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Municipality in Nevşehir, Turkey
Photo: Niels Elgaard Larsen, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Göreme (pronounced gur-reh-meh) is a town in the Cappadocia region of Turkey, with a population of 2034 in 2022. It's at the heart of the "fairy chimney" landscape, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, with soft volcanic tuff eroded into fantastical rock formations and excavated into cave dwellings. It's very touristy.
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Göreme Açık Hava Müzesi
Remarkable series of frescoed cave churches and fairy chimneys along a loop trail (see diagram). Try to slot in between the tour groups, it's no fun sharing a tiny church with 20 overfed visitors following a green parasol. It's worth the extra to see Karanlık Kilise, the Dark Church - originally this had no windows, and the darkness preserved the frescoes. It takes 2-3 hours to get round the site, then hold onto your ticket, as 50 m outside the main compound is Tokalı Kilise, "Buckle Church". This has a 10th and an 11th century portion, both richly frescoed.
"Church of the Evil Eye" in a fairy chimney. Ask here about the key to Hidden Church.
Fırkatan Church
Monastery church above the road to Ortahisar. The custodian will loan you a flashlight, which you'll need to see the frescoes in the gloomy interior.
formerly Silk Road
Good food at competitive prices.
Friendly speedy place for inexpensive food.
When you need a break from Turkish food, this is the place.
Fresh wraps of every variety in dürüm or bulgur wheat, lots of vegetarian items. Try the spinach and egg.
Friendly small place, they do a good breakfast.
Atmospheric restaurant, good meals and not expensive.
Small friendly place for home-style cooking, some western choices.
Good-value meals in a charming small restaurant west side of town.
Clean spacious site 1 km west of town, some noise from highway.
Friendly inexpensive hostel.
Now called a "hotel" but still a very basic hostel with uncomfortable dorm, loud music from a disco, surly staff.
Clean modern hotel north edge of town, no caves.
Small rooms, some in caves, but comfy.
Great reviews for this central upmarket cave hotel.
Clean simple pansiyon.
Mostly good reviews, some lapses in cleaning and service.
Attractive but mostly ersatz hotel, created in the 1990s from stones from a demolished district in Nevşehir. It now has 37 rooms (some in caves), a hamam, spa, and terrace views over town.
Comfy cave rooms at the top of town.
Great value comfy cave rooms.
Cave hotel, halal-friendly.
By road
From Ankara head south on O-21 (toll). Exit at Alayhan, where a caravanserai recalls the tolls and tribulations of long-ago journeys, and follow D300 east to Nevşehir, then D302 into Göreme.
By bus
Every tourist town in Turkey markets package tours of Cappadocia. If you were based in one of the Antalya - Alanya coast resorts, that might be the most convenient option.
Walk, the town is small, and the open-air museum is within a 30 min walk.
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