• Saturday: Travel to Cappadocia. Göreme Open-Air Museum and sunset from a viewpoint.
• Sunday: Sunrise balloon flight, then the valleys, Avanos and an underground city.
• Monday: Spare balloon morning and Uçhisar Castle, then on to Kayseri for check-in.
• Tuesday to Friday: Four days on Erciyes, then head home.

You can also do it the other way round: travel to Cappadocia on the evening of your last ski day and give your tired legs a rest among the valleys.

Getting between Cappadocia and Kayseri

Kayseri Erkilet Airport is the closest airport to Erciyes, and Cappadocia has its own airport near Nevşehir. Coaches run between Kayseri and Cappadocia towns such as Ürgüp and Nevşehir. Our packages include free transfers from Kayseri bus station and Erkilet Airport to the hotel, so arriving by coach from Cappadocia works well; you can also take a taxi or a private transfer straight to the hotel. We contact you 2–3 days before your holiday with the transfer details, so tell us then that you are coming from Cappadocia. There is more on flights, coaches and trains in our guide on how to get to Erciyes.

Booking tips

New Year and the Turkish school holidays are the busiest weeks in both places, so book early if you want those dates. On other weeks, weekdays are quieter in the valleys and on the pistes alike. To choose between the 2-night and 4-night packages, see our Erciyes ski holiday guide; if you want a full week with Cappadocia, go straight to the 4-night First Steps package. What to bring is covered in our ski holiday packing list.

• Cappadocia
• Winter holiday
• Erciyes
• Itinerary