Transport to Ürgüp, Cappadocia

Bus and car are the ways to get to Ürgüp—no train. To come by airplane you fly to Kayseri or Nevsehir and take an airport shuttle van or taxi to Ürgüp. More...
The Turkish Airlines shuttle van from Kayseri takes exactly one hour to travel to Ürgüp. The normal bus takes a bit longer (more stops).
Distances & Travel Times
Ankara: 308 km (191 miles) N, 4-1/2 hours
Antalya: 615 km (382 miles) SW, 8-1/2 hours
Avanos: 13 km (8 miles) NW, 15 minutes
Göreme Open-Air Museum: 7 km (4.3 miles) W, 15 minutes
Göreme Town: 8 km (5 miles) W, 18 minutes
Istanbul: 725 km (451 miles) NW, 11 hours
Kayseri: 80 km (50 miles) E, 1-1/4 hours
Konya: 250 km (155 miles) W, 3 hours
Nevsehir: 23 km (14 miles) W, 25 minutes
Uçhisar: 10 km (6 miles) W, 20 minutes
Underground Cities: 20 km (12 miles) SW, 25 minutes to Kaymakli, 30 km (19 miles), 40 minutes to Derinkuyu

UNDERGROUND CITIES

No one knows when the underground cities of Cappadocia were built, perhaps in Hittite times or as late as the 6C AD. There were certainly underground cities as early as the 5C BC. They are referred to by a 5 and 4C BC Athenian historian Xenophon in his Anabasis. So far 36 underground cities have been discovered some of them being very recent. It is also estimated that most of them are connected to each other. But it is difficult to identify these connections.
The ground consists of the same volcanic tufa. Cappadocians created vast cities which cannot be noticed from the ground level. They carved airshafts as deep as 85 m / 300 ft into the rock and then made holes laterally at different levels in all directions. They hewed an elaborate system of staircases and tunnels to connect all layers to the surface. They dug dwellings, bathrooms, kitchens, dining halls, storage rooms, wine cellars, chapels, graves and suchlike. In times of danger they provided security by rolling big round hard stones across strategic tunnels. Entrances at the surface were also camouflaged.
Today even from some of the modern houses there are man-made holes leading to underground passages most of which are used as cellars.
Kaymakli Yeralti Kenti (Underground City of Kaymakli)
It is one of the largest underground cities in Cappadocia with eight stories. It covers an area of approximately 4 km² / 1.5 sq mi. Visitors can see only about 10% of the city by going down a maximum of five floors. It probably is connected to nearby Derinkuyu. It was opened to visitors in 1964. The population of Kaymakli is thought to have been about 3,000.
Derinkuyu Yeralti Kenti (Underground City of Derinkuyu)
The underground city of Derinkuyu which means "deep well", like Kaymakli, is one of the largest. It was opened in 1965. It is 70-85 m / 230-300 ft deep with 53 airshafts. The original ventilation system still functions remarkably well. It is not recommended that visitors having problems of claustrophobia or restricted movement go inside since there are many passageways where one has to squat.
The first two floors under the surface housed a missionary school with two long rock-cut tables, baptismal place, kitchens, storehouses, living quarters, wine cellars and stables. Third and fourth floors were for the tunnels, places to hide and armories. The last floors had water wells, hidden passageways, a church, graves and a confession place.

Remote Canyons Tour

Your journey starts by a visit to the Uchisar castle. Then we continue across the fertile plains of Cappadocia to the multilevel underground city of Derinkuyu. After lunch near the Canyon of Ihlara, we enter the sheer-sided canyon of Ihlara, in which there runs a stream, and on.both sides there are rock hewn churches. We enjoy a 4 km hike through the Ihlara valley to to arrive in the Belisirma village. Then we leave for Selime to visit this surreal ancient monastic site and several rock hewn churches. We continue along the Silk Road back to Cappadocian natural park, en route we stop at the well-preserved Agzikarahan Caravanserai, before returning to your hotel.

