Pigeon Valley ( Güvercinlik Vadisi ), just outside Goreme in Cappadocia, is one of Turkey’s most beautiful landscapes. The unique rock formations known as fairy chimneys, or peri bacalar, which are made from wind and water erosion on soft volcanic rock, rise high from the valley floor like chimneys and are dotted in their tops with birdhouses. Some reach at tall as 130 ft Pigeons live in these dovecoats carved into the rocks and cliffs. Years ago the pigeons were used to carry messages from this remote region, and their droppings have long been used by local farmers for fertilizer. Today, however, there are fewer Pigeons in the valley.
Pigeon Valley is a great place for hiking. The whole area around Goreme is made up of valleys with almost no fencing and there are well-marked trails. The mildly hilly trail through Pigeon Valley is free of charge and about 2.8 miles long running between Goreme and Uchisar.
Pigeon is ideal for walking as the trek is relatively easy. Within the valley are man-made caves which make for excellent exploration. Alternatively if walking is not your idea of fun, still head to the top of the valley at sunset where the vibrant orange colors moving down behind the mountains produce wonderful holiday pictures. The valley earned its name from the hundreds of pigeons that have made their homes in the rocks.
Pigeon Valley ( Güvercinlik Vadisi ) Goreme-Cappadocia
It has a nice sight of all the rock formations. It is good if you have a guide that will tell you what's behind the name of each valley you visit.
Once you're already in Cappadocia, go for it! But not the best tour and you have quite a walk to do.
We took a full-day tour which starts and ends at the top of Pigeon Valley. The views over Göreme are magnificent. Lots of souvenir stalls. We heard from others that the walk down the velley from Uçhisar to Göreme is relatively easy and gets you away from the hustle and bustle of our tours. We didn't have time to do…
Nothing much to admire..more beautiful places than this,Its just a photo stop. There are more beautiful places of such type in capadocia where you can go in admire the place..
I am not sure if there is a walk you can do here. We got there early in the morning and it as a beautiful view down to the valley. I think it is named because of the thousands of pidgeons that live on the viewing area.
We didn't hike here. Our tour van stopped at the top as the last stop of our south tour of Cappadocia. We had already hiked a great deal all around so I'm not sure I would have welcomed a hike here at the time. The view from the top of the hill was amazing. We managed to get some awesome…
We cabbed up and hiked back downhill. There are lots of caves, big rocks, and side valleys to explore! Just know where the main trail is, because we ended up reaching a steep ravine and had to backtrack a bit to get back to the main path – but the views were absolutely stunning along the way!
The path was not well marked, We got off track, and ended up with a difficult climb out of the valley and walked back on the road.
We wished we had hiked the Rose Valley and/or Red Valley.
This pretty valley at the foot of the Uchisar province (up on a hill) is a great place to pull over for photos on your way to Uchisar (a likely place you will stay if you visit Cappadocia). We also flew over this valley in a hot air balloon. Its full of fairy chimneys and other rock formations and probably…
This is an excellent hike that takes you from Goreme to Uchisar — several hours. You climb up cliffs and down into valleys so you get a variety of terrains. The hike is rigorous but not too demanding and you can turn around any time and retrace your steps.