This hilltop fortress town in Cappadocia rises 60 meters above the valley floor, with cave dwellings carved into volcanic rock dating back to the Byzantine era.
A 60-meter-high rock formation dominates Uçhisar, with its ancient fortress rising above the village's stone houses. You'll find carved dovecotes in the valleys below, a sixth-century church hidden in a rock cone, and a network of underground tunnels dating back centuries. The village's position at the highest point in Cappadocia gives you views extending to Mount Erciyes and the surrounding rock formations.
Exploring the Rock Fortress
The main fortress contains multiple levels of tunnels and chambers carved into volcanic rock. A stairway of 100 steps leads to the top viewing platform, where you can see across the entire region. The fortress once housed nearly 1,000 people, with rooms still showing evidence of cooking areas, storage spaces, and water collection systems.
Walking Through Pigeon Valley
A marked hiking path connects Uçhisar to Göreme through Pigeon Valley. The walk takes two hours, passing hundreds of small dovecotes carved into the valley walls. These caves, used until the 1950s, allowed farmers to collect pigeon droppings for fertilizer. Look for the small entrances and decorative patterns around the dovecote openings.
Rock-Cut Architecture
The village center contains stone buildings with detailed geometric patterns and floral designs carved into their walls. A 100-meter tunnel network runs beneath the streets, built to protect water sources and create escape routes from the fortress. Inside a nearby rock cone, the Church of St. Basil contains early Christian frescoes on its walls - access requires climbing steep, uneven steps.
Transport Connections
Minibuses run regularly between Uçhisar and nearby towns: Göreme (5 km, 10-minute drive), Nevşehir (8 km, 10-minute drive), and Ürgüp (10 km, 20-minute drive). You can catch long-distance buses from Nevşehir's central station or fly into Kayseri Airport. Local travel agencies in the village center arrange day tours to surrounding sites.
Wine Tasting
Kocabag Winery produces wines using local grape varieties Emir and Kalecik Karası. The winery's tasting room explains how the volcanic soil and continental climate influence the wine's characteristics. You can visit without appointment during daytime hours.
