Klemio
Kaymaklı Underground City
Kaymaklı Underground City is the Cappadocia underground city I would choose if you want a serious cave-town visit without giving the whole day to tunnels. It is broad, layered, close to Nevşehir, and still uncomfortable enough to remind you that this was a refuge, not a polished attraction.
Photos: LWYang from USA (CC BY 2.0), Slyronit (CC BY-SA 4.0), Slyronit (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons
Kaymaklı is one of Cappadocia's strongest short historic stops because it makes the region's soft rock feel practical and a little unnerving. I would not make it my only historic site in the area, but I would include it on a first trip.
Worth it for
- Travelers who want one clear, memorable underground city visit
- People interested in Byzantine-era refuge spaces, cave architecture, and practical survival design
You can skip if
- You are claustrophobic or have trouble with crouching, stairs, and uneven floors
- You only enjoy open-air viewpoints and do not want to deal with tour-group bottlenecks
Tickets & tours for Kaymaklı Underground City
Which ticket should you buy?
Why Kaymaklı Is Different
Kaymaklı is one of Cappadocia's best-known underground cities, but it feels less staged than Derinkuyu. The visitor route passes stables, storage rooms, kitchens, churches, wine or oil press areas, ventilation shafts, millstone doors, and low passages cut into soft volcanic tuff.
The site has eight levels, and official museum sources say four levels are lit and open to visitors. That is plenty. After a few minutes underground, the narrow tunnels, cool air, and low ceilings explain the place better than most labels do.
What You Actually See
Do not expect grand halls. Kaymaklı works because of the small practical things: soot-darkened cooking areas, air shafts, stone doors, storage niches, and rooms arranged around breathing, access, and survival rather than comfort.
The first parts are easier, then the route tightens. If you are tall, you will crouch. If you dislike confined spaces, some sections may be miserable. That tension is part of the visit, but it is also the reason I would not push everyone to go.
History Without The Hype
Official Turkish museum material describes Kaymaklı as an eight-level underground settlement about 20 km from Nevşehir. It says the earliest level dates to the Hittite period, with later Roman and Byzantine enlargement, and that the site opened to visitors in 1964.
UNESCO includes Cappadocia's subterranean cities within the wider Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia World Heritage area. Kaymaklı was used as shelter in dangerous periods, with space for people, animals, food storage, and worship below ground.
How To Visit Well
Go near opening time or later in the afternoon if you can. Midday groups can turn the narrow passages into a slow shuffle, and the best rooms lose their force when you are stuck behind a line of people taking photos.
A guide helps here more than at many Cappadocia viewpoints. You can enter without one, but the rooms start to look repetitive unless someone explains the logic of the storage areas, churches, doors, and ventilation shafts.
Kaymaklı Underground City: FAQs
Yes, if you want one underground city in Cappadocia and you can handle tight spaces. It is strange, physical, and easy to fit into a broader day around Nevşehir, Göreme, or Uçhisar.
Kaymaklı is generally wider and easier to move through. Derinkuyu is deeper and feels more dramatic. I would pick Kaymaklı for a mixed Cappadocia day and Derinkuyu if depth and scale matter more to you.
Most travelers need about 45 to 75 minutes. Allow longer if you hire a guide, move slowly, or arrive when tour groups are inside.
Yes, parts of it are. The route has low tunnels, narrow turns, dim rooms, uneven steps, and single-file sections. Skip it if enclosed spaces make you anxious.
Many children visit, but it depends on the child. The stairs and tunnels are uneven, and adults need to duck in places, so young kids need close supervision.
No. You do not need a guide to enter. Still, Kaymaklı is better with one, because the underground rooms make more sense when someone explains how the settlement worked.
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- Cappadocia When It Rains: Underground Cities, Pottery, Frescoes, and Plans That Still Work
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Where to next?
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