Love Valley & Pigeon Valley

Love Valley and Pigeon Valley are routinely combined to form an iconic, 11-kilometer figure-eight or loop hike connecting the towns of Göreme and Uçhisar. Starting from Göreme, hikers enter Love Valley, internationally famous for its towering, monolithic, phallic rock formations (fairy chimneys) that thrust dramatically from the valley floor. After navigating beneath these massive rock spires, the trail forces a steep ascent up to the town of Uçhisar, which is crowned by a massive 'castle' (a gigantic, porous rock monolith riddled with ancient tunnels). From the castle's panoramic peak, hikers descend back to Göreme via Pigeon Valley (Güvercinlik). This valley is defined by its sheer cliffs packed with thousands of tiny, ancient dovecotes (pigeon houses) carved into the rock, originally designed to collect pigeon guano to fertilize the volcanic soil.

The trek to Laguna de los Tres is one of the primary day activities in Los Glaciares National Park, providing a close-perspective view of the granite massif of Mount Fitz Roy (3,405m). The route follows an out-and-back trail through mixed forest and glaciated valleys, passing the Piedras Blancas viewpoint before the final ascent. The journey is defined by a significant transition from the low-lying valley floor to the high-alpine environment of the lagoon, which sits directly below the main peaks.