Cappadocia Green Tour: Derinkuyu, Ihlara & Selime Monastery

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Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/13

Duration8h–9h

GroupUp to 15

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

Walk through eight levels of underground chambers, then hike a canyon carved by monks.

The Cappadocia Green Tour is a full-day guided sightseeing tour of historical sites in southern Cappadocia, including Derinkuyu Underground City, Ihlara Valley, Selime Monastery and Pigeon Valley. The tour includes hotel pickup, a licensed English-speaking guide, and lunch at a riverside restaurant in Ihlara Valley (on the all-inclusive option). You walk 8 levels of interconnected tunnels and chambers at Derinkuyu, take an easy 4km walk along the river through Ihlara Valley canyon past cave churches, and visit Selime Cathedral, the region's largest rock-carved monastery.

8h–9h

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore Southern Cappadocia Highlights

Start at tour meeting point
Visit Göreme Panorama viewpoint
Explore Derinkuyu Underground City
Walk 4km in Ihlara Valley
Lunch at riverside restaurant in Ihlara Valley
Visit Selime Monastery
Stop at Uçhisar viewpoint over Pigeon Valley
Visit onyx stone factory

The Experience

Derinkuyu Underground City is the biggest and deepest underground settlement in the region, dating back to the 7th–8th centuries. You descend 8 levels connected by narrow tunnels and stone-carved stairways, moving through winery chambers, a church, kitchens, food storage areas and animal stalls while your guide explains how people lived in these carved spaces. The scale of it — the depth, the interconnected rooms, the engineering — becomes clear only when you are walking through it.

From there you move to Ihlara Valley for an easy 4km walk along the river through a deep canyon scattered with cave churches carved by early Christian monks. The walk takes about an hour and follows the water, so it is a gentler pace than the underground city. Lunch is a Turkish kebab-style meal at a riverside restaurant in the valley, included on the all-inclusive option. After the walk you visit Selime Cathedral, the biggest rock-carved monastery in the region, which once sheltered Hittite, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman communities.

The day starts at Göreme Panorama viewpoint, where your guide explains how the region's distinctive landscape formed. It ends at Pigeon Valley in Uçhisar, where you see pigeon houses carved into the stone by ancient inhabitants. Hotel pickup and drop-off are included, and the tour runs 8 to 9 hours. You can choose between an all-inclusive option with lunch, a guide-and-transfer option without lunch, or a private version of the same route.

What’s included

Hotel pickup and drop-off.
licensed professional English-speaking guide.
entry to Derinkuyu Underground City.
the 4km walk through Ihlara Valley with access to cave churches.
entry to Selime Monastery.
Turkish kebab-style lunch at a riverside restaurant in Ihlara Valley (included on the all-inclusive option only).

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendlyPublic transport nearbyNot for back problems

Operated by Gorgeous Travel - Daily Tours & Balloon Flights

Is this one for you?Choose the all-inclusive option if you want lunch arranged at the riverside and one less decision during the day. The guide-and-transfer option works if you prefer to eat on your own or want to keep the cost lower, though you still get all four main sites and the full route.