Live Diary Page about Cappadocia

After having aged 5 years in 14 hours, we arrived in Goreme in Cappadocia.Quote of the day (from fellow traveler): "I'd rather take a donkey back to Istanbul than take this damn bus again!!" Spoke with a helpful travel agent who met the bus (he was unrelated to our tour operator, was looking for people without prior arrangements). He called the tour company to let them know we were finally there. Dora was looking forward to finally seeing a usable toilet in our wonderful hotel room. Some 15 minutes later, the tour van showed up. Seems we didn't have time to go to the hotel since it had gotten late, other people were in the van, etc.. Our helpful tour guide said "don't worry" but his solution was stopping at a Shell station. Now, if you think gas station bathrooms in the U.S. are questionable, well...Seems the travel agent had been a little too rosy with his description of how this trip would play out. Had a wonderful breakfast of clif-bars and red bull, and we were on our way!Cappadocia is known for its extensive cave-dwellings some dating back to 1200 b.c. to the Hittites. Toured an underground city, a monastery, and an above-ground cave city. The tour was worthwhile, but the obvious better choice would have been plane and then car rental.Dropped off at the SOS cave hotel - not very luxurious, but clean. Built somewhat in a cave, but not as much as other hotels. Seems there are so many caves, the locals will use them for anything.Decided we would pull the plug on "Touring Turkey by Bus" and went to one of the myriad travel agents and bought a plane ticket to Izmir on the coast. Evidently in Turkey it is polite to offer your guests tea. We've also noticed that when you are about to be horribly ripped off, they will suddenly remember to offer you tea. So the travel agent offered us some tea...(btw, Lonely Planet vouches for the integrity of "Rose Tour" which is the aforementioned travel agent)Cappadocia Day 2Van promptly picked us up and began the tour. Since we had no accommodations, we asked the tour operator to arrange something in Izmir for us. They were helpful, and once again, the tea...Went and saw some unusual formations in the shape of cones, a cave village inhabited until the 1950's when it was damaged by an earthquake, the valley of the "fairy chimneys" (Ted thought they looked like mushrooms, Dora thought they were phallic - check out the pictures and you decide!), and another settlement outside of Goreme.Had another stop on the tour, the infamous "ceramics cultural demonstration". Saw some talented locals making pots, but began to worry after everyone was offered tea. Sure enough, Dora fell in love with an admittedly beautiful bowl, but the price was 1750 Lira = 1400 USD. After extensive negotiations, the price had dropped to 400 Lira = 300 USD. Decided against buying it since although this might have been an excellent value, we're not really in the market for a $300 bowl.Brought out to the airport immediately after the tour and flew to Izmir. Met a couple from Puerto Rico (Alison and Joel) on the tour and coincidently they were heading to Izmir on the same flight. Flight was an hour late, but still quicker than the bus.Our friend the travel agent had helpfully booked us in a hotel some 1 hour from the airport in a sea-side town. Turned out the hotel was an absolute dump and although they had refunded the second bus trip from the package, we still paid way more than was appropriate.At this point, we have 2 rules for traveling in Turkey:1) no buses2) no travel agents

Underground Cities

Although referred to as "cities," the underground communities of Cappadocia probably served as temporary shelters rather than as permanent hidden cities. The incessant darkness is hardly conducive to life and some of the passageways are little more than crawling spaces that would have been intolerable in long-term situations. No one is certain as to the number of underground communities that exist or even by whom they were built.
The two largest communities that have been unearthed are located at Kaymakli and Derinkuyu, 20 and 30 kms. south of Nevsehir on the Nevsehir-Nigde road. It is thought that the Hittites may have excavated the first few levels in the rock when they came under attack from the Phrygians around 1200 BC. However, some archaeologists believe that the oldest caves, those hewn with stone rather than metal tools, are substantially older. These chambers were later expanded into an extensive troglodytic complex by Christians escaping the Arab invasions of the 7th and 8th centuries.
Discreet entrances give way to elaborate subterranean systems with air shafts, waste shafts, wells, chimneys and connecting passageways. The upper levels were used for living quarters while the lower levels were used for storage, wine making, flour grinding and worship in simple chapels. Everywhere, walls have been blackened from the use of torches. There is a connecting tunnel between Kaymakli and Derinkuyu that allowed three people to walk through at the same time but it is not available to the public as parts of the tunnel have collapsed.
0nly 10 kms. to the east of Kaymakli is another cavetown at Mazikoy that may be connected with Derinkuyu but this remains to be proven. This community was built within the walls of a cliff. Unlike Kaymakli and Derinkuyu, there are no stairs or grades that pass from one level to the next. Instead, the different levels are well defined with connecting tunnels through which people climbed up or let themselves down by means of footholds carved into the walls of the shafts. Mazikoy is often bypassed because it is a smaller community, its location is away from the main road and a certain agility is required to fully appreciate its features.

