Göreme Town, Cappadocia, Turkey

Göreme is the favorite Cappadocia touring base for many travelers because of its excellent selection of hotels, inns and pensions, and its proximity to the Göreme Open-Air Museum.

Ürgüp has historically been the tourist center in Cappadocia, but a few decades ago budget travelers discovered the farming town of Avcilar, set in a steep moonscape valley only a mile (1.5 km) from Göreme Open-Air Museum. They started to fill the beds in its simple, cheap family pensions.

Avcilar has been renamed Göreme, more comfortable pensions, hotels and inns have been set in restored Cappadocian houses, good restaurants opened, and now the town is the bustling center of the tourist trade.

With "fairy chimney" pinnacles of volcanic rock rising right in the town center, and cave houses in the valley walls, Göreme is a worthy rival to nearby Ürgüp.

Sensitive local people and foreign residents work hard to preserve the town's beauty. The Göreme Charity Restoration Fund takes donations and organizes volunteers to restore and beautify the town. (If you see one of their donation boxes at a historic site, consider making a donation. It's a worthy cause.)

You reach Göreme via either Nevsehir (bus) or Kayseri (bus, train, plane), the transport hubs for the region (map). Here's how to get to Cappadocia from other parts of Turkey.

Distances & Travel Times

Avanos: 10 km (6 miles) N, 15 minutes

Kayseri: 90 km (56 miles) E, 1.5 hours

Mustafapasa (Sinasos): 8 km (5 miles) S, 15 minutes

Nevsehir: 10 km (6 miles) E, 15 minutes

Uçhisar: 5 km (3 miles) SW, 10 minutes

Ürgüp: 8 km (5 miles) SE, 18 minutes

Göreme Hotels

Göreme Open-Air Museum

Towns of Cappadocia

Cappadocia Hotels

Cappadocia Restaurants