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Paşabağ is an archaeological site within the UNESCO World Heritage listed Göreme Historical National Park (Göreme Tarihî Milli Parkı) in Cappadocia, Turkey. It’s located near the village of Çavuşin.
Visiting Paşabağ
Paşabağ is open daily from 8am to 5pm. Admission for foreigners is €12 (as of August 2025). Tickets are also good for access to the nearby Zelve Open Air Museum. There are plenty of tourist facilities at the entrance including restaurants, cafés, and souvenir shops. Visit the official website for more info.
Popularity of Paşabağ
Paşabağ is an extremely popular tourist site. Just about every single tour group makes a stop there and it’s easy to understand why. Unfortunately, that could take away from your experience. Be prepared for heavy crowds, pushy tourists, and lots of annoying selfies. Thankfully, the last few times I went it wasn’t TOO bad.
Although you should definitely visit both site, personally I find Zelve to be more interesting and rewarding. It’s a very different place overall, but not being overwhelmed by the crowds makes a huge difference.
What’s a Fairy Chimney?
Paşabağ has the highest concentration of fairy chimneys in Cappadocia. These unusual rock formations were formed by millions of years of wind and rain eroding away at soft volcanic tuff. This left much harder rock behind and created the mushroom-shaped caps on top.
Why are they called fairy chimneys? Local legend tells us the unique shapes were made by fairies who built their homes underneath the rocks.
Rock-cut Homes and Chapels
Many of the fairy chimneys were used by monks or hermits as homes. This is why Paşabağ is also known as Monk’s Valley or Hermit’s Valley. Today, one of them is even used as a gendarmerie station. Next to it is a small rock-cut chapel.
Visitors are able to climb up the rocks into some of the rooms carved into the fairy chimneys. They’re very simple spaces with niches cut into the walls. Some even have windows with views over the valley.
One of the dwellings contains a chapel dedicated to St. Simeon. It’s closed off for safety reasons, but thankfully I was able to visit during my first ever trip to Cappadocia in 2010.
Church of St. Simeon
Inside a large fairy chimney is a church dedicated to St. Simeon. There’s a short loop trail leading to it and you’ll get some great views of Paşabağ as you circle back to the main part of the site.
The chapel sits behind a locked gate but you can peek inside. It contains an arcosolium and some faded frescoes. A sign on the gate indicates it’s protected by the Turkey-Japan Joint Conservation Project.