Underground cities in of Cappadocia

* Derinkuyu
Derinkuyu is situated 29km from Nevsehir, on the road to Nigde. The settlement is approximately 85m deep. It contains all the usual rooms found in an underground settlement (stables, cellars, refectories, churches, wineries etc.). Apart from these, a large room with a barrel vaulted ceiling on the second floor was a missionary school, the rooms to the left being study rooms.
From the 3rd and 4th floors onwards the descent is by way of vertical staircases which lead to the cruciform plan church on the lowest floor.
The 55m deep ventilation shaft was also used as a well. Not every floor was provided with a well, however, some wells were not connected with the surface in order to protect the dwellers from poisoning during raids. Derinkuyu Underground settlement was opened to visitors in 1965, but so far only 10% can be visited
* Kaymakli
This underground settlement which is located in the centre of the village of Özlüce, the ancient name of which was Zile, is on the Nevsehir-Derinkuyu road, 6 km south of the town of Kaymakli.

Ozluce Underground settlement is different from the others in terms of its geological formation and architectural features. The underground settlement has tufa of different colors. There is only one floor in this underground settlement which has not been completely opened; however, it covers a very large area.

At the entrance is a place with two intertwining arches made of basalt. Access to the main tufa stone can be gained through a 15 m long passage, made of rubble stone. The stone places, which lead to the underground settlement, are more recent than the rock hollowed places that form the underground settlement. At the end of this passage there is a millstone door which is made of hard granite and is 1.75 m in diameter.

Being the largest area in the underground settlement, the main space at the entrance consists of two parts. To the right of the main space are storage rooms, and to the left are living areas. On the sides of the long corridors are cell-like rooms and on the floor are traps
* Ozkonak
This underground settlement is in the center of the town of Ozkonak, 14 km north of Avanos and hollowed out into the west slopes of the Idis Dagi ,where the tufa layers are mainly found.

Although there is only one floor, it covers a large area and the spaces are connected to each other with tunnels. Unlike the important underground cities of Kaymakli and Derinkuyu, there are very long and narrow holes to enable communication between the levels. When the entrances of neatly hollowed chambers were closed, those narrow (5 cm in diameter) and long holes were used also for ventilation.

Unlike the other underground settlements, just in front of the millstone doors, on the ceiling of the tunnels, there are small holes which were made to pour hot oil on the enemy, or to spear them.

As in the underground cities of Kaymakli and Derinkuyu, in this underground settlement are a ventilation shaft, a well, a winery and millstone doors.
* Ozluce
This underground settlement which is located in the centre of the village of Ozluce, the ancient name of which was Zile, is on the Nevsehir-Derinkuyu road, 6 km south of the town of Kaymakli.
Ozluce Underground settlement is different from the others in terms of its geological formation and architectural features. The underground settlement has tufa of different colors. There is only one floor in this underground settlement which has not been completely opened; however, it covers a very large area.

At the entrance is a place with two intertwining arches made of basalt. Access to the main tufa stone can be gained through a 15 m long passage, made of rubble stone. The stone places, which lead to the underground settlement, are more recent than the rock hollowed places that form the underground settlement. At the end of this passage there is a millstone door which is made of hard granite and is 1.75 m in diameter.

Being the largest area in the underground settlement, the main space at the entrance consists of two parts. To the right of the main space are storage rooms, and to the left are living areas. On the sides of the long corridors are cell-like rooms and on the floor are traps
* Tatlarin
The village of Tatlarin, located 10 km north of the town of Acigol, is one of the interesting places in Cappadocia because of both its underground settlement and churches and the architecture of its houses. Its underground settlement, located on the hill called ‘the castle’ by the locals of the village, was first discovered in 1975 and opened to the public in 1991. The size of the chambers in the underground settlement, only two floors of which can be visited; the presence of the toilets, which also can only be found at the Guzelyurt Underground Settlement; the abundance of the depots for food and of the churches make one think that this place was either a garrison or a monastic complex rather than an underground settlement.

The Tatlarin Church
The church is on the slope of the hill, called "the castle", in the town of Tatlarin, about 10 km north of Acigol. The narthex of the church, which has two naves and two apses, is collapsed. The well preserved scenes are separated from each other with dividers. The background is dark gray whereas with figures colors like purple, mustard color and red are used.
Scenes: On the apse Mother Mary and Baby Jesus, Archangels Michael and Gabriel; Constantine the Great and Helena, Transfiguration, Anastasis, Entry into Jerusalem, Crucifixion and portraits of 9 saints as well as the donor's.