Red Valley is up there with my favorite spot in Cappadocia. The Sharp sandstone ridges glow a deep, vibrant red as the sun burns into the unique landscape in the last moments of the sunset each night. There is a great trail loop or you can drive straight to the sunset viewpoint to chill at the cafe or hike to the top of the flag viewpoint.

HOW TO GET TO THE RED VALLEY

There are a few different ways to reach the Red Valley Trail. You may also want to skip the trail and go straight to the Red Valley sunset viewpoint. I’ll outline all of your options below and then tell you what I did.

• Drive for 15 minutes from Goreme town and go straight to the Red Valley sunset viewpoint. No hiking needed.
• Drive to the Rose Valley Trailhead and begin the Rose & Red Valley hike combination route.
• Drive to the Meskendir Trailhead and take that trail to the Rose Valley trailhead and continue on to the Red Valley Trail.

We took the third option and began walking from Goreme Town in the heat and it was set to be a 3km walk to the start of the Meskendir Trail, which would then connect us to the Rose Valley Trail and finally to the Red Valley trail. However, as so often happened in Goreme and Cappadocia, we hitch-hiked our way to the start of the trail.

You could drive directly to the Rose Valley Trailhead and then begin the trail from there but I highly recommend starting with the moderately easy Meskendir Trail that leads you there.

A good landmark to find the trailhead for the Meskendir Trail is the Kaya Camping Ground, which is just past Goreme open air museum. When you drive towards Kaya Camping from Goreme, you will find Kaya Camping on the left. The first road after Kaya Camping is the road you want and there is a sign on the wall, which I have pictured below to make sure you find the trailhead. Throughout the trail, there are signs saying Rose Valley and Red Valley, which means you are going the right way as they are at the end of the trail essentially.

f you want to go directly to the Red Valley sunset viewpoint. I have pinned it on the map below so you can drive straight there. The entrance fee is $1.50 USD.  It is marked on the map below as ‘Sunset view point’ and as you can see it is just above the Rose Valley.