Kaymaklı Underground City: hours, entry fee and getting there
Kaymaklı Underground City lies beneath the village of Kaymaklı, Nevşehir province, whose people still use parts of its tunnels as cellars, storerooms and stables; the Ministry of Culture and Tourism runs its excavated floors as a museum site. It is about 26 min by car from Göreme (road route on OpenStreetMap data; © OpenStreetMap contributors), not counting parking and the walk in, and 21 km in a straight line (map points: official and secondary source; © OpenStreetMap contributors).
Opening hours: 08:00–18:00, ticket office closes 17:15 (official; source: muze.gov.tr, last verified 16 Oct 2026). Hours change by season and on public holidays: check the official site before you go.
Entry for foreign visitors: €13 per person (official; source: muze.gov.tr, last verified 16 Oct 2026).
Photo: MusikAnimal, opens in a new tab, CC BY-SA 4.0, opens in a new tab, via Wikimedia Commons
When is Kaymaklı Underground City open, and what does a ticket cost?
- Opening hours
- 08:00–18:00, ticket office closes 17:15
- Closed days
- Open every day.
- Entry, foreign visitors
- €13 per person
- Next fee change
- From 1 Apr 2027: €15 per person
We give information only and never sell museum tickets. Buy them at the ticket office or on the ministry’s official site, opens in a new tab.
The ministry’s page for this site, with its current hours: muze.gov.tr, opens in a new tab.
How long does Kaymaklı take, and when should you go?
- How long to allow
- Allow about 1 h for a visit, at least 45 min.Sample data
- Best time to go
- We have no records yet of when it is busiest. Arrive before the ticket office closes at 17:15.
Its passages are low, narrow and sloping, built that way to slow intruders down, so take your time between rooms.
What can you see in Kaymaklı Underground City?
The excavated floors gather around the ventilation shafts. Near the top are stables, and below them a church with a single nave, an altar in front of its apse and stone benches along its sides.
The richest floor holds storerooms, wineries, kitchens and a block of andesite pitted with holes for crushing and grinding, part of the rock the builders left in place. The ministry counts Kaymaklı, whose old name was Enegüp, as the widest underground city explored in Cappadocia.
From your base
About how long the drive is from each town you can stay in, not counting parking and the walk in (plans allow 5 min more for those).
Where is Kaymaklı, and how do you get there from Göreme?
The ministry gives its address as Eşref Ayhan Caddesi, in the Camii Kebir neighbourhood of Kaymaklı.
It is about 26 min by car from Göreme (road route on OpenStreetMap data; © OpenStreetMap contributors), not counting parking and the walk in, and 21 km in a straight line (map points: official and secondary source; © OpenStreetMap contributors).
Is Kaymaklı a good choice when the balloons don’t fly?
It is: you spend the visit below ground, away from the wind and rain that keep the balloons down.
On a cancelled balloon morning, Plan B starts the day with indoor places like this one until lunch. It opens at 08:00.
What else is near Kaymaklı?
Derinkuyu Underground City
10 km in a straight line
Mustafapaşa
19 km in a straight line
Uçhisar Castle
20 km in a straight line
Ortahisar Castle
20 km in a straight line
Pigeon Valley walk (Güvercinlik)
21 km in a straight line
Photos: Wolfgang Moroder, opens in a new tab, CC BY-SA 3.0, opens in a new tab
Plan your days around it
Going at opening? Choose your month: the planner includes this place in your plan and builds your days around its opening hours and a balloon morning. You can remove it before you plan.