Cappadocia Gems: 3 Days Tour Package with Balloon Ride Option

I booked this trip through Tripadvisor at the end of December 2025 with my family and friends, and the experience was extremely disappointing. Throughout the tour, we were taken to far too many shopping stops — none of which were listed in the itinerary — which took away from the actual sightseeing we expected. The worst part happened on the last night at Misty Cave Hotel. One of our rooms became flooded, and the water reached about 2.5 cm deep. We reported the leak before going to bed, but the hotel did nothing and told us it was “too late” to fix. The next morning, we woke up to find the entire room filled with cold standing water. One of our backpacks was completely soaked, and several items inside — food, medicines, medical supplies, and my Kindle — were damaged. I have spent the past two weeks trying to contact both Tripadvisor and Misty Cave Hotel about the damage. Unfortunately, neither has taken any responsibility. I am only requesting compensation for my Kindle and am absorbing all the other losses myself, yet both parties have remained silent and unresponsive. After this experience, I cannot recommend this trip, this hotel, or booking through Tripadvisor. When something goes wrong, neither the tour operator nor the hotel is willing to be accountable.

The program didn't match what I was handed I didn’t want to ride the balloon but I wanted to go to see it and they wouldn’t allow me to go on the bus, I had to pay a $50.00 taxi on my own. They picked me up at 18:45 for the airport and from 12 they took me out of the hotel, how can they schedule a pickup and take you out of the hotel? It's terrible how you program it. I hope they publish it

Amazing! Definitely do the balloon ride! Guide was great and very knowledgable! Cave Hotel 1811 was awesome!

The package we chose included hotel pick-up in Istanbul, transfer to and from the airport, flights and sightseeing tours, as well as hotel stay, breakfast and food, plus the ballooning experience. The sightseeing tours are really interesting and the balloon flight is amazing. If I have to put a sticker it would be that during tourist visits you are taken to see typical crafts of the region and it is a bit intrusive the fact that they want to sell you always something.

The tour guide Bushra(sp?) has great delivery of her knowledge and thoroughly answers questions. She deserves a good tip. Weather was satisfactory for the balloon sailing, which is a highlight. I really liked the cave hotel accommodations. Its staff were always courteous and helpful. The tour company are responsive to my comments and questions. I’m grateful that they offered this activity.

Our guide was a wonderful young lady who was not only knowledgeable but was very adept at keeping an audiences attention. She had us traveling from one experience to another from 1030am to 430pm daily. We had 2 local lunches which were delicious, we visited a carpet factory, a pottery and gem emporium and had such nice interactions with the local vendors. Our best experience was the underground city - we will not forget what those people had to do to survive extinction. We strongly recommend this tour - unforgettable!!

We LOVED this experience! Our tour guide Yeshir was super knowledgeable and grew up in Cappadocia so it was nice to get a locals perspective. He usually gave us some info about the stop but also often let us wander around the sites on our own so we had some flexibility which was a perfect combination. There are a lot of logistics involved with traveling to Cappadocia (airport transfers, tickets for each museum site, meals, transportation around the city, etc.) so it was really nice to have all the pre-coordinated for us. The Viator support was AWESOME and available 24hrs even for our early morning 3am pickups. A month or so before we left for the trip we didn’t hear back when emailing through Viator but I called customer service and got their direct number through WhatsApp and after that it was perfect they were super helpful and quick to respond. The sunrise balloon ride was definitely a highlight, the pictures don’t even capture how breathtaking it was and our balloon company was definitely one of the best, they knew how to navigate it to make sure we had the best views! One of my friends is scared of heights but she loved the hot air balloon ride too, it’s very peaceful and moves slowly so it wasn’t a problem. Additionally, we upgraded to the Zeydem hotel & suites which we would HIGHLY recommend! It will give you the option to upgrade at check-out and it wasn’t even that much more expensive, but it was beautiful and they have a restaurant inside which the standard one doesn’t. It includes breakfast and you can get dinner and wine there too which was nice after a long day of activities. Lastly, the tour itself was a busy itinerary but it was great to get to see all the main sites of the city. You get to walk deep underground in the underground city and the views at Uchir castle were unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Some reviews didn’t like how they take you to some expensive “handicraft” shops like ceramics, Turkish rugs, etc. but we actually liked the variety and it was cool to meet the locals and hear about their craft. They didn’t pressure you to buy anything and it was also nice to be indoors during the hottest times of the day. Overall we felt it was planned and organized super well and we couldn’t be happier with our trip!

The package was great. You don’t have to worry about flight, accommodations, or transportation. The hotel was amazing and the staff was super friendly and helpful. The balloon ride once-in-a-lifetime experience. I guess the downside is that the tour includes some jewelry, ceramics, pottery, and leather shops. If you are not interest in buying “expensive “ things that’s could be a waist of time for you . The tour can include more exciting activities other than to visit shops.

1811 Cave Hotel was top quality. Staff was very friendly and nice. Solomon was a very good guide. We loved it. Viator (and the local company)was very professional. We did not get to go on the hot air balloon ride because of the weather, unfortunately.

It was amazing, doing it through viator was the best decision, we've met travellers not being able to fly. Really pleased