Cappadocia and the Goreme Rock Sites

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Goreme National Park And The Rock Sites Of Cappadocia, 1985); The Valleys Are A Protected Natural And Cultural Site · Goreme, Nevsehir

Three volcanoes buried central Anatolia in ash, the ash set into tuff soft enough to dig with hand tools, and wind and water did the rest - leaving a plateau of cones, ridges and hoodoos that people have been carving houses, churches, pigeon lofts and whole underground cities into for at least sixteen centuries. The UNESCO listing covers the Goreme valleys and the rock sites around them, and the frescoed Byzantine chapels of the Goreme Open Air Museum are the densest concentration of them anywhere. The modern draw is aerial: a hundred or more hot air balloons lift before sunrise on flyable mornings, and that photograph is what sells the region abroad and why its hotels are booked months ahead. It rewards more than one day. The valleys are walkable end to end, the underground cities at Derinkuyu and Kaymakli drop through eight levels, and most visitors sleep in a carved cave room in Goreme, Urgup or Uchisar.

Goreme Beldesi, Nevsehir Merkez, Goreme, Nevsehir, Turkiye

The valleys and viewpoints are open land and can be walked at any hour. Ticketed sites inside them - the Goreme Open Air Museum, the underground cities, Uchisar Castle - keep daytime hours that are shorter in winter. Balloon flights run at first light only and are grounded by wind, which is common in winter and after storms. Check each site on the day.

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