The deepest of the region's rock-cut refuges, about 85 metres from the surface down, with a 55-metre shaft that worked as both ventilation and well. Only about a tenth of it is open to walk through.
Updated 16 October 2026
Below the modern town of Derinkuyu, soft volcanic tuff was cut downwards into a multi-level warren of living space, storage, water supply and animal pens. The tuff is the same material the fairy chimneys and the rock-cut churches are carved from: workable with hand tools, firm enough to hold a ceiling once it dries out in the air.
The official Ministry record puts the depth at about 85 metres and notes that only around ten percent of the complex can be visited today. It opened to the public in 1965. The lit, walkable part is a run of linked rooms joined by sloping tunnels, and you follow it one level at a time without ever seeing the shape of the whole.
This was a refuge rather than a permanent town. People came down with their animals and their stores, closed the passages behind them, and lived off stored food and well water until the danger on the surface passed. The engineering that matters most is the air and the water: a shaft driven 55 metres down to supply both, so the lower levels stay breathable with the entrances sealed.
You enter at ground level and descend. The route works through several levels, each connected by tunnels cut at a gradient and stepped where the angle gets steep, and the visitable section is only a fraction of the whole, so the walk is shorter than the 85-metre figure suggests. The drive out and back takes far longer than the time you spend underground.
Lighting is installed throughout the open section, but it is low, and the floor is uneven rock worn smooth in places. Keep one hand free. Photographs taken down here are mostly a lesson in how little light there is.
The air is cool and damp regardless of what the surface is doing. In July, when the Nevşehir station averages a daytime maximum of 28.5°C, you will want a layer in your hand before you go down the first slope.
What people struggle with is the cross-section of the tunnels. Several connecting passages are low enough that an adult of average height walks stooped for 20 or 30 paces at a time, with a stone wall at each shoulder and a group behind. There are no alternative routes and no shortcuts back up once a tour group is moving through a passage ahead of you.
If you are genuinely claustrophobic, do not go in to test it. The same applies if you use a stick or crutches, have hip, knee or back problems, or cannot manage sustained steps and a stooped walk: the circuit is steps, gradients and low ceilings from start to finish, and there is no level alternative route. Closed shoes with grip and a flat sole, the same footwear a balloon briefing asks for, are the right choice here too.
Wayfinding is signposted, but the sensible plan is to go through with a group rather than stop and start on your own in the narrow stretches.
Pick one. The two underground cities cost the same on the official tariff, €13 each for foreign visitors, and they tell the same story with different details, so the second one buys you repetition rather than anything new to see.
Derinkuyu is the one to choose if depth and the water-and-air engineering are what interest you. Kaymaklı, the nearer of the two and listed at 20 km from Nevşehir, is laid out across eight floors of which four have been unearthed, lit and opened, and its third level is the memorable part: storage rooms, wineries and kitchens, plus an andesite block drilled with 57 holes for crushing and grinding.
Kaymaklı's own open floors are also reached by low, narrow passages, so swapping one for the other does not solve a problem with tight spaces. Check the posted hours on the day at either site.
| Derinkuyu Underground City | Kaymaklı Underground City | |
|---|---|---|
| Admission, foreign visitors | €13 (from age 8) | €13 |
| Scale on the official record | About 85 metres deep, about ten percent open | Eight floors, four unearthed, lit and open |
| Signature feature | 55-metre ventilation shaft doubling as a water well | Third level with storage rooms, wineries, kitchens and an andesite block with 57 carved holes |
| Opened to the public | 1965 | 1964 |
| 1 April to 1 October | 08:00-19:00, ticket office 18:15 | 08:00-19:00, ticket office 18:15 |
| 1 October to 1 April | 08:00-17:00, ticket office 16:15 | 08:00-17:00, ticket office 16:15 |
| Distance on the official listing | Not published | 20 km from Nevşehir |
Small-group southern route, 7-9 hours from $33, with the underground-city admission, entrance fees, lunch and an air-conditioned vehicle covered, so you are not queuing at a box office that closes at 16:15 in winter.
★ 5.0/5 · 2,653 reviews
The site is open daily 08:00-19:00 from 1 April to 1 October, with the ticket office closing at 18:15. In the other half of the year, 1 October to 1 April, it runs 08:00-17:00, ticket office 16:15. Those winter hours are the reason a southern day trip in November leaves early: the last site of the day shuts its box office in the middle of the afternoon.
Admission is €13 for non-Turkish visitors aged 8 and over, and 200 TL for Turkish citizens, on the Ministry's national tariff. The Museum Pass Cappadocia, priced at €65 for three days on the Ministry's own listing, is valid at the underground cities, though not for Night Museum visits. If your ticket is already inside a day tour, none of this is your problem on the day.
Morning is the better half of the day underground. Coach groups build through late morning, and in the narrow connecting tunnels a backlog is felt immediately rather than seen from a distance.
The southern route is the one that goes underground. The Green (South) Tour listed here runs 7-9 hours, from $33, rated 5.0 ★ (2653 reviews), and includes the admission and entrance fees, lunch and an air-conditioned vehicle; drinks at lunch are paid on the day. Itineraries on this route use one of the two underground cities, Derinkuyu or Kaymaklı, and the entrance fee is covered either way, so confirm which one your departure enters when you check availability.
The rest of that day is driving and walking. The route continues to Ihlara Valley in Güzelyurt district of Aksaray province, roughly 14 km long and up to 120 metres deep on the Ministry record, where the main descent at the Ihlara entrance is a staircase of 394 steps and the ticket office closes at 16:15. Between the underground tunnels and those steps, this is the day of your trip that asks the most of your knees.
Do not stack it on a balloon morning. A sunrise flight is a three-hour block that starts with a hotel pickup 60 to 90 minutes before sunrise, which in late June means around 04:15 against a sunrise of about 05:15. Put the southern tour on a day when you have slept, and keep the northern loop for the day after the flight.
The official tariff charges the €13 foreign-visitor rate from age 8 upwards, so younger children are not excluded by price. The practical limits are the low tunnels and the steps: a child who is happy to walk stooped through a dim, narrow passage with people in front and behind will be fine, and one who is not will want out halfway down. There is no quick way back to the surface mid-route.
Closed shoes with grip and a flat sole, because the floor is worn rock on a gradient. Add a layer you can carry: the passages stay cool whatever the surface temperature, and Nevşehir's July and August daytime maxima of 28.5°C and 28.7°C make the contrast sharp. Leave bulky bags in the vehicle, since anything on your back catches on low ceilings.
Technically yes, since both are €13 and both keep the same seasonal hours, 08:00-19:00 in summer and 08:00-17:00 in winter. It is not worth it. The two duplicate each other closely, and a southern day already includes the drive out to Ihlara Valley, where the ticket office closes at 16:15. Choose one city and spend the time on the valley.
Yes. The Ministry's listing prices the Museum Pass Cappadocia at €65 for three days and states that it is valid at the underground cities, but not for Night Museum visits. If your underground-city entrance is already inside the southern day tour, the pass only earns its keep if you are also paying separately for other sites, such as Göreme Open Air Museum at €20 for foreign visitors.
About ten percent of the complex is open to visitors, according to the Ministry's own record for the site. The rest is unexcavated, unlit or closed off. What you walk through is a connected sample of the whole: tunnels, chambers, the shaft, the stone doors, spread over several levels rather than a single floor.
Book the day
The southern route handles the admission, the lunch and the long drive to Ihlara in one 7-9 hour day, from $33, rated 5.0 ★ (2653 reviews). Book it for a morning when you were not up at 04:15 for a balloon.
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