Cappadocia's underground cities: Derinkuyu or Kaymaklı?

Derinkuyu is the deeper underground city, about 85 m down with 8 levels open to visitors, and it is the one to choose if you want the full experience. Kaymaklı is shallower, with 4 levels open and wider passages, and it is the better choice for families with young children or anyone unsure about tight spaces.

Both sit south of Nevşehir, about 40 to 45 minutes by road from Göreme, and both take 60 to 90 minutes to walk through. Doing both in one day is possible but few guests want to; one is enough.

What the underground cities are

The soft volcanic tuff of Cappadocia can be cut with hand tools and then hardens on contact with air. People used this to dig storage rooms and shelters from at least the Hittite period, and Byzantine communities expanded them into complete towns. Derinkuyu has stables, a chapel, a school room, wine presses and ventilation shafts that run the full depth.

The cities were refuges, not permanent homes. Villagers lived above ground and went below when raiders came, rolling stone doors across the passages from the inside. Ventilation shafts kept the air fresh for thousands of people at a time, and those same shafts are why the air inside still feels clean today.

Derinkuyu vs Kaymaklı

Derinkuyu's signature is a long stairway tunnel between the lower levels where you walk bent over for about 50 m. It is the part everyone remembers and the part where some people turn back. Kaymaklı has nothing that long; its passages are low in places but open up into rooms every few metres.

Our guides say the same thing each week: if any adult in the group hesitates at the entrance, choose Kaymaklı. Nobody has regretted the shallower city, and several guests have regretted the deep one.

Who should not go in

Be honest with yourself before paying for the ticket. Skip the underground cities if you:

• Have claustrophobia, even mild. The passages are one person wide and you cannot turn around easily when a group is behind you.
• Use a wheelchair or pram. There are no ramps or lifts, and prams stay at the entrance.
• Have knee or back problems. The stairs are steep, uneven and worn smooth, and you climb every one of them on the way out.
• Are pregnant and in the last trimester. The bending in the connecting tunnels is the problem, not the depth.
• Are travelling with a child under about six. They can physically fit, but most become frightened in the low sections and there is no fast exit.

There is one way in and one way out along the visitor route. Once you are on the fourth level down, leaving means walking back up through everyone behind you.

The temperature inside

The air inside stays at about 13 to 15 °C all year, whatever the weather outside. In July that makes the underground city the best midday sight in Cappadocia, and the desk schedules it between 12:00 and 14:00 for summer guests for that reason.

In January it feels warmer inside than out, but the humidity makes 14 °C feel cold after half an hour. Bring a light jacket in every season. Floors are dry but dusty; closed shoes with grip are the right choice, and abayas and long robes are fine if you lift the hem on the stairs.

Going with children

Children from about seven who are happy in caves love it; it is the closest thing to an adventure film they will see on the trip. Tell them beforehand that some passages are low and dark, and let them go first with the guide so they set the pace.

Give each child a small torch. The tunnels are lit, but a torch in their own hand turns fear into a game. The Gulf families we take through usually spend about an hour in Kaymaklı, and the children talk about the stone doors for the rest of the day.

Under seven, or if a child has ever panicked in a lift, choose something else. The fairy chimneys at Paşabağ are 15 minutes from Göreme, flat and open, and children can climb inside a chimney without going underground.

Tickets, hours and how to get there

Both cities are state museums with a ticket booth at the entrance. Entry costs [to verify: current price in AED per person, Derinkuyu and Kaymaklı] per person, indicative as of 23 September 2026, with the live price on the booking page. Opening hours are seasonal, roughly [to verify: summer and winter hours from muze.gov.tr], and the last entry is before closing.

Coaches arrive between 10:00 and 12:00. At opening, or after 14:00, you will often have whole levels to yourself. That matters more here than at any other sight, because a queue in a one-person tunnel is unpleasant.

There is no public transport that works for a family. A guided day with a driver combines one underground city with the Ihlara or Rose Valley walk or the fairy chimneys, priced per vehicle in dirhams. The guide handles the tickets so nobody queues twice.