Turkey Cappadocia Singletrack MTB

Cappadocia is Turkey’s trail biking paradise - a volcanic landscape offering challenging and rewarding slick rock; lush, green singletracks and unforgettable caves, tunnels and canyons. Welcome to Turkey’s most awesome scenery: abounding with intense, technical ups and adrenaline fuelled rock garden descents Cappadocia is an MTB paradise.

Situated in the centre of Turkey’s great Anatolian plain, Cappadocia is a legendary land of towering “fairy chimneys”, cave dwellings and dormant volcanoes, laced together with lush, green valleys. Mountain biking in Cappadocia is the perfect balance between unmissable scenery, challenging trails and luxury boutique hotel accommodation. It is a place guaranteed to stir the emotions, and also one of Turkeys best balances of tourism know how and traditional ways.

This tour offers a good taste of remote, wilderness biking without losing touch with it’s trail focused roots- it’s a no compromise selection of Turkey’s very best singletrack routes led by expert local riders. Off road biking is in its infancy here- so be at once a pioneer of this new terrain and likewise have the trails to yourself. This tour is purely designed around the BEST biking trails the region has to offer- no compromises.

Highlights:

• Riding amongst the lunar rock formations
• Picking lines through slick rock single tracks
• Exploring cave dwellings and ancient churches
• Going underground at the fantastic subterranean city of Derinkuyu
• Developing your technical riding ability amongst awesome scenery
• Tackling the rocky trails in Turkey’s most famous and undeniably awesome canyon
• Experiencing local life in off the beaten track villages

Why?

We have been based in Goreme, the jewel in Cappadocia’s crown, for the last 10 years, and know the region’s trails like the backs of our hands. There can be few better places to ride a mountain bike on this earth. So many trails and so much variety this is a single track paradise.

When?

Cappadocia enjoys a continental climate of long, dry summers and cold winters, often with heavy snow. The best time to ride is May – June and September – October though the itineraries we offer are broadly possible right through from April to November.

How?

Fly to Nevsehir and Kayseri from Istanbul, with connecting flights worldwide. Turkish Airlines and Pegasus Airlines both have really good deals if you book in advance.

About the Area:

The remains of the millions years ago volcanic eruptions, shaped by the wind and rain for thousands of years, have formed one of natures most spectacular masterpieces: Strange rock formations, called: “fairy chimneys”. Settled throughout time by Hittite, Persian, Romans, Byzantine and Ottoman civilisations, many of these caves are still decorated with icons and wall paintings from the early Christian times. Cappadocia is rich with history and filled with natural wonders!

About Us:

We run a range of road cycling and mountain biking holidays in Turkey- from relaxing cycle touring to hard core off road singletrack trail biking. This site offers cycling tours in a variety of destinations across the country, catering for everyone from keen cyclists to holiday day trippers!

At Middle Earth Travel we do everything possible to make your time cycling in Turkey truly memorable. Expect genuine, impartial advice at every stage of your trip planning. Whatever your question, whatever your concern, we’ll do our very best to help. Expect qualified, multilingual, highly experienced local and international guides to lead your way and make you feel at home. Plus only the very best accommodation and logistical support- classy boutique hotels wherever possible and the best drivers, minibuses and bike trailers. All these things explain our high rating and critical acclaim.

Day 1 : Transfer from Nevsehir / Kayseri Airport to Soganli, southern Cappadocia

Day 2-6 : Mountain biking in Cappadocia

Day 8 : Return transfer to Nevsehir / Kayseri Airport

Accommodation:

7 Nights good quality hotels

Full Itinerary:

Day 1: Flight Nevsehir / Kayseri. Transfer Soganli Valley (1 – 1.5hrs)

Assemble bikes, dinner, briefing.

Hotel Emek Pansiyon Soganli (An unknown gem- village style food and fantastic hospitality in an awesome canyon setting)

Day 2: Explore Soganli valley- rock cut churches, gardens, canyon scenery. Lunch (traditional home cooking at Emek Pansiyon).

After lunch we climb out of the canyon on a dirt road and then head north on a rough, old, tractor track. Following the Soganli canyon rim we can go to the edge for incredible views! We continue to Devrentbasi and then follow on to Derinkuyu where we have time to explore the facintating underground city. A relatively easy first day on the bikes.

