In the winter months, trips to Kayseri have started to become an unmissable holiday for us. For those who want both a ski&snowboard holiday and a gastronomic holiday, the first address is Kayseri!
What You Should Know About Kayseri
For many years one of the important trade centres in Anatolia. Along with trade, today Mount Erciyes is skiers' favourite address. With the municipality's investments in winter tourism over the last 10 years, it has become one of the important stops for both domestic and foreign tourists. And with the flavours and high-calorie dishes of Kayseri Cuisine, it becomes a city worth going to and seeing! 👣✈ With all of that, here's the travel guide..
Kayseri's Latin name, used in ancient times, is Caesarea. It evolved into Turkish from Arabic. The city, one of the few ancient cities in the world in a historical sense, was founded in early times in the region called Cappadocia. As we know from geography lessons, the region south of the Kızılırmak covers an area from Lake Tuz, within the borders of Ankara-Konya-Aksaray, to the Euphrates. The very, very famous Silk Road we know from history lessons also passes through here; it has always been very important strategically too.
Places to Visit and Things to Do in Kayseri
Even someone with no connection to Kayseri has heard of Kayseri's mantı, pastırma and sucuk, and of Erciyes Ski Resort, which has recently been in demand from both domestic and foreign tourists.
On this trip we didn't want to focus only on the ski resort; we also wanted to touch and feel, even a little, the historic texture of Kayseri, a city with such a past.
If you're planning a trip here and wondering what you'll do when you go to Kayseri, here's what you need to do. An opportunity that won't leave you saying, when you get back from Kayseri, I wish I'd done this and that too!
The link to our Places to Visit in Kayseri post is here! 👈
When Should You Go to Kayseri?
Most of the city is Central Anatolia, with a continental climate. Winters in the city are very cold. Summer is hot and dry. The hottest months in the city are July and August. In winter, January and February are the coldest months. If you went in winter, be ready for the freezing cold after sunset.
If, like us, you're making a ski- and food-focused trip, there's no doubt you'll need to choose the December-January-February period. But if you say you'll do a programme focused only on cultural sightseeing and food, April and May are the best months in terms of weather and rainfall. And if you combine it with Nevşehir and Ürgüp, it's an absolute treat. ❣
How to Get to Kayseri?
If you're coming from cities like Istanbul or İzmir, the most sensible transport option will be the plane. In January 2018 we bought a flight out on Saturday morning and back on Monday evening, paying 120₺ return per person. You can catch prices that can't be compared with car or bus. If you plan a bit early, you can get flights quite cheaply; and if you're wondering how to get cheap flight tickets, here's our post with little tips!
Apart from the plane, it's also possible to reach the city by train. You can get there on the Lake Van Express, the Southern Express, the Eastern Express, the Erzurum Express and the 4 Eylül Blue Train lines.
Accommodation Suggestions in Kayseri
Places to Visit: as we mentioned at the start of that post, on our first visit our choice was the Radisson Blu Hotel. When we went, there was a package including a ski pass. On top of that, with a 15% discount, it was a real treat for us. A room for 2 without the ski pass was 185₺, and a room for 2 with the ski pass package was 300₺.
When I researched ski pass prices for the city we'd go to for a second ski holiday at the end of January 2018, I was totally disappointed. As far as I understand, hotels buy season ski passes, and the price is 500₺. In fact, while saying they sell these ski passes, which they use almost constantly, as a package, they badly rip us off. If you get in touch with local people in the city or have a student card, you can find unlimited ski passes at very good prices.
Indeed, apart from the ski pass, we were very happy with the Radisson Blu. I've never come across such a rich and full breakfast at any hotel in any city so far. Everything was high quality, and the flavours unique to Kayseri were unlimited. You'd stay at this hotel just for the breakfast. On this it got full marks from us. 👍📝
Kayseri Airport & Getting Around the City
Here we've briefly covered both airport and city transport.
Kayseri Erkilet Airport
Since the airport is 5 km from the city centre, getting there is very easy. You can use either a taxi or Havaş.
🚕On our first visit we used a taxi. It costs 25-30₺ on average and you can get there in 10-15 minutes.
🚌If you take Havaş, you can reach the city centre in about 30 minutes, paying 12₺. You can also get to the airport with buses number 4, 100 and 102.
🚗On our last visit we said let's rent a car and be a bit free. We paid 100₺ a day for the car we rented from Budget.
On the way from Kayseri to Erciyes
Getting around the city
As in most places in our country, besides bus and dolmuş transport, the tram is used here too. If you rent a car like us, you'll be very comfortable. Because after dark the cold makes itself seriously felt. 😬🌬
For public transport there's a smart transport card similar to the İstanbul Kart in Istanbul, called Kart38. You can buy this card for 5₺ and load it with as much money as you'll use.
Kayseri Cuisine
Even someone with no connection to Kayseri definitely knows Kayseri mantı, pastırma and sucuk. Coming all the way here, you can't not eat such lovely local flavours. The taste of mantı, pastırma, sucuk and yağlama is something else! If you're wondering what to eat in Kayseri, click!!
Yağlama with very thin dough 
Mantı must be tried too!
Shopping in Kayseri
For us, shopping in Kayseri brings to mind pastırma, sucuk and mantı! Indeed, on the way back to Istanbul we bought pastırma and mantı. We couldn't really love its sucuk because of the çemen being too much and heavy.
When cooked at home, the smell doesn't go away quickly. We think Afyon sucuk is preferable. 😋 But towards the end of the trip we found a sucuk brand with less spice and bought some to try.
Our suggestion for pastırma is Kale Önü Beğendik or Elmacıoğlu. For January 2018, prices per kilo range between 70-130₺. For mantı you can choose Elmacıoğlu or Pastırmacı Hayrullah.
Their prices per kilo are 36₺ and 42₺ respectively. Even in a city steeped in so much history there are shopping centres. I'm writing Forum Kayseri and Kayseri Park in case you need to go for something urgent.
Cycling in Kayseri
Cycling in the city is more widespread and accessible than I ever expected. Living somewhere like Istanbul, you can't help being surprised when you see things like this. Even if not as much as a European city, it's developed close to that level for cycling! We congratulate them!
Run by Kayseri Ulaşım A.Ş., KayBis has 600 bikes, and apparently about 453 bikes are used a day on average. The city has a full 90 km of bike paths! 😱😬
Besides cycling within the city, it also offers a lot for MTB riders. Around Mount Erciyes there are 27" MTB bike trails. The total length of these trails is around 2400 km. You can visit the trails between May and October.
22 km
249 km
266 km