Cappadocia Underground Cities: Derinkuyu or Kaymaklı?

Under the plain south of Nevşehir, the soft rock is honeycombed with tunnels. Nobody knows exactly when the first chambers were dug, but the cities were expanded over many centuries, especially in the Byzantine period, when people hid underground from raids. Families, livestock and food stores could stay down for weeks. Dozens of these sites are known. Two are the ones most people visit.

Derinkuyu

The deepest open to visitors, going down around eight levels. You walk through stables near the top, then rooms for pressing grapes, communal kitchens blackened by smoke, a chapel, and a long ventilation shaft dropping through the middle of the complex that also served as a well. Round stone doors, like giant millstones, could be rolled across passages from the inside to seal them. The lower levels are tighter and steeper, and the air gets cooler as you descend.

Kaymaklı

About 10 km north of Derinkuyu and closer to Göreme. It's shallower, with four levels open, but spreads out wider, with lots of small rooms packed together. It's also the one most tour groups use, so it gets busy from mid-morning. Some of its tunnels are very low, and you'll be bent double for stretches.

Which one?

If you're only doing one, we'd pick Derinkuyu. The depth gives you a better sense of what it meant to live underground, and the passages feel less like a queue. Kaymaklı makes sense if you're short on time, since it's a little nearer, or if you're joining a tour that includes it. Doing both is overkill for most people.

Quieter alternatives exist. Özkonak, north of Avanos, is smaller and much calmer, handy if you're staying on that side. Both main cities are covered by the Museum Pass Türkiye and the regional Cappadocia pass. Check current tickets on the official museum site.

A few practical points. From Göreme, Kaymaklı is roughly half an hour by car, Derinkuyu about 40 minutes. Without a car, take a bus to Nevşehir and then a minibus south, or join a Green Tour. Inside, the routes are marked with arrows, red for down and blue for up. It stays cool all year, so bring a light layer in summer. If you're claustrophobic, stay on the upper levels, where the ceilings are higher and the way out is never far.

Plan it as a morning, then drive back north for an afternoon in the valleys. Our 2-day itinerary shows how the timing works.