Istanbul to Cappadocia: Private 2-Day Tour with Hot Air Balloon, Underground City & Ihlara Hike

Before dawn the Anatolian plain is a graphite map—low hills and the slow silhouette of fairy chimneys rising like weathered spires. Your private transfer leaves Istanbul while the city is still folding itself shut; two hours later you touch down in Nevşehir and the landscape changes from asphalt to tuff: soft, volcanic stone carved by wind and river into rooms, churches and chimneys. On day one you move through this sculpted country with a guide—Uçhisar’s tower hangs over the valley, Devrent’s strange shapes prompt guesses, and a pottery master in Avanos shoos the clay back into shape with a practiced thumb.