The volcanic landscape of fairy chimneys, rock-cut churches and underground cities in central Türkiye — and a practical guide to seeing it well.
Last reviewed on 2 May 2026.
Cappadocia is the popular name for a region of central Anatolia roughly bounded by Aksaray to the west, Kayseri to the east, and Niğde to the south. The dramatic landscape that pulls in visitors is concentrated in a smaller central core around Nevşehir — the area of Göreme, Ürgüp, Uçhisar, Avanos, and the surrounding valleys. Three things make it different from anywhere else in Türkiye: the volcanic geology, the centuries of human carving on top of it, and the daily ritual of hot-air balloons at sunrise.
Several million years ago, the volcanoes Erciyes, Hasan and Göllü Dağ blanketed the area in deep ash. The ash compacted into a soft rock called tuff, with harder basalt layers on top in places. Wind and water then did the obvious thing: they cut the soft material faster than the hard, leaving the harder caps balanced on slimmer columns. Those caps protect the tuff beneath them from further erosion, which is why so many of the resulting forms are recognisably mushroom- or chimney-shaped. Local tradition called them peri bacaları — fairy chimneys.
Once people arrived, the same softness that made the rock erodible made it easy to carve. Communities did not need to quarry or build — they could simply hollow the existing forms into homes, storerooms, churches, stables, kitchens, wineries and bedrooms. Whole settlements were built into single rock outcrops.
The most striking carving is downward rather than sideways. Several multi-level underground cities were extended over centuries — Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu are the two best known and the most accessible. They are not single shelters but full towns, with stables, kitchens, ventilation shafts, wells, and large round stone doors that could be rolled across passageways for defence.
The conventional reading is that Cappadocia's underground cities were used at moments when communities needed to disappear — most often the early Christian centuries, when the region was a frontier between empires. They were never permanent dwellings; they were what you went into when something dangerous came over the hill, and stayed until it had passed. A visit is short on natural light and high on imagination; the experience is closer to walking through a maze than seeing a museum.
Above ground, the Göreme Open Air Museum holds the densest cluster of carved Byzantine churches anywhere. Most date to the 10th–12th centuries. A handful preserve their painted frescoes more or less intact: Christ Pantocrator on a low ceiling here, a Last Supper on a curved wall there, all with the deep blues and reds that characterise post-iconoclast Byzantine wall painting. Others were used for more prosaic purposes after their religious life ended — as pigeon houses, storerooms, occasional homes — and the surfaces show the wear that comes with that history.
Beyond the open-air museum, painted churches turn up in the surrounding valleys, sometimes with no signage and a couple of locals collecting a small entry fee. The Ihlara Valley, an hour to the south, is a long ravine where you can walk for hours past river-side churches in rapid succession.
The hot-air balloon ritual is now what most people picture when they hear "Cappadocia". Ballooning here works for two reasons: the air is reliably calm at dawn for much of the year, and the landscape is genuinely better seen from above. Operators take off shortly before sunrise and drift across the valleys for roughly an hour. Where you start and finish depends on the wind on the day; companies do not advertise specific routes.
The walking-distance hub. Most cave hotels, restaurants and balloon meeting points are here. Lively but small.
A larger town with a more residential feel. Higher-end hotels, fewer day-trippers, easy taxi access to the valleys.
Built around a hollowed castle outcrop with the best views in the region. Quieter than Göreme; a short drive to the open-air museum.
By the Kızılırmak river, traditionally the pottery town. Calmer pace, good for an extra night when staying longer.
For most visitors, two nights in Göreme is the minimum that makes sense; three is much better, because it builds in a buffer for a balloon cancellation. Cave hotels are the regional cliché but also genuinely worth doing once: a properly converted cave room is well-insulated, quiet, and connected to the geology of the place.
Spend the morning walking one of the marked valleys — Pigeon Valley between Uçhisar and Göreme, or Rose and Red Valley together for slightly longer. Have lunch in Göreme. Afternoon at the Göreme Open Air Museum to anchor the painted-church story. Sunset from the Uçhisar fortress viewpoint.
Pre-dawn balloon flight if booked. Mid-morning rest. Drive south to one of the underground cities — Kaymaklı or Derinkuyu — and continue to the Ihlara Valley for an afternoon walk along the river. Dinner back in your base town.
The Soğanlı Valley (less visited rock-cut churches) or Avanos for pottery and the river. If you have time, the volcanic peak of Mount Erciyes near Kayseri is worth the drive in winter for skiing or in summer for the view.