Goreme Full Day Tour: Kaymakli Underground City & Ihlara Valley

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Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/9

Duration9h

GroupUp to 18

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

Eight stories of ancient defense carved into stone at Kaymakli Underground City.

This full-day tour from Goreme covers Cappadocia's geological and human history through four major stops: Pigeon Valley's cliff-face dovecotes, the eight-story Kaymakli Underground City built for protection in ancient times, an 18-kilometer hike through Ihlara Valley where hundreds of rock-carved churches line the canyon walls, and a working onyx studio. An English-speaking guide, air-conditioned transport and lunch are included; the day runs nine hours.

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore Cappadocia's natural history

See panorama point of Goreme
Visit pigeon houses in caves
Tour Kaymakli Underground City
Hike in Ihlara Valley
View special stones like zultanite
Drive between points of interest
Visit Nar Lake

The Experience

Goreme sits at the center of Cappadocia's unusual landscape, and this tour moves through it systematically. You start at a panorama point overlooking the town itself, then move to Pigeon Valley to see how the soft rock was carved into dovecotes—pigeons nested in these caves for centuries, their droppings collected as fertilizer. From there, the route takes you underground to Kaymakli, an eight-story city carved into the bedrock that once housed nearly 200 separate dwellings. The narrow corridors, storage rooms and defense passages give a direct sense of how people organized protection and daily life in the centuries before Christ, using only hand tools on stone that yielded to carving.

Ihlara Valley is the centerpiece of the afternoon. The canyon runs 18 kilometers long, 150 meters deep and 200 meters wide, and unlike most canyons in the world, it was densely inhabited—hundreds of churches and living spaces are carved into the rock walls, shaped by the Melendiz River that still flows through the valley floor. You hike this stretch, moving past the evidence of a civilization that chose this particular landscape for its defensibility and water source. The scale and the density of carved structures make the walk itself a kind of timeline through centuries of settlement.

Before returning to Goreme, you stop at a workshop where an onyx craftsman demonstrates how the stone is shaped and polished—a chance to see the material work that turns raw rock into finished pieces. Lunch is provided during the day, and the vehicle stays air-conditioned throughout. The guide speaks English and travels with the group for the full nine hours.

What’s included

Air-conditioned vehicle throughout the day.
professional English-speaking guide.
lunch.
entry to Kaymakli Underground City and access to Ihlara Valley.
a stop at an onyx workshop to watch a craftsman at work.

Good to know

Easy physical levelPublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Melendiz Travel

Is this one for you?This tour suits anyone interested in how people adapted to and shaped Cappadocia's landscape over millennia—the underground defenses, the canyon settlements and the ongoing craft traditions all fit into a single day without requiring separate bookings or transport arrangements.