Özkonak Underground City: hours, entry fee and getting there
Özkonak Underground City is carved into the northern slopes of Mount İdiş, near Avanos in Nevşehir province, and is one of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s museum sites. It is about 31 min by car from Göreme (road route on OpenStreetMap data; © OpenStreetMap contributors), not counting parking and the walk in, and 18 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: €6 per person (official; source: muze.gov.tr, last verified 16 Oct 2026).
When is Özkonak Underground City open, and how much is entry?
- Opening hours
- 08:00–18:00, ticket office closes 17:15
- Closed days
- Open every day.
- Entry, foreign visitors
- €6 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 Özkonak take, and when should you go?
- How long to allow
- Allow about 45 min for a visit, at least 30 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 galleries spread over a wide area and are joined to each other by tunnels.
How is Özkonak different from Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu?
Unlike Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu, Özkonak has narrow, elongated openings that let people on different floors talk to each other. With the room entrances sealed, thin holes of the same kind also bring in air.
Like most of the region’s underground settlements, it was carved downwards into the tuff as a safe refuge, here where the volcanic layers are especially dense.
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 Özkonak, and how do you get there from Göreme?
The ministry gives its address as Turizm Caddesi, in the Camii Kebir neighbourhood of Özkonak, a town near Avanos.
It is about 31 min by car from Göreme (road route on OpenStreetMap data; © OpenStreetMap contributors), not counting parking and the walk in, and 18 km in a straight line (map points: official and secondary source; © OpenStreetMap contributors).
Does Özkonak work on a cancelled balloon morning?
Yes: the visit is inside the rock, out of the wind and rain.
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 Özkonak?
Avanos (pottery town)
10 km in a straight line
Sarıhan Caravanserai
12 km in a straight line
Paşabağ (Monks Valley)
14 km in a straight line
Devrent (Imagination) Valley
15 km in a straight line
Zelve Open-Air Museum
15 km in a straight line
Photos: Ji-Elle, opens in a new tab, CC BY-SA 3.0, opens in a new tab; Theugursevinc, opens in a new tab, CC BY-SA 4.0, opens in a new tab; Bernard Gagnon, 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.