Cut directly into the limestone cliff face that looms over Amasya's north bank, these rock tombs are the most visually spectacular sight in the city. There are eighteen chambers of varying sizes, ranging from modest niches to full burial rooms with carved facades. The largest date from the second and first centuries BC, when the Kingdom of Pontus was at its height. At night, dramatic floodlighting turns the cliff into a stage set visible from across the river.
You can reach the tombs on foot from the town centre in about twenty minutes, or by car on the road that winds up the gorge. The interior of the chambers is bare — the mummies and grave goods were long ago removed, the latter to be found in the Amasya Museum below. But the site itself, with its carved doorways and the sheer drama of the position above the river, repays a visit. The best light for photographs is late afternoon, when the sun catches the cliff from the west.