Red tour or green tour?

What is the Cappadocia red tour?

The north route around Göreme: Göreme Open Air Museum or Zelve, Paşabağ (Monks Valley), Devrent Valley, Avanos and Uchisar Castle, with lunch. It takes 6 to 7 hours.

The red tour is the classic first day. Everything sits inside a triangle between Göreme, Avanos and Uçhisar, so the van rarely drives more than 20 minutes between stops. Avanos, the pottery town on the Kızılırmak river, is only about 8 km from Göreme.

Two real itineraries show how much the order and the minutes can shift:

• The red small-group tour: Uchisar Castle 15 minutes, Göreme Open Air Museum 60, Love Valley 15, Paşabağ 50, Avanos 30, Devrent Valley 20, with lunch and entry fees paid.
• The classic red route: Uchisar Castle 45 minutes, Zelve Open Air Museum 90, Çavuşin 15, Avanos with lunch 105, Paşabağ 60, Devrent 30. Zelve replaces the Göreme museum here.

Red tours start after breakfast with hotel pickup and are usually back in the middle or late afternoon.

What is the Cappadocia green tour?

The south route: Göreme panorama, the Pigeon Valley viewpoint, Derinkuyu or Kaymaklı underground city, a walk in Ihlara Valley, lunch by the river and Selime Monastery. Plan on 8 to 9 hours.

The green tour leaves the fairy-chimney country behind. A typical day on Viator, from a green tour rated 4.9 from 388 reviews, runs like this: Göreme panorama 15 minutes, Pigeon Valley 15, an art centre (a shop stop) 20, Kaymaklı Underground City 1 hour, Ihlara Valley 1 hour 30 and Selime Monastery 1 hour, with lunch at Belisırma on the river. Pickup in Göreme is 9:20 to 9:45, and Uçhisar hotels are collected at 10:00 to 10:20.

Some operators swap Kaymaklı for Derinkuyu, the deeper of the two underground cities, or add a stop at Nar crater lake or the Yaprakhisar viewpoint. The listing marks the day as not recommended for travellers with back problems or for pregnant travellers, which tells you something about the underground tunnels.

Which tour includes Uchisar Castle?

The red tour. Green tours usually stop only at the Pigeon Valley viewpoint, where Uchisar is the rock on the skyline, and drive on.

Even among red tours, the castle stop ranges from a photo stop to a proper climb. A stop of 15 minutes is a look from the viewpoint below the rock; the climb itself takes 10 to 15 minutes each way, so you need 30 minutes or more to reach the top. Here are the minutes each tour on this site gives the castle:

The castle belongs to Uçhisar Municipality, which does not publish its tariff online. Visitors in 2025 and 2026 report 320 to 400 TL for foreign adults at the kiosk, roughly €7 to €9, and the Museum Pass is not valid. The full story is in the Uchisar Castle ticket guide.

How much walking and driving is on each tour?

Red: short walks at each stop and short drives between them. Green: about 300 to 400 steps down into Ihlara Valley, a 3 to 4 km riverside walk, and 1 to 1.5 hours of road each way.

The red tour asks for an hour of easy walking spread over the day: paths among the chimneys at Paşabağ, uphill paths and steps at the Göreme museum, a stroll in Avanos. A guest on one red tour summed it up as "much less physical than the Green Tour of Cappadocia." Uchisar adds a steep climb only if the stop is long enough to make it.

The green tour is a walking day. Ihlara Valley sits in Aksaray province, about 65 to 90 km from Göreme according to local taxi operators, a 1 to 1.5 hour drive each way. At the canyon, a long staircase of roughly 300 to 400 steps goes down to the Melendiz river, and tours walk the 3 to 4 km stretch to Belisırma, where lunch waits and the van picks you up. In the underground city you stoop through low tunnels and climb steep stairs; skip it if you are claustrophobic.

In July and August the Ihlara walk runs through the middle of the day. Shade under the poplars helps, but carry water.

Which entrance fees are included, and what do the gates cost?

It depends on the listing, not the colour. Some tours include every gate; the cheapest leave tickets out, which adds about €30 to €45 per person.

Ministry of Culture sites charge foreign visitors in euros, payable by card or in lira at the gate. These are the 2026 prices on each route:

What the tours on this site include: the red small-group tour lists all fees and taxes plus lunch. The classic red route has the tickets and lunch on its All Included option only. The red tour with an underground city includes no tickets and no lunch; guests pay at each gate, and they report that cards are accepted. Green tours follow the same pattern: the Viator green tour above includes Kaymaklı, Ihlara and Selime only on its All Included option.

The Museum Pass Cappadocia (€65, 3 days) covers the Ministry sites in Nevşehir province. It does not cover Uchisar Castle, and local guides report it does not cover Ihlara either, which is in Aksaray province.

Gates and lunch already paid: Göreme Open Air Museum, Paşabağ, Avanos and a 15-minute look at Uchisar, in a group of 15 at most.

★ 5.0 · 6 to 7 hours · from $33

Explore the red small-group tour → Tour details

Are there shopping stops on red and green tours?

Yes, on almost every group tour: a pottery workshop in Avanos on the red, a jewellery, onyx or art centre on the green. Nobody has to buy.

Low prices and shop stops go together: the workshops are part of how a full day with a guide can cost $18 to $33. Guests on the cheapest tour here report three workshop stops in one day, and one reviewer found a decanter priced many times higher than in Göreme's shops. On the better-run tours the stop is short. One 5-star guest on the classic red route wrote: "Sales stop at the ceramic shop was informative and not pushy."

• Watch the demonstration, enjoy the free tea, and leave the wallet in the bag.
• Compare prices in Göreme or Avanos town before you buy pottery or a rug.
• A private tour lets you drop the shops. Say so when you book.

What do red and green tours cost on Viator in 2026?

Red tours on this site run from $18 to $59 per person; green tours start at about $22 to $33. The lowest figures are big-group tiers, and a couple pays more per person.

Viator shows the price per person for the largest group size first. Enter 2 travellers and the price per person goes up, sometimes by a lot. The cheapest offers also strip out lunch and tickets: the $18 red tour has no castle stop, no tickets and no lunch, while the $59 red tour includes lunch, entrance fees and 55 minutes at Uchisar. On the green side, the tour described above starts at about $22 before its All Included option, and a small-group green tour with lunch and tickets lists from $33.

Side by side, the two routes look like this:

Can you do both tours, and what is the blue tour?

Yes: red on day one, green on day two is the usual order. The blue tour is a third, quieter route south-east to Mustafapaşa, Keşlik Monastery, Sobesos and Soğanlı Valley.

Red first makes sense. You see the famous landscapes, get your bearings around Göreme and learn the geology, which makes the underground cities easier to read the next day. Expect a little overlap: the Göreme panorama and the Pigeon Valley viewpoint can turn up on both. One guest did it the other way round and felt the red tour added less after the green, so if you only care about walking and history, green alone is fine.

Both tours start after breakfast, so either fits after a sunrise balloon flight, if you can stay awake. The balloon guide explains why the balloon should go on your first morning.

The blue tour is sold mostly as a private day: the old Greek village of Mustafapaşa, Keşlik Monastery, the Roman mosaics of Sobesos and the cave churches of Soğanlı Valley. Operators list shared versions from about €80 and private ones from about €249 per person. It suits a third day, not a first one.

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