Cappadocia astonishes visitors above ground with its fairy chimneys and balloon-filled skies — but some of its most remarkable history is buried beneath your feet. The underground city of Kaymaklı, about 20 km south of Nevşehir, is one of the largest excavated subterranean settlements in Turkey: a warren of tunnels, rooms and ventilation shafts where entire communities once lived, worshipped and hid from danger.
How Old Is Kaymaklı?
The soft volcanic tuff of Cappadocia is easy to carve yet hardens on exposure to air, making it ideal for digging shelters. The first chambers at Kaymaklı are generally attributed to the Phrygians around the 8th–7th centuries BC, and possibly earlier Hittite-era use. Over the following centuries the city was expanded dramatically — most famously by early Christians in the Byzantine period, who deepened the tunnels and added chapels to shelter from Arab raids.
What you walk through today is the product of more than two thousand years of carving, adapting and reusing the same underground network across many civilizations.
A City Built for Survival
Kaymaklı was not a permanent home so much as a refuge. When invaders swept across Anatolia, villagers would retreat underground for days or weeks at a time, bringing livestock, food and water with them. The city descends through multiple levels — eight are known, of which four are open to visitors — connected by low, narrow passages designed to be defended by just a few people.
Among its most ingenious features are the large circular millstone doors. Rolled across passageways from the inside, they sealed off sections of the city and could only be moved by those within — a simple, brilliant defense against anyone trying to push deeper.
Life Below Ground
Far from being a bare tunnel, Kaymaklı functioned as a real town. Excavations have revealed the everyday infrastructure of a self-sufficient community:
- Stables for animals, typically on the upper levels near the entrances
- Kitchens with soot-blackened ceilings, and communal cooking areas
- Storage rooms and vast clay jars for oil, wine and provisions
- A church and chapels on the lower levels
- Wineries and presses carved into the rock
- A remarkable network of ventilation shafts that brought fresh air to the deepest rooms
The ventilation system is the unsung hero of the city — dozens of shafts kept the air breathable and also served as wells, drawing water without ever surfacing.
Kaymaklı vs. Derinkuyu
Kaymaklı is often compared with nearby Derinkuyu, the deepest of the region's underground cities. Where Derinkuyu plunges vertically, Kaymaklı spreads outward — its passages are lower and wider, organized around the ventilation shafts. The two were reportedly linked by a tunnel several kilometres long. Many travellers visit both; if you only have time for one, Kaymaklı's broader, more horizontal layout is a little easier for first-time visitors.
Visiting Tips
- Wear comfortable shoes and be ready to stoop — some passages are low and steep.
- If you are claustrophobic, the upper levels still give a strong sense of the place without the tightest tunnels.
- It is cool underground year-round, so bring a light layer even in summer.
- Go early or late to avoid the midday crowds in the narrowest corridors.
- Allow about an hour to explore the open levels.
How to Get to Kaymaklı
Kaymaklı sits on the Nevşehir–Derinkuyu road, roughly a 25–30 minute drive from Göreme and about 35–40 minutes from Ürgüp. It is straightforward by car but poorly served by public transport, and it pairs naturally with Derinkuyu and a stop in old Nevşehir.
With Cappadocia Taxi we can build Kaymaklı into a private day route — combine it with Derinkuyu, the Ihlara Valley or your airport transfer — and wait while you explore, so you step straight from the cool tunnels back into a waiting car. Just tell your driver, and we'll handle the timing and the road.
Descending into Kaymaklı is one of the most atmospheric things you can do in Cappadocia: a quiet, humbling reminder that for thousands of years, people here survived by going down rather than up.