Cappadocia pre-cruise?

[poss]

Since this Istanbul-embarking June/July cruise is likely to be our last foray into the area, we're thinking of perhaps adding the (frightfully expensive) Cappadocia pre-cruise package. There's one good report on the Regent Cappadocia package from several years ago. I'd love to hear from others who have done the tour. I wish we were back in the days when we were comfortable arranging such excursions on our own, but we're not. Cappadocia looks like a wondrous place to visit, though I suspect that seeing it from balloon (which is not part of the package) would be one of the highlights.
Thanks for feedback!

[sundial]

I bumped up a great review of this excursion for you that was posted last fall. Hope it helps.

[poss]

Thank you, sundial. Yes, that's the one I'd read when I "searched." I'd forgotten the review was that recent. It was interesting and helpful. And I hope I'll get a bit more feedback-- which would be more helpful yet.

[Ste. Michelle]

We did the Cappadoccia pre-cruise in 2006, and I would highly recommend it.
The tours were very well organized and our guide terrific! We still talk about the incredible landscapes. We took the balloon ride, and it was truly worth the additional $$. You won't be disappointed if you choose this tour.

[poss]

Thank you, Ste Michelle. I don't think there's an option of doing the balloon in this year's Regent tour to Cappodicia. We've done hot air ballooning in a couple of places here in the States, but that landscape seems otherworldly. Do you happen to remember what hotel was used? The one that's being used this year is just a big cement block kind of thing--nothing like those cave hotels that the area is famous for.

[Ste. Michelle]

In Istanbul, we stayed at the Ceylon Intercontinental. In Cappadoccia, the hotel was the Lykia Lodge. The Lodge is not one of the cave hotels. The rooms were quite spartan, but the facilities/staff/food were quite nice. Our group was larger than most, for this tour, so the hotel worked well. The tours are so extensive and active that we simply "crashed" into bed after dinner and were up and running early the next morning. (If you do the Whirling Dervish show, the return to the hotel is around 11pm.) In short, the Lykia Lodge is not luxury, but totally acceptable.

The balloon ride was not part of the package. The tour guide will arrange that for you if you want. (We went with 10 others, the morning after the Whirling Dervishes. We spent very few hours in our Lykia abode!)

You can't go wrong with this tour. (We went in 2007, not 2006, as I previously said.)

[IheartHAL]

Ste. Michelle -- do you recall how much your balloon ride cost? I am doing this tour post-cruise in June, and, if the opportunity presents itself, would love to take a ballon ride.

[Ste. Michelle]

Ste. Michelle -- do you recall how much your balloon ride cost? I am doing this tour post-cruise in June, and, if the opportunity presents itself, would love to take a ballon ride.


I think it was around $200 pp (US). (Comparable to what we paid in Sedona,AZ last summer.) We were picked up at the hotel (at dark thirty am!) and taken to the launch site. There, we had coffee/tea and pastries while watching the crew air up the balloons. We launched just before dawn and spent about an hour to an hour and a half in flight. (There were about 30 balloons up at the same time.) The balloons were large baskets--holding 16 people, plus the pilot (a member of the Turkish Air Force). We celebrated at the end of the flight with a champagne (Turkish sparking wine) toast, and were then transported back to the hotel. The entire event took close to 4 hours. The scenery from the balloon was indescribable!

[newlondon]

Poss, If you're not going back to the region don't miss Capadoccia. DW and I did it on a private tour coming up from the Turquoise Coast. It doesn't matter about the ballon ride because the landscape is totally visible from the ground. The key, and I haven't checked out the itinerary offered, is to see the underground churches and more importantly cities. In the churches the frescoes are incredible and the cities are just mind boggling. DO IT and just suck up the cost.