Total 50km

Hotel Unlu Otel, Derinkuyu

Day 3: Transfer to Nar Lake (20 mins). We begin our ride at a fantastic volcanic crater lake, climbing up and over the rim to Nar Koyu- a traditional Anatolian farming village little visited by tourists. After a gentle but challenging climb past “fairy chimneys” to Kizilkilise (Red Church) we arrive at Sivrihisar and begin our first proper singletrack / freeride descent down into Monastery Valley and finally to the beautiful historic town of Guzelyurt (restaurant lunch).

After time spent exploring Guzelyurt we descend via Yuksek Kilise (High Church) and Ilisu to Ihlara the start of Turkey’s famous “Grand Canyon”. We ride the tricky (and sometimes impossible) singletrack in the canyon down Belisirma where cold drinks on the river await… The ride down the canyon continues, incorporating some skills training and eventually we arrive at Selime village.

Total 60km

Hotel Catlak Pansiyon Selime

Day 4: We visit the incredible rock cut Selime Monastery and churches then Transfer to Goreme (1hr) (lunch). Set right at the heart of Cappadocia’s finest scenery, Goreme is lively and great fun- as well as being at the trailhead of several of the best routes.

After lunch we begin a steady single track climb White Valley and do some skills training specific to the regional terrain. Continuing on dirt road to Uchisar village we go down Zemi Valley (lush, green and overgrown with some great fun technical singletrack), linking up with another freeride over moonscape rocks back to Goreme.

Total 25km

Hotel Sos Cave Hotel Goreme. http://www.soscavehotel.com

Day 5: We climb through Rose Valley (skills training) to the Panoramic Viewpoint and onto Ortahisar- a pretty but unspoiled fortified village. From there we take a dirt road to reach an amazing freeride descent through a rocky moonscape into the Uzengi Valley. We descend the valley on jungle-like, overgrown singletracks to a beautiful picnic site where we explore rock cut churches and pigeon lofts. (picnic lunch).

From here we climb on picturesque dirt roads to Ibrahimpasa village, discovering the less touristic side of central Cappadocia. A rough track uphill over a hill top brings us back in the “Valleys” and down through Pigeon Valley- one of the most challenging downhills of the trip. A tough but great day!

Total 60km

Hotel Sos Cave Hotel Goreme. http://www.soscavehotel.com

Day 6: An easier day- well deserved. We take an amazing undulating singleterack past an old water tour to Pasabagi and Zelve where we explore the incredible rock formations before continuing via Aktepe to the magnificent Sarihan Kervansaray. Following singletracks down the Damsa stream we arrive at the Kizilirmak (Red River- Turkey’s longest) at Sarihidir and then follow undulating riverside tracks to Avanos- a pretty little market town famous for its pottery and ceramics. (Restaurant lunch / shopping)

After lunch we ride back to Cavausin on dirt road, steadily climb above White valley before descending White Valley (on a different track to the one we went up on Day 4!

Total 50km

Hotel Pandora MTB Hotel, Cavausin.

Day 7: Our last day riding is both physically and technically challenging but the rewards speak for themselves… From Cavausin we pass by Goreme Open Air Museum and take the paved road back up to the Panoramic Viewpoint. Then a steep hike-a-bike trail brings us to the plateau summit of Boz Dagi (Table Top Mountain). An incredible panoramic singletrack ends in fast dirt (no rocks) downhill at the Devrent Valley- and then finally we cruise down into Urgup (restaurant lunch).

From Urgup we climb on a shady sandy river track back to the Panoramic, then downhill on a great 4km singletrack through Meskender Valley (technical at times but we go as fast or as slow as you want!). One last dirt road climb past Kaya Camping and attempt the hardest but most incredible trail… We call it The Balcon. Not for the faint hearted but great riding, and the only way to end this trip! You will not be disappointed…

Hotel Pandora MTB Hotel, Cavausin. A great place to enjoy a few beers on our last night and exchange tales from the trip!

Day 8: Transfer Nevsehir / Kayseri Airport for flight home.