Çankırı sits north of Ankara on the road toward the Black Sea, a modern provincial city with older streets climbing toward a castle hill. It is not polished, and that is part of its use: you get a conservative Central Anatolian town with real daily life, a handful of Seljuk and Ottoman buildings, and one strange underground sight that is worth the detour.
The headline is the Çankırı Salt Cave, an old rock-salt mine southeast of town whose galleries have been opened as an underground visitor site. In the centre, the museum gives the place more depth, especially with fossils from the nearby Çorakyerler excavations, while Taş Mescit and the Great Mosque anchor the old religious core.
Çankırı is best as a spare day from Ankara or a break on a longer north-south drive. It will not compete with Safranbolu for beauty, but the salt cave, museum, and old centre make it more than a highway stop.