Cappadocia top buying things comprises a huge variety for locals as well as travelers. This is a picturesque city offering beautiful stuff for visitors to buy. The markets are not very crowded so their exploration is easy.
The markets of Cappadocia offer its visitors stuff that is available in other cities in Turkey as well. However, the uniqueness and the variety that you will find here isn’t present elsewhere. Hence, it is on you to explore this uniqueness and carry back the Cappadocia top buying things with you.
Cappadocia is known for its hot air balloon rides, cave hotels and underground cities. Since this city receives a lot of tourists every year, you will find every other person running a tourism-related business across corners of the city. However, not many people are aware of the beautiful things that the city has to offer.
In my current blog on Cappadocia top buying things, I will share the complete list of all the stuff you should be taking back home like a traveler.
Cappadocia Top Buying Things
As a traveler, I’d like to recommend to you some must buying things from the amazing city of Cappadocia. Hence, here is a list of Cappadocia top buying things that will assist you in your shopping experience.
| Evil Eye |
| Roasted seeds |
| Cappadocian stone lamps |
| Glow in the dark ceramics |
| Rugs and carpets |
| Magnets |
| Pottery |
It is important that you understand what is it exactly you’re buying from the markets of Cappadocia. So, for the sake of your convenience as a traveler, I am elaborating on each of the Cappadocia tops buying things mentioned by me above.
Evil eye
An evil eye is an eye-shaped amulet that is believed to protect you against someone’s curse, bad luck or negative vibe.
Evil eye or Nazar as they call it in Turkish is a must-buy if you happen to travel to Cappadocia. You can find them being sold at every single corner of Cappadocia.
Everything you buy would possibly have a small Turkish evil eye attached to it be it a magnet, key chains, or accessories. I am sure you cannot return from Cappadocia without having this evil eye with you. It’s impossible to not include it in your list of Cappadocia top buying things.
Even though the Evil Eye is found throughout Turkey, the ones available at Cappadocia surely have more designs and varieties. I bought about a dozen of them in different shapes and sizes, in terms of key chains, magnets and wall hangings and even clocks.
This is me standing in front of the evil eye tree at the Uchisar Castle. Picture credits: Nimisha Modi
Roasted Seeds
Cappadocia is known for its roasted seeds. This is one of the rare items that I failed to find in the bazaars of Istanbul. However, you can find these seeds being exclusively sold at all shops in Cappadocia.
You will be easily able to spot a machine vibrating and churning out warm and golden roasted seeds at every shop near Goreme. You can ask the shopkeeper to mix and match all kinds of seeds if you are unable to decide which one is the best to take home like me.
Pumpkins are widely produced all over the Cappadocian region and hence the pumpkin seeds which are slightly creamish- golden in colour are loved the most by travellers. You can have these like all the Turks do while sipping tea or just as something to munch while watching your favourite Netflix series.
They are slightly salted and smell amazing. The trick to savouring these seeds is to crack their soft shell by placing it between your canines and removing the shell and popping the seeds in your mouth.
Cappadocian stone lamps
Something that I found even more amusing than the hot air balloon rides in Cappadocia was the Cappadocian stone. Now, this is found only in Cappadocia and nowhere else in Turkey.
It looks extremely heavy and solid at the first look of it. However, the moment you will pick it up you will realize that it is very light. Carrying the Cappadocian stone is easy in terms of weight. But you will have to protect it since it might break during transportation.
Cappadocia is famous for its cave hotels. Hence the majority of the shops would sell lamps that are carved in the shape of these caves with Cappadocia engraved on it. Along with them are beautiful red or yellow lights attached to a plug.
Buying the Cappadocian lamps won’t pinch your pocket even a bit. They are totally inexpensive and make for a beautiful gift. I couldn’t carry it all the way back to my country. So I took it as a gift for my Turkish host family residing in the city of Eskisehir.
These special lamps should most certainly be among your Cappadocia top buying things. If you don’t want to risk breaking the lamp, you can also go for Cappadocian stone magnets and key chains.
They are super cheap (2-3 TL only ) and I can assure you they wouldn’t break while travelling.
The beautiful Cappadocian stone lamps are displayed at a shop. Picture credits: Nimisha Modi
Rugs and carpets
Like Egypt, Turkey is famous for its carpets and rugs. The reason why Cappadocia is a better place than any other city to buy rugs and carpets in Turkey is that the city is less chaotic and has more English speaking shopkeepers as the city’s main business is completely on tourism.
These come in all colours with various intricate and beautifully woven designs. You can find great quality shops selling carpets and rugs in the Goreme area in Cappadocia.
They even can ship these carpets to your country in case you cannot carry them along with you owing to baggage issues. So if you really want them as your Cappadocia top buying things, have them shipped.
