Where to stay in Cappadocia?
Ada Camping in Avanos was where we stayed with our tent in Cappadocia. The staff there is very friendly and helpful. And the camping ground is very quiet at night. The big upside was the pool that is part of the Campground. As it was very dry hot in Cappadocia when we have been there in July,it served as welcome cool down opportunity in between the various tours we took.
Alternatives for balooning while traveling on low-budget
Our research turned out that we were not able to book balooning for less than 130 Euros per Person. Even though there might have been some more room for negotiation we decided to avoid joining this mass event which turned out to be a good decission for us.
Alternative 1 Zelve Yolou Park entrance
A good alternative is to get up as early as the balooners do and drive to the entrance of the Zelve Yolu National park. You can climb small hills tehre for free. Walk around or sit down on a hill top and view the impressive light of dawn on this breathtaking landscape. Also the balloners will start shortly after dawn and they´ll sit all around some so close that you can see the faces of the balooners. We took some hilarious pcitures there and figured out that if you have to get up that early it´s much more relaxing to just sit down and relax. Rather than doing all this baloon hazzle and sit together in an overcrowded basket. You can also bring your champagne from the local groceries store if you are into drinking at 6 in the morning 😉
If the dawn is over and you have seen enough ballons rising around you (we counted somthing like 50) I recommend to also take a walk through the area and check out the stone churches and stone tenements at the Zelve Yolu area.
For those of you who are using the navigation app or s.th. similar, here are the GPS Koordinates of the completely free of charge area:
Zelve Yolu GPS coordinates:
| Zelve Yolu Stone tenements | 38° 40.361′ N 34° 51.759′ E |
Alternative 2 Uchisar castle
A great chance to take a look at the breathtaking landscape in cappadocia from the top is climbing uchisar castle. It is the highest point of cappadocia. Though it doesn´t come completely free the entrance fee is resonable (it was 5 tL when we were there). You will have to climb some stairs for like 10 minutes, but the 360° view pays of for the effort. No need to be afraid of the stairs, a healthy person can easily take it and it is reasonably safe in my opinion.
Uchisar castle GPS coordinates:
| Uchisar Castle | 38° 37.797′ N 34° 48.311′ E |