From the Open-Air Museum entrance, a 1km walk uphill along Müze Caddesi brings you to the signposted trail leading down to the Aynalı Kilise. The main chapel is adorned with interesting red-ochre geometric decorations, but the real highlight here is shimmying through the network of narrow tunnels interconnecting a series of rooms within the rock face. The on-site guardian provides torches for visitors.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
1.43 MILES
The trails that loop around Güllüdere Vadısı (Rose Valley) are easily accessible to all levels of walkers and provide some of the finest fairy-chimney…
0.48 MILES
The highlight of Göreme Open-Air Museum is the stunning and fully restored Dark Church, famed for the vivid colours and excellent preservation of its…
0.54 MILES
This Unesco World Heritage site is an essential stop on any Cappadocian itinerary. First thought to be a Byzantine monastic settlement that housed some 20…
2.36 MILES
The road between Çavuşin and Avanos passes a turn-off to the Zelve Open-Air Museum, where three valleys of crumbling cave-habitations and churches…
13.29 MILES
Kaymaklı underground city features a maze of tunnels and rooms carved eight levels deep into the earth, though only four are open to the public. The…
1.27 MILES
One of the best views of Kızılçukur (Red) Valley's fang-like rock cones and wavy cliff ridges is from this lookout point, signposted off the highway,…
0.59 MILES
The Buckle Church is 50m back down the hill towards Göreme and across the road from the main Open-Air Museum complex, but is covered by the same entrance…
21.07 MILES
Let's get one thing straight: despite its science-fiction setting, no scene in Star Wars was ever filmed near Soğanlı. But don't despair Chewbacca fans;…
Nearby Göreme attractions
0.48 MILES
The highlight of Göreme Open-Air Museum is the stunning and fully restored Dark Church, famed for the vivid colours and excellent preservation of its…
0.49 MILES
The small Chapel of St Catherine is the next church down the path from the Dark Church. Inside are frescoes depicting St Catherine, the ubiquitous St…
0.5 MILES
This 13th-century church has frescoes depicting the four gospel writers (below the central dome) and the Betrayal of Judas (in the arch over the door)…
0.53 MILES
Downhill from the Sandal Church, the cordoned-off Rahibeler Monastery was originally several storeys high. It's thought that this building served as a…
0.54 MILES
The 12th-century Apple Church (Elmalı Kilise) overlooks a valley of poplars below. Relatively well preserved, it contains both simple, red-ochre daubs and…
0.54 MILES
The Snake Church (or Church of St Onuphrius) got its modern name when locals mistook St George's ubiquitous dragon-foe, depicted in a fresco here, for a…
0.54 MILES
This Unesco World Heritage site is an essential stop on any Cappadocian itinerary. First thought to be a Byzantine monastic settlement that housed some 20…
0.55 MILES
It's posited that Byzantine soldiers carved the 11th-century Azize Barbara Şapeli (Chapel of St Barbara), dedicated to their patron saint who is depicted…