Located under the apparently uninteresting village of Kaymaklı, deep in the heart of Cappadocia, the Kaymaklı Underground City is one of Turkey’s most amazing subterranean marvels. Built into the soft volcanic rock of the area, this vast maze of tunnels and chambers has been a haven, a community, and evidence of the creativity of its creators for millennia. Its meandering hallways let you feel the weight of history pressing in all about you, murmuring stories of resiliency and survival.

History Of Kaymakli

The Phrygians, an ancient Indo-European culture who first started sculpting into the rock in the eighth or seventh century BC, are where Kaymaklı’s beginnings lie. These caverns might have first been basic shelters or storage areas, but as the history of the area developed—characterized by waves of conquest and cultural changes—the subterranean network grew rapidly.

Kaymaklı had evolved into a fully developed underground city by the time the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire ruled over Cappadocia, having seen the Phrygian language displaced by Greek. Deepened by the ongoing threat of Arab assaults between the eighth and the twelve century, the city’s network grew to offer cover from invading armies. Remarkably, it was even linked by a tunnel spanning some five miles to the nearby Derinkuyu Underground City.

Kaymaklı’s tunnels once more provided a refuge by the 14th century—this time from Timur’s Mongol incursions. Later on, the underground city turned into a haven for the surviving Christian inhabitants when the Seljuk Turks consolidated authority. Well into the Ottoman era, the people living in the area—known as Rûm— Eastern Romans—would flee oppression into subterranean tunnels. Locals sought cover in Kaymaklı’s subterranean tunnels even as recently as the early 20th century, amid the upheaval around the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

But the Greek Orthodox residents who had spent years using the tunnels were driven out following the forced population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923. Kaymaklı lay idle for decades until rediscovered and open to visitors in 1964, abandoned and left to the elements.

Exploring the Depths of Kaymaklı

Entering Kaymaklı Underground City feels as though one is entering another planet. Unlike the larger, more orderly tunnels of Derinkuyu, Kaymaklı’s passageways are narrower, lower, and sharply inclined, creating a more intimate—and occasionally quite claustrophobic—experience. Designed around a sequence of ventilation shafts, the labyrinthine layout guarantees fresh air flows through the city even at its lowest points.

Starting on the first floor, guests come onto what used to be a stable. It’s really small, which implies that there are other stables buried in the parts of the city still off-limits to visitors. Just beyond the stable, a strong millstone door marks the entrance to the next section—a cunning defensive mechanism allowing residents to seal themselves in should intruders pass the tunnels.

Deeper into the complicated, the second floor opens out a church with two apseses and a nave. Near the entrance, a baptismal font sits; along the walls, seating platforms provide the area collective respect. Graves have also been discovered here, suggesting that some of Kaymaklı’s religious leaders were buried in the exact halls they previously revered.

Ascending even farther, the third floor reveals an intriguing mix of kitchens, storage areas, and even a wine or oil press. One particularly noteworthy feature here is a stunning slab of andesite, a volcanic rock, cut with hundreds of holes used for cold-forming copper. Imagine that metalworkers formerly worked in these subterranean circumstances, pounding raw copper into practical forms right here in Kaymaklı.

By the fourth level, you begin to see exactly how large and self-sufficient this subterranean city really was. There are lots of storage places with room for earthenware jars containing formerly grain, oil, and wine. The enormous volume of storage spaces suggests the city’s capacity to support a substantial population over long stretches—a need if hostile forces were aboveground.

The Modern-Day Experience

Just a small portion of Kaymaklı is public nowadays. Although the subterranean city is claimed to reach eight floors deep, visitors can explore just four, yet more than enough to value its size and complexity. Kaymaklı is an excellent choice for people who are cautious of feeling too limited since the caverns here are large and well-lit, and their slopes are not too high compared to other subterranean locations in Cappadocia.

Arriving early in the morning or between 12:30 and 1:30 in the afternoon will help you to see the city at its most evocative when tour groups often stop for lunch. Plan carefully if you are traveling during the off-season; the site’s final entry from October to April is at 4:15 PM.

For those using public transportation, reaching Kaymaklı is easy. Operating between Nevşehir and Kaymaklı, regular dolmuş (shared minibus) services run every 30 minutes from dawn to late evening. The trip takes roughly thirty minutes; the entrance to the underground city is obviously marked in the middle of the town. Going back to Nevşehir is just as easy; dolmuşes leave the site often from right outside.