Cappadocia Small-Group Green Tour: Derinkuyu Underground City and Ihlara Valley

Explore Cappadocia's Green Tour route in a 7-hour guided journey featuring an underground city, Ihlara Valley, and riverside lunch.

Getting started

Begin your approximately 7-hour guided tour with round-trip hotel transfers from central Cappadocia. After pickup, you join your professional guide and board an air-conditioned minibus, where you receive your route map and itinerary information. Once everyone is on board, the group sets off toward the first viewpoint on the Green Tour route.

What to expect

Göreme Panorama

This viewpoint introduces Cappadocia's southern landscapes from above. It gives you an overview of the fairy-chimney terrain before you dive into valleys and underground spaces.

Features

• From Göreme Panorama you look across the fairy-chimney landscape surrounding Göreme, with your expert guide pointing out key rock formations and villages on your route map.
• As part of the guided tour, transport by air-conditioned minibus brings you directly to this stop, with all related site access covered by your museum and site entrance tickets.

Underground city

A multi-level underground city beneath Cappadocia forms one of the core stops of the Green Tour. You explore the carved tunnels and chambers that once sheltered local communities.

Features

• Inside the underground city, you follow your professional guide through connected rooms and passageways carved below ground, hearing how this space functioned in daily life and in times of danger.
• Entry to the underground city is included within your museum and site entrance tickets, and your guide manages timing so it fits smoothly into the approximately 7-hour guided tour.

Ihlara Valley

Ihlara Valley is a deep canyon cut by the Melendiz River, known for its greenery and rock-cut Byzantine chapels. It adds a longer walking segment to your day.

Features

• You walk approximately 1 km along the Melendiz River on a riverside path, with views of the canyon walls and access to ancient rock-cut Byzantine chapels and their interior frescoes.
• Your visit to Ihlara Valley fits into the structured Green Tour itinerary, with transport, guiding, and site access all included in your museum and site entrance tickets.

Belisırma (riverside lunch)

Midway through the tour, you pause in the village of Belisırma, located inside Ihlara Valley along the Melendiz River. This is your main meal break.

Features

• Lunch is served at a riverside restaurant in Belisırma, where you can sit by the water and recharge before continuing to later stops.
• The lunch in Belisırma is included in your tour package, although drinks with lunch are not included and can be purchased separately if you wish.

Nar Lake

Nar Lake is a volcanic crater lake known for its distinctive turquoise color. It introduces the region's volcanic geology into the day.

Features

• At Nar Lake, you view the turquoise volcanic crater from the rim area and can photograph its circular shape framed by surrounding hills.
• Your stop at Nar Lake is built into the guided itinerary and reached by the air-conditioned minibus, with the route map helping you see how it connects to earlier and later sites.

Onyx workshop

A traditional onyx workshop adds a craft- and materials-focused element to the tour. It showcases how local stone is worked and finished.

Features

• Inside the onyx workshop, you watch local stone-cutting techniques that transform raw onyx into decorative and functional pieces.
• This workshop visit is included among your scheduled onyx workshop stops, with your expert guide on hand to explain the processes while transport and timing remain coordinated as part of the 7-hour tour.

Pigeon Valley

Pigeon Valley is known for its rock walls dotted with small pigeon houses carved into the tuff. It also frames views toward the region's landmarks.

Features

• During the Pigeon Valley stop, you see the valley's carved pigeon niches and look out toward Uçhisar Castle, which rises above the landscape as a natural rock fortress.
• This Pigeon Valley stop is included in your Green Tour route, with access handled by your guide and transportation covered by the air-conditioned minibus as part of your Göreme Panorama, underground city, Ihlara Valley, Nar Lake, onyx workshop and Pigeon Valley stops.

Southern Cappadocia route overview

Throughout the day, your Green Tour itinerary links all major stops into a continuous loop through southern Cappadocia. The small-group setting is designed for a more focused visit.

Features

• You travel in a small-group setting with a maximum of 16 guests, which allows your licensed local guide to share commentary about Cappadocia's southern landscapes across each location.
• Hotel pickup and drop-off in central Cappadocia, round-trip hotel transfers, the air-conditioned minibus transportation, and all museum and site entrance tickets are bundled into one route, supported by your route map and itinerary information so you can follow each stage of the journey.