Göreme and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia: Visitor and Heritage Guide

The short version

Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia were inscribed by UNESCO in 1985 under criteria (i), (iii), (v) and (vii). That last one is the natural-beauty criterion, and it is rare for a property to be listed for both its culture and its looks.

The landscape

This is the central Anatolian plateau, and the rock is volcanic ash sculpted by erosion into a succession of ridges, valleys and pinnacles. The pinnacles are the famous part, known as fairy chimneys or hoodoos. The region is bounded to the south and east by ranges of extinct volcanoes, with Erciyes Dağ at 3916 m at one end and Hasan Dağ at 3253 m at the other. Those two made the ash that everything else is carved from.

What the property actually covers

More than the balloon photographs suggest. The inscribed area spans the region between the towns of Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Avanos, and takes in the sites of Karain, Karlık, Yeşilöz and Soğanlı along with the subterranean cities of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu.

Living in rock

What UNESCO singles out is density: rock-hewn cells, churches, troglodyte villages and underground cities packed into the formations at a concentration that makes this one of the world's largest cave-dwelling complexes. The rock-cut churches of the Göreme valley carry Byzantine painting that survived precisely because it was underground.

The underground cities are the part that unsettles people. Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu descend through multiple levels with ventilation shafts, wells, stables and rolling stone doors, built to hide entire communities. They are narrow, and if you are uneasy in confined spaces you will know within the first few metres.

The balloons

They are genuinely worth it and they are weather-dependent. Flights go at dawn and are cancelled for wind with little notice, so build in a spare morning rather than booking the only one you have. If you would rather not fly, the valleys at sunrise from the ground are nearly as good and involve no booking at all.

Practicalities

Stay in Göreme or Ürgüp, allow two full days, and walk at least one valley properly. The distances between the sites are short but the ground is uneven. Nights on the plateau are cold well into spring.

See when to go and what to pack.

Sources

• UNESCO World Heritage Centre: the inscription of Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia in 1985 under criteria (i)(iii)(v)(vii). Accessed 14 September 2026.
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Turkey’s State Party record: twenty-two properties inscribed on the World Heritage List. Accessed 14 September 2026.