Love Valley

Love Valley is a narrow canyon southwest of Göreme, carved over millions of years from soft volcanic tuff and immediately recognizable — and named — for its towering phallic rock pillars. The Cappadocian plateau was blanketed in volcanic ash roughly three million years ago; wind and water have since sculpted the tuff into these distinctive hoodoos and columns, which early inhabitants hollowed out as cave dwellings. The valley sits along a popular ATV circuit that typically covers Love Valley, Rose/Red Valley, and Sword Valley in about two hours, and a marked hiking trail links it with Pigeon Valley and Uchisar Castle for a longer day route. The canyon rim offers some of the most dramatic viewpoints in the Göreme area, particularly around sunset when the reddish tuff glows against the open sky.