Ceramics
Ceramics are omnipresent in every city of Turkey. What’s unique about the ones available in the stores of Cappadocia, especially in the Avanos area is that they have a huge variety of ceramics and each one of them is truly beautiful. It’s altogether another experience to visit these ceramic stores in Avanos and get mesmerized by these gorgeous pieces of art.
Taking pictures inside these stores is strictly prohibited and you can be penalized for illegally doing so. This has been done so as to protect the designs of the artists from being copied by others in the outside world.
Another thing that was mind-blowing was the glow in the dark ceramics. In my entire life, I hadn’t seen anything so amazing until I saw these glow in the dark ceramics. They are made up of phosphorus and when you switch off the lights the intricate designs start glowing in the entire room. Add these ceramics to your list of Cappadocia top buying things.
The stores selling these ceramics charge high prices, given the art on them. But they do provide the facility of shipping them to your home country.
Ceramics at a shop in Cappadocia. Picture credits: Nimisha Modi
Magnets
Of all the cities that I visited in Turkey, I found the best magnets in Cappadocia both in terms of price and quality.
There weren’t just magnets with the name of Cappadocia but other varieties too that depict the culture of Turkey.
One can also find magnets made up of the famous Cappadocian stone here which are perfect for gifting purposes and all the things that you were wondering about while pondering on what to buy in Turkey for souvenirs.
Pottery
Apart from the ceramics, Avanos in Cappadocia also offers beautiful pottery to travellers. Instead of buying them from the local or street markets, I would suggest you head to Avanos where craftsmen actually carve the pots with their bare hands.
It’s again a good experience to watch them shape the clay from scratch and paint it beautifully once it dries up. You can shop for these items near every tourist spot in Cappadocia whether you are following the red route or the green route tours.
Your van shall halt at each place for a certain amount of time so that you can see, click and shop in the given amount of time. However, do not panic if your tour guide does not stay there for too long. What you lose out buying at one shop you will find at the next stop another shop.
What are the Best Shops for Purchasing Cappadocia Top Buying Things ?
Since I’ve been able to explore the shops of Cappadocia well, I would love to share my experience with you as a shopaholic. Also, guide you to the exact places where you can easily find all of the above-mentioned things by me.
Here are the exact places that you must visit to purchase Cappadocia top buying things. I’m also listing the items available below the name of each shop.
| Uchisar Castle
Magnets, wall hangings, evil eye, ceramics, bells, key chains, Cappadocian stoner lamps and other cute things at affordable prices- do not forget to bargain for the best price. |
| Nevsehir
Magnets, wall hangings, evil eye, ceramics, bells, key chains, Cappadocian stoner lamps and other cute things at affordable prices- do not forget to bargain for the best price. You will also find here lokum, dry fruits, spices and seeds. |
| Ugrup market
Magnets, wall hangings, evil eye, ceramics, bells, key chains, Cappadocian stoner lamps and other cute things at affordable prices- do not forget to bargain for the best price. You will also find here lokum, dry fruits, spices and seeds. |
| Avanos
Pottery and ceramics; glow in the dark ceramics- authentic items sold at exorbitant prices |
| Deverent valley
Magnets, wall hangings, evil eye, ceramics, bells, key chains, Cappadocian stoner lamps and other cute things at affordable prices. Do not forget to bargain for the best price. |
| Pasabag (fairy chimney valley)
Magnets, wall hangings, evil eye, ceramics, bells, key chains, Cappadocian stoner lamps and other cute things at affordable prices. Do not forget to bargain for the best price. They even click your pictures without you noticing and sell them later on to you if you wish to buy them. |
| Kaymakli underground city
Magnets, wall hangings, evil eye, ceramics, bells, key chains, Cappadocian stone lamps, carpets, rugs, bath accessories, culinary sets, mugs and cups and saucers and other cute things at affordable prices. Visit the Baykush gift shop, where a cute boy helps his father run the shop after his school hours and speaks very fluent English, also gives you great discounts if you buy in bulk. |
| Goreme open-air museum
Authentic items are sold at exorbitant prices. I recommend not buying anything from here as the prices are three times more than the outside shops’ Turkey shopping prices. I suggest buying from the shops outside. |
I’ve seen a lot of tourists looking for shopping malls in Cappadocia. Their perception of the city from the outside is quite different from reality. So, as a traveler, let me help you with this.
Shopping Malls in Cappadocia
Cappadocia is not a place sprawling with commercial shopping malls. Sure, there are commercial enterprises and some big shops but that is not where the average traveler should be shopping for purchasing Cappadocia top buying things.
You should be exploring the traditional markets here. Places like Goreme and Avanos offer exquisite stuff. So stop by them and invest time in looking for the Cappadocia top buying things. Your time spent will be worth it here.
Visit Cappadocia, not only for the terrain or the hot air balloon rides but also for the fascinating things it has in store for all its’ visitors. I had my share of fun shopping the Cappadocia top buying things. Now it’s your turn.
Happy wayfaring.