Kaymaklı Underground City

Kaymaklı is one of the two large underground cities open in Cappadocia, along with Derinkuyu, and it is the wider and lower of the pair - eight levels are known, four are open, and the layout spreads sideways rather than plunging. The tuff is soft enough to dig with hand tools and hardens on contact with air, which is why the excavation was possible at all. What is below is a functioning settlement: stables at the top level with tethering holes cut in the walls, storage rooms, kitchens with blackened ceilings, wine and oil presses, a church, cisterns, and ventilation shafts running the full depth. The defensive feature everyone remembers is the doors - great circular millstones set in slots beside the passages, rolled across to seal a level and openable only from the inside. Communities used these places as refuges rather than permanent homes, retreating underground with livestock when raiders passed. Passages are low, narrow and steep.

What you actually see

• The millstone doors - circular blocks that sealed passages.
• The four open levels - stables, kitchens, storage and church.
• The ventilation shafts - the air system running the full depth.
• The presses - wine and oil production rooms underground.

When to go

April to June and September to November. Early or late in the day - the passages are narrow and become genuinely uncomfortable when a coach group is inside.

Honest expectations

Passages are low enough to require stooping for long stretches and steeply sloped - not suitable for anyone claustrophobic or with knee or back problems. It is cool below but airless when busy.

Nearby

Derinkuyu is the deeper underground city south; Göreme and the valleys are north.