Cappadocia Public Transportation Guide

This is a guest post by Abi Gerstle, a single woman living in Cappadocia. She is currently getting her Masters in Cross-Cultural Leadership.
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I have the pleasure of living in beautiful Avanos. I also have the pleasure of living next to a bus stop which means easy access to the surrounding villages. As a supporter of public transportation and a fan of thrifty vacations here’s an outline (unexhaustive) of the public bus system in the area. As with most things this is subject to unannounced and radical changes. All times are estimates. Please ask the driver and do not rely only on this information. I can’t guarantee anything but this is the best information available at the time of this post.


AVANOS – NEVŞEHIR BUS
Leaving Avanos on the hour every hour from 8:00-18:00 are large city buses. These pass through Çavuşin, Göreme and Uçhısar ending in Nevşehir with various stops in each place. They generally have signs in the front window with the village names.



There is a large city bus leaving Avanos and Nevşehir on the half hour starting at 8:30 until 17:30. This generally has the sign “Kısa yol” (short route) in the front window and takes a different road and goes straight to Nevşehir or Avanos. It is also 3 Turkish lira. It passes by the main street corner in Nevşehir from which many other public buses leave.

AVANOS – ÜRGÜP
There are mini-buses that connect Avanos with Ürgüp. These are also 3 lira for the whole route and pass through Zelve(10 past) Çavusin(15 past) Göreme(20 past) Ortahısar(25 past) and various stops in Ürgüp ending in the center of town at the bus terminal. The Ürgüp – Avanos route passes through the villages in reverse order.

The important thing about this mini-bus route is that it leaves Ürgüp on even hours (08:00, 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, and in summer 18:00). And leaves Avanos on odd hours (09:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, and in summer 19:00) This bus ends for the day in Ürgüp. Be sure and ask when the latest bus departs.

AVANOS – ÖZKONAK
From Avanos there is a big city bus going to Özkonak (the site of an underground city) on the half hour from 9:30 to 16:30. The last return bus back to Avanos is 16:30. This bus is about 3 lira.

NEVŞEHIR – DERINKUYU
From Nevşehir to Derinkuyu, buses start at 7:30 and run every half hour. The last return bus is 19:00 from Derinkuyu to Nevşehir. This bus is about 40 minutes and costs 5 lira. On Sunday it only runs on the hour.

NEVŞEHIR – KAYMAKLI
From Nevşehir to Kaymaklı, buses start at 7:00 and run every fifteen minutes. The last return is 20:00 from Kaymaklı to Nevşehir. This bus is about fifteen minutes long and costs 3 lira. On the weekend it only runs every half hour.

In Nevşehir the bus stop to pick up Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu buses (as well as other villages and return to Ürgüp and Avanos) is a block uphill from the Otel Altınöz, near the 5 road traffic light.

NEVŞEHIR – HACIBEKTAŞ
From Nevşehir to Hacıbektaş, buses start at 14:00 and run every hour. The last return bus is 17:00. This bus is about 40 minutes long, costs 3 lira and can only hold 14 people so be in line early in the busy season.

I hope this is helpful in providing an outline of what you can see and do while in Cappadocia. There were very friendly people helping me at the bus stops gather this information. I appreciated their local knowledge and wanted to share it with you. Let me know if you have specific questions or if you find gaps in this information!