Özkonak Underground City: The Quiet One Near Avanos

Özkonak Underground City is a rock-cut refuge in the town of Özkonak, 14 km from Avanos in northern Cappadocia, carved into the northern slopes of Mount İdiş. Türkiye’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism runs it as a state site, open every day, and its signature is unusual: narrow holes drilled between the floors so people on different levels could talk, and breathe, with every door sealed shut.

You will see the name written both ways — Özkonak and Ozkonak — and it is the same place. Most visitors to Cappadocia go underground at Derinkuyu Underground City or Kaymaklı, in the south. Özkonak sits at the other end of the region, in the hills above the pottery town of Avanos, and in our experience it is the underground city people find when they already know Cappadocia a little and want one more.

What is Özkonak Underground City?

It is one of a great many. The Ministry counts roughly 150 to 200 underground settlements of every size across Cappadocia, carved down into the soft volcanic tuff as hiding places, and expects the number to grow as more are found under villages and towns. Özkonak is one of the few open to the public. Its galleries spread wide rather than plunging deep, joined to one another by tunnels, and like its famous cousins it has an air shaft, a water well, a winery and the great rolling stone doors that sealed each section from the inside.

Who dug it, and when, is the same open question that hangs over all of them. Our story on the history of the underground cities walks through what is known, what is guessed and why dating carved rock is so hard. The account told locally, and repeated in most guides, is that a farmer found Özkonak in the early 1970s while trying to work out where his irrigation water was draining to. We pass that on as the story it is; the Ministry’s own directory records only that the site opened to visitors in 1972.

At Özkonak the rock was drilled so that a whisper could travel between floors with every door rolled shut.

What makes Özkonak different from Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu?

The communication holes. The Ministry describes narrow, elongated openings running between the floors at Özkonak, something it notes is not found at Kaymaklı or Derinkuyu. When the room entrances were sealed against an attack, the same narrow holes, about 5 cm across, kept air moving through the rooms. Your guide will show you where they run; it is a small thing to look at and a large thing to think about, a whole community hiding in the dark and still able to pass word from one level to the next.

You will also read online that Özkonak has ten floors and reaches 40 meters, or that holes above its tunnels were used to pour hot material onto intruders. The Ministry publishes neither the depth nor that use, and we have not been able to confirm them, so we do not repeat them as fact. What the Ministry’s directory does describe is the visit itself: two levels of tunnels, bolt stones, a stable and a winery.

Özkonak vs Kaymaklı vs Derinkuyu: which should you visit?

• Derinkuyu is the deep one — about 85 meters and at least 18 levels, eight of them open, with a church near the bottom. Choose it for the full descent and the sense of scale. Our Derinkuyu underground city tour is built around it.
• Kaymaklı is the gentler one, with wider corridors and fewer levels, and it sits on the same southern road as Derinkuyu.
• Özkonak is the northern one: shallower, more spread out, with the inter-floor holes as its unique feature. In our experience it is usually the quietest of the three.

If you only have time for one underground city, we would still send most first-time visitors to Derinkuyu or Kaymaklı, usually as part of the southern Cappadocia Green Tour. Özkonak earns its place when your days are in the north, when you are staying in or near Avanos, when someone in your group does not want a long steep descent, or when you have seen one of the southern cities and want to compare.

Özkonak Underground City entrance fee and tickets

Özkonak is a ticketed state site. The Ministry sets the price and revises it every year, so we do not print a figure that could be out of date when you read it; the current price is on the official page and at the gate. The Ministry’s museum directory lists the Museum Pass Cappadocia on Özkonak’s page, and Turkish citizens can enter with a MüzeKart — confirm the pass at the ticket office if you are relying on it. Our Cappadocia entrance fees guide explains which sites charge and how the pass arithmetic works. On our tours, tickets are bought in advance with our skip-the-line priority pass, and the ticket cost is charged separately at the state price.

Opening hours and how long to spend

The two official sources disagree, so plan around the earlier time. At the end of September 2026 the Ministry’s museum portal listed Özkonak as open every day from 08:00 to 20:00, with the ticket office closing at 19:15. The Ministry’s museum directory gives seasonal hours instead: 08:00–19:00 in summer, and from 1 October to 1 April 08:00–17:00, with the ticket office closing at 16:15. For an autumn or winter visit, aim to arrive by mid-afternoon.

In our experience, 45 minutes to an hour is enough to walk the open levels without rushing. The passages are low in places, so expect to stoop, and wear shoes with grip — the tuff floors are worn smooth. Underground the temperature barely changes with the seasons, which makes Özkonak a good choice on a hot summer afternoon or a cold winter one.

How to get to Özkonak Underground City

Özkonak is a small town 14 km from Avanos, on the northern side of the Kızılırmak river from the main valleys. Our Cappadocia Red Tour ends its northern loop in Avanos but does not continue to Özkonak, so if you want it, tell us when you book: a private Cappadocia tour or a tailor-made Cappadocia tour can add it after the potters’ workshops in Avanos with little extra driving. To see how the towns and sites sit in relation to one another, use our Cappadocia map, and if you are deciding whether you have time for an extra stop at all, our guide to how many days in Cappadocia will help.