Göreme / Cappadocia rock sites
Valleys of fairy chimneys and rock-cut churches, many painted with Byzantine frescoes; the open-air museum gathers some of the finest. World Heritage, with the wider Göreme landscape, since 1985.
Plan your visit
For a first visit at an easy pace.
Opening hours and prices change: see muze.gov.tr (opens in a new tab).
Times are our estimates. Distances are straight lines.
Where it is and how to get there
In central Anatolia, in Nevşehir province. The open-air museum lies in a valley just over a kilometre east of the town of Göreme; Nevşehir is the provincial town, with Ürgüp and Avanos the other towns nearby.
The walk, with what you’re looking at
A loop trail through one valley of rock-cut churches, chapels and dining halls, with Tokalı Church a short way below the entrance. The valleys beyond need more time and a lift.
- The entrance and the Girls’ Monastery
A tall block of rock beside the entrance, hollowed into a monastery of several floors, with rooms for dining and for prayer.
- The small churches
Between the big sites stand a string of small churches and chapels: St Basil’s, Apple (Elmalı), St Barbara, Snake and the Crusader (Malta) church among them. Some are painted straight onto the rock in red crosses and patterns.
- The Dark Church
The best-known stop. Very little light reaches its painted walls, so the colours stayed bright.
- Çarıklı (Sandals) Church
One more painted church in the same cliffs: its walls carry frescoes of Christ and the saints.
- Tokalı Church
Just outside the main compound but part of the same site. It has an older and a newer part, from the 10th and 11th centuries, both richly painted.
- Love Valley
Outside the museum: a valley known for its tall fairy chimneys.
- Çavuşin and Zelve
Nearby on the ministry’s list: the church at Çavuşin and the three valleys of Zelve and Paşabağlar.
Göreme / Cappadocia rock sites
Soft volcanic rock, a place to hide and a faith to paint. Monks began to dig into the rock here in the 4th century, and after 842 the churches were filled with scenes from the Bible.
- Millions of years agoVolcanoes lay down the rock
Ash and lava from Erciyes, Hasan and other volcanoes settle as soft tuff, with hard lava over it. Wind and water carve the cones and valleys, the “fairy chimneys”.
- 4th centuryThe first monks
Following Basil, bishop of Caesarea (Kayseri), hermits begin to cut cells into the rock. Monastic life goes on here from the 4th to the 13th century.
- 7th–9th centuriesHiding places
Christians fleeing raids settle in the valleys and link their rock cells into villages. While images are forbidden (725–842), churches are marked with little more than crosses.
- After 842The churches are painted
When pictures return, new churches are cut and covered in colour: scenes from the life of Christ, in the 10th and 11th centuries especially. Tokalı Church is one example.
- 1985World Heritage
Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia are put on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
- TodayBalloons at dawn
Göreme is the best-known base in Cappadocia, famous for its hot-air balloon flights. The painted churches are still the reason to come.
Photographs
6 photographs from Wikimedia Commons, each with its author and licence.
Photo: Ji-Elle · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab) · Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)
Photo: Rigorius · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab) · Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)
Photo: Kate Reading · CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab) · Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)
Fresco painting survives inside many of the churches of the open-air museum.
Photo: Josep Renalias Lohen11 · CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab) · Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)
Photo: Noumenon · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab) · Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)
Good to know
- Tokalı Church is a short way below the main entrance. It is part of the same site, so do not miss it.
- Love Valley and the other valleys around Göreme hold more rock towers and churches. Allow time for them on another day.
- The ministry runs an audio guide for the site and has a brochure: see its page on muze.gov.tr.
From here
Kaymaklı
About 21 km as the crow flies. An underground city of narrow passages, storerooms and rolling stone doors, cut into the soft volcanic tuff, where villagers could shelter from raids with their animals.
Cappadocia and the Konya plain
3 days, 6 places, Nevşehir to Konya.
Also nearby
- 21 kmKaymaklı Underground City
Underground city, Byzantine
- 31 kmDerinkuyu Underground City
Underground city, Iron Age?–Byzantine
- museumGöreme Open-Air Museum
Rock-cut Byzantine churches and frescoes
- museumNevşehir Museum
- museumZelve Open-Air Museum
Rock-cut settlement
- museumÜrgüp Museum
Location approximate · whc.unesco.org | coordinates added manually (approximate)