Zemi Valley

The Zemi Valley area is incredibly beautiful with a few different loop options if you’re looking for a hike. We did the long loop down to the churches at the end and it was so incredible. Half of the loop is in the valley near a stream with some tree cover for hot days. The second half is along the peaks and can be very hot so plan accordingly. The churches are UNBELIEVABLE with Byzantine frescos that are stunning. We were the only hikers we saw so it truly felt like we were exploring on our own and finding these bits of ancient history… a dream come true! The hike was physically strenuous in some areas due to the heat in July, but it was hands down my favorite of our time in Cappadocia.

Lovely but strenuous walk. Three quarters of the way up we mistakenly took a right turn which lead to the farmed areas not the trail so we had to turn back and retrace our steps for about 15 minutes.
After 3 hours reached the top and managed to hitch hike to the next junction. From there we hailed a passing taxi to get back to Goreme.

If you are going on the main road to Cavusin from Goreme, you’ll find the entrance to the valley on your left side about 2km from Goreme. It has a sign with Ballıdere Vadisi (Honey Valley) on it. On the wall, someone marked “LV” in black. No cars or ATVs are allowed in the valley. Glad that we rented bikes. We were very lucky again to be practically the only ones there before a German tour group came. The rock formations are very unique and just like what you’d see in pictures. But seeing them real is entirely different from seeing them in pictures. One would better appreciate the wonders of the nature and remain fascinated.
We didn’t walk deep into the valley, so about 1-2 hours there was more than enough for us to wander around and take interesting photos.

Let me start with a bit odd a rant. If you go to Cappadocia, please come for enough time that you can actually walk some valleys, instead of driving everywhere. The walk is the thing. It's like driving to Machu Picchu instead of hiking the Inca trail and seeing the sun rise over the ruins.
OK, back to the review. This is a great 3 hour hike (if you're in average shape) when combined with Pigeon Valley and the White Valley. It's about 8 kms combining the three, mostly uphill if you leave from Goreme in the south, do Pigeon, then connect with White and Love.
This review will discuss White and Love together, since they are two ends of the same valley. Otherwise, you can drive all three way to the main scenic point of Love valley in about 5 minutes from downtown Goreme. Doing White/Love from south to north means a bit of a treacherous decent and you'll surely lose the trail, but don't be disinclined - it's a valley, so you can't get to lost. The south end, White, is, well, very bleached monuments. What's nice is although it's almost beside Goreme, no sound of the town reaches the bottom of the valley. Peace. At no particular point, White turns into Love, with the - er - interesting formations, that we can refer to as lopsided mushrooms - yeah, that's it. Mushrooms.
In the middle of this peace, you'll suddenly come upon minivans full of gawkers. From then on, its about 10 minutes to the road, and about 2 kms along the road back to Goreme. White/Love combo is about 4 kms. There will be a reasonably steep climb if you did it north to south.
Expect to lose the trail more than a few times. If you can, get your hands on an 'Andromeda' walking map (one page flyer at some hotels) - it's the best map I've found of the area (there aren't many).
Right before you descend into White valley (doing south-to-north route) there's a vendor with orange juice and water of you need it.

One of the great hiking tours from Göreme to Uchisar. The valley is lush with fruit trees, wine and greens, contrasting impressively with the mountain wasteland and wonderful rock scultpures. It's one of the wilder vallies in the area. Bus tourists don't come here. You will have your peace an quiet while enjoying the nature. A hint: If you walk from Göreme to Uchisar (valley upwards), there will be a cross-way at some point. Make sure to follow the trail to your right! The one on the left leads to nowhere. It takes 10 minutes until you will recover that, though.

This valley has some very unique and interesting rock formations, that are definitely worth seeing. The valley is 30-40 mins walk from Goreme, so it is advisable to go by car/bike/scooter. However, once you are there the hike is not difficult. If you do not wish to hike the whole valley, most of the phallic rock formations are towards the beginning of the trail if you enter from the road between Goreme and Cavusin

Directions to the valley:
From Goreme, drive along the road towards Cavusin/Avanos. You'll eventually see a fork to the left towards Nevsehir (there's also an easy to miss "LV" marking). Take the fork left you will soon see the entrance to Love Valley on the left, again marked with an LV.

Amazing how everything looks like the peni*s,and it's a Muslim country so everything looks circumcisedhahaha

Take a horse back riding trip all the way to love valley. You pass through rose valley and head toward Love Valley. You'll see lots of neat formations, and depending on the time of day that you go, coudl witness an amazing sunrise or sunset from one of the highest points in love valley. to hike from Goreme, it's about 5 miles. And a very easy hike!

it took about 3 hours to travel around valley, you should take some water, I picked some apricots and grapes from gardens its free there Yumm yumm organic fruits and nice people :)

The Love Valley got its name because the volcanic rock formation was naturally eroded to shape like*ahem* men's privates.

We went to this place only by hot air ballooning, and it was an amazing sight to see the unique rock formations. It was winter so the weather was very cold, close to 0 degrees celsius. When we were there, we hardly saw any tourists, because you can only go here by jeep or ATV, so my suggestion is if you have more time to spend in Cappadocia, the love valley is definitely worth to explore on foot and since there will be most likely very few or no other travellers there, it will be peaceful and quiet. Great spot to take some great photos.