İnsuyu Cave

İnsuyu was surveyed in 1952 by the hydrogeologist Temuçin Aygen and opened in the mid-1960s as the country's first show cave; of its roughly 600 metres, some 525 can be walked, lit, and the route runs past stalactites, columns and, its distinguishing feature, a series of underground lakes of clear cold water that give the cave its name, cave water; the French caver Norbert Casteret praised the boat ride on the lake. The largest, Büyük Göl, is the set piece. The problem is that the water table has fallen: the drilling of wells in the valley above has drawn levels down over decades and the lakes are in danger of drying, though work is under way to reverse it. The cave has been a natural protected area since 1976. What you see therefore depends entirely on the year and the season. Spring, after winter rain, is when the lakes are fullest.

Highlights

• The underground lakes - when water levels allow.
• The lit walkway - some 525 metres through the galleries.
• The formations - stalactites, columns and flowstone.
• The dried basins - where lakes have retreated.

When to go

Spring, when the water table is highest. Check the cave is open before travelling - it has closed for long periods when the lakes dried.

Things to know

Access is unreliable and the lakes may be absent or much reduced. It is one hour at most. The falling water table is a genuine and worsening problem, not a seasonal quirk.

Nearby

Burdur and its museum, holding Sagalassos sculpture, are 13 km away; Sagalassos itself is east at Ağlasun.

Key facts