Rêve de Cappadoce : 2 - Excursion de 2 jours au départ d'Istanbul et option balloune

Wonderful experience unless and until you have done this. Unbelievable natural beauty throughout the whole tour. Underground city is a real wonder; once you are there you go to an imaginary world thousand of years ago. The guides were very professional and knowledgable. Choice of restaurants and foods were very good. Hotel pick up and drop offs are additional important plus points.

My wife and I totally enjoyed this tour. We might have some money if we had booked the accommodation, airport transfers and local tours directly with each provider. However, we preferred the convenience of all-inclusive package that gave us a kind of peace of mind. On the first day, we were picked up at our hotel in Istanbul at 3:30 as scheduled. We were driven in a nice van to Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW). Although this airport is a bit farther from the city center than the Istanbul International Airport, it took less than 40 minutes. At the airport, we had to check in for the flight ourselves and find our ways to the gate. The 6 am Pegasus Airlines flight to Kayseri arrived on time at 7:15. We met our pick-up as instructed. After a bit of wait, we were driven to our hotel in Ürgüp, which took about 1 hour and 20 minutes. After registration, we were served coffee and muffins until our guide came to pick us up at 10:30. Our guide was Buşra. On the first day, there was no other group, and the three of us had very good time. She started with a brief overview of the history and geography of the region. We visited the pigeon valley, an underground city, and an ancient monastery. During the tour, we had a nice home-style Turkish lunch at a cave restaurant. At the end of the day, we had a brief stop at a leather shop, but they were not very pushy. The tour ended around 3 pm. On the second day, the balloon ride was planned. We were picked up by the balloon company at 5 am and were driven to the launch area. While the balloon was being prepared, we got some snack and juice. We took off a little bit later than other balloons, but still enjoyed the sunrise. The captain, Oğuzhan, was very entertaining and safely guided us through the valley. The basket has 8 compartments that held 4 people each. It was a bit crowded, but we had enough fun. After the ride, we were served sparkling wine to celebrate our first flight. We returned to our hotel around 8 am. At 10:40, Buşra came to pick us up. Although the original plan was to leave our luggage with the hotel and come back to hotel after the tour, Buşra told us to bring the luggage with us so that we could go to the airport directly after the tour. On this day, we were joined by a family of 4. The minibus was spacious enough for all of us. It was a typical ‘Red Tour’, with visits to Goreme open air museum, Uçhisar castle, and the Imagination valley. Before and after lunch, when it was very hot, we had indoor activities, visiting carpet and ceramic workshops. Again, there were no hard pushes to purchase anything. After around 4 pm, the schedules tour was completed. Since there was some time left before our return flight, we had some relaxing time near Ortahisar castle. Then we went to Red valley to enjoy the beautiful valley during the sunset. After this, we were driven to Nevsehir Airport. On our way, we bid goodbyes to Buşra. We arrived at the airport just before 8 am. Since our flight was scheduled for 9:50 pm, we had to wait some time at the airport. Our flight was delayed by ~30 minutes due to aircraft connection. We arrived at SAW after 11:30 pm, where a driver was waiting for us. By the time we returned to our hotel, it was 12:50 am. It was very long and tiring two-day trip, but worth every bit of it. I would like to commend the tour company for the perfect arrangements and our guide Buşra for going well beyond her way to keep us busy(?) and entertained until the last minute. I would definitely recommend this tour to all those who want a well-organized package tour to Cappadocia from Istanbul.

That you should be prepared to do a lot of walking and climbing up and down the high and rough terrains, especially if you’re willing to visit the hidden city.

Excellent trip. Our guide, Bushar, provided a thorough historical and personal perspective on all the areas we visited. The geology of the area is other worldly. The underground cities and are astonishing. I enjoyed the authentic local restaurants we visited - both the food and atmosphere. We enjoyed the Zeydem Suites Hotel (upgrade option) - large, clean, well-designed rooms. One suggestion: It would have been nice to get the airport itinerary earlier than 3 days before. i had made reservations in Istanbul area assuming we were going in/out of the IST airport, but as it turned out we were using the SAW airport. That caused a lot of extra driving.

Ballon ride was great. Restaurant meals were great. Transportation had a major glitch. Our transfer to airport did not show so we had hotel call us a taxi.

We absolutely loved everything about this trip. It was unlike any place we have ever been. The Cliff dwellings were incredible and the hot air balloon ride absolutely breathtaking. The food was true local cuisine and delicious. The Cliff dwelling hotel was quaint and very comfortable.

The best experience a person could do while in Turkey. It was thoughtful throughly, the lunches amazing we learned so much and "Bush" our tour guide made everything better. Also the hot air balloon ride well worth the upgrade. Im happy we picked the cave hotel too. Everything was such a treasure.

The 2 days were amazing. We were somewhat concerned about safety as we were 4 senior women traveling alone. But a Viator representative picked us up at our hotel in Istanbul, took us to the airport, another representative met us there and took us to our amazing cave hotel in Cappadocia. Our tour guide and driver met us there and made sure we had the experience of a lifetime. The hot air balloon ride was incredible, the food was outstanding, and having a private tour for the 4 of us was so much more personal than the tours provided by the cruise ships.

Nice place , good explanations, good guide, the bad thing is that the times are not very good than scheduled, there is not much point getting up at 4:00 am to leave schedule to visit local shops, it is understood that it is done but should be declared before to define if one wants to attend, there is no warning also regarding that if it is convenient to shop there or No, I have checked when I arrive in Istanbul that the prices of the objects sold are absurd expensive, the explanation has value but It doesn't merit overpricing, they'd better charge for explaining. In our case We couldn’t fly in a balloon because of bad weather, I understand it’s not abnormal, but in our case the forecast of the middle of winter was quite clear that there would be no chance, it would have the courage to take care of the experience that was transparent. Many details to improve, why it is not cheap, hotel in our case without food service at night and away from somewhere, neither It was communicated

Viator Online Chat was extremely helpful and timely in planning and booking this trip. Unfortunately, the Itinerary is not accurate. A lot of time was spent at an expensive Ceramics shop, Jewelry shop, and Leather shop but was NOT disclosed in the itinerary. Had I known that shopping was involved in this trip, I would have opted for a different trip option for my limited time in Cappadocia. Also, it is very suspicious that another reviewer noted that their lunch was delayed for hours so the time at the expensive Ceramics shop was extended --- this is what also what "coincidentally" happened to my group. Very sketchy especially since our Guide said that the Ceramics shop was his family- a little self-serving for my taste. The one bright light was that lunch though - phenomenal food.