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The Kaymaklı Underground City (Kaymaklı Yeraltı Şehri) is a large multilevel underground city excavated in Turkey. It’s part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing for Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia.
Visiting Kaymaklı Underground City
The Kaymaklı Underground City is located in Cappadocia in the town of Kaymaklı. It’s open daily from 8am to 5pm and admission is 300₺ (as of August 2023). There are some tight spaces and low ceilings in most of the tunnels so beware if you’re claustrophobic. Also, it can get quite cool underground. You may want to bring a light jacket.
History of Kaymaklı Underground City
The Kaymaklı Underground City may have been formed as far back as the 8th century BC by the Phrygians. It was expanded by Cappadocian Greek Christians sometime during the Byzantine era. Some artifacts found in the city date back to the 5th century.
The city was used for protection during the Arab-Byzantine Wars between the 7th and 11th centuries. It was connected to other underground cities through a series of tunnels. It continued to serve as a shelter for Christian natives well into the early 20th century to escape periodic persecutions by the Ottomans.
When the local Greeks were sent to Greece as part of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923, the Kaymaklı Underground City was abandoned. The cave city opened to the public in 1964. Only four levels have been excavated, and only a fraction of the complex is open to visitors.
Features of the Underground City
The Kaymaklı Underground City features low, narrow, and steep tunnels. Some are still used today by locals as storage, stables, or cellars. The rooms open to the public are all situated around a deep ventilation shaft.
The tunnels could be closed off from the inside with large stone doors. The rooms were capable of sheltering a large population along with livestock and food stores. The temperature was cool and constant no matter the season above ground.
The first level contains a small stable and rooms possibly used as living quarters. A church with a nave and two apses is on the second level along with a few living spaces.
The third level contains storage, wine or oil presses, and kitchens. It also has an andesite block used to form copper.
Around the Town of Kaymaklı
There’s not much of interest in the actual town of Kaymaklı. An attractive stone building sits next to the parking lot. The ground level is a row of restaurants and cafés while the upper level holds offices of political parties.
There are tons of souvenir shops lining the path from the parking lot to the Kaymaklı Underground City entrance. There’s nothing different you’d find at other tourist attractions in Cappadocia or anywhere else in Turkey, for that matter.
In the middle of the path is an attractive old Greek building. It’s dated 1912 and has Greek initials and a relief of two birds above the door. The building is used as a local government office. Kaymaklı was originally known as Anakou (Ανακού) in Greek.
