This was a very good trip. The landscapes of Cappadocia are truly otherworldly and like nothing I’ve ever seen. Our guide, Aykut, was very good. We had a group of 16 and while some found the walks more challenging than others, everyone seemed happy. Good pacing both on the walks and in the structure of each day. Some notes: - I am not the most surefooted walker but I was fine without hiking poles. There are some steep descents at the beginning of a few valleys but nothing very challenging after that. Some valleys are muddy so consider bringing a mud brush. - The food, though all fine, was not what I had hoped for. The lunches alternate between picnics/barbecues (which I preferred) and stops at enormous lunch buffets designed for big tour groups. There was more variety at the latter but the ambiance was not the local, authentic Turkish experience I had hoped for. Dinners alternate between restaurants and the hotel. The food consists almost invariably of cheese, bell peppers, sausage or kebabs, eggplant, mushrooms, lentil soup, and beans. While I appreciated the abundance of vegetables, everything was repetitive and a bit bland. - I didn’t take out any cash and regretted it. You need cash for some bathrooms and juice stands (try the orange and pomegranate mix). You don’t need cash for drinks at meals; they accepted cards at restaurants and in all the stores we went to. - The balloon ride was a highlight because of the views but the prices do seem to go up frequently. We were charged 300 euros, which is more than Exodus had indicated. There are 24 people crammed into a single balloon in compartments of 4 each. If you happen to arrive after the other people in your compartment, you may end up in the back with an obstructed view. The “champagne” afterward turned out to be some kind of sugary thing that looked like it would glow in the dark. - The valleys do tend to blur together a bit after day 2. If you skip a day I would recommend the one with Pancarlik Valley, Mastafapasa and Gomeda Valley. That day started with a 2-mile walk on very flat main road. - I would have felt safer if we had been given the guide’s phone number for emergencies. There is no cell service at some spots in the occasional valley but it seemed pretty good overall. - The hotel, while spacious and very clean, is obviously still working out a few kinks. Our wet towels were folded up instead of being left hanging to dry (or perhaps we were given new but not dry towels) and the breakfast buffet was seriously depleted by the time we got there if another group staying had been there earlier. The coffee was borderline undrinkable. The hotel is owned by the local company Exodus contracts (Sobek Travel) so I’m not sure how much motivation they have to improve. - And, though this is obviously beyond Exodus' control, my final note is that, to judge from the experience of our group, Turkish Airlines flights are rarely on time. Leave a lot of time for connecting flights. I was supposed to have six hours in Istanbul and it turned out to be more like an hour.
