Walking the Rose Valley after the first snow

The Rose Valley walk is about 4 km between Çavuşin village and the viewpoint above the Red Valley. After snow it takes two to three hours rather than the two a dry day needs. It is the best walk in the region for a first winter morning, and the wrong one for anyone in smooth-soled shoes.

The morning after

The first snow in Cappadocia is usually a light one. It settles on the flat tops of the rock and on the north-facing slopes, and by mid-morning the south-facing rock is pink again. The valley floor stays white longer because the sun reaches it late.

Sunrise in November is between about 06:40 and 07:10. If the balloons are flying they pass over the valley in the half hour after that, low enough to hear the burners. On a cancelled morning the valley is silent, and that has its own value.

Dawn temperatures after a snow sit around or a little below freezing. By noon on a clear day the air reaches 8 to 12 degrees in the sun and feels warmer against the rock. Gulf travellers tend to overdress for the afternoon and underdress for the first hour; the answer is layers you can take off.

The path

Start at the Çavuşin end. The path is wide and flat for the first twenty minutes, along vineyards and apricot trees that are bare by now. It then narrows and climbs in short steps through the layered rock that gives the valley its name.

After snow the tricky sections are the smooth tuff slopes, which become polished and slick, and the shaded gullies where snow sits on frozen mud. Nothing needs hands, but everything needs shoes with a grip. The rock-cut churches along the route, including the one with the columns and the one with the cross carved in the ceiling, are open and unstaffed; take a phone torch.

The last section climbs to the viewpoint tea gardens above the Red Valley. In winter some of the tea gardens are closed on weekdays, so do not plan the walk around a hot drink at the top. The view is the point: the whole valley system, white on pink, with Uçhisar castle on the skyline.

Where families slow down

The walk is realistic for children of about six and up who are used to walking. Younger children need to be carried on the climbing sections, which is fine for one adult on a dry day and hard after snow. A pushchair does not work anywhere past the first flat section.

Grandparents who walk in Dubai malls without difficulty usually manage the Rose Valley in dry conditions. After snow we suggest they walk the first flat kilometre from Çavuşin, turn back, and meet the group at the viewpoint by car. Both ends are reachable by road, so a private driver can drop at one end and collect at the other.

For a family of five, plan three hours door to door from a Göreme hotel, including the drive to Çavuşin and the collection from the viewpoint. The path has no shops; the tea gardens, when open, take cash and cards.

Prayer and timing

Çavuşin has a village mosque near the start of the path, and the viewpoint is within a short drive of Ortahisar. In November the midday prayer falls in the middle of the walk. Most families either walk early and finish by noon, or start after Dhuhr and finish before the light goes around 16:45.

When not to do it

Do not walk the valley in fresh snow when the wind is strong; the exposed viewpoint section is unpleasant and the lower path drains poorly. Do not walk it at dusk, since the churches and gullies have no lighting. And do not try to combine it with a sunrise balloon flight on the same morning; you will have been up since 04:30 and the walk will suffer.

For an easier winter day, the pottery afternoon in Avanos is indoors and warm. For a day when the weather closes in entirely, the underground city with children is the same temperature in every season.