Derinkuyu is a small town in Cappadocia whose main claim to fame lies entirely underground. Beneath the modern streets is one of the largest and most extraordinary underground cities ever discovered — an ancient subterranean complex carved from the soft volcanic tuff that descends at least eight floors and could shelter tens of thousands of people. It was likely built or expanded by early Christians fleeing Roman and later Arab raids, and the city includes living quarters, stables, storage rooms, churches, and wineries, all connected by narrow tunnels that could be sealed from the inside with large rolling stone doors.
The Derinkuyu Underground City is open to visitors and takes an hour or two to explore. The deepest accessible levels are genuinely claustrophobic, and the engineering — ventilation shafts, wells shared between floors, strategically placed bottlenecks — is remarkable for its period. In the town centre, the Sts. Constantine and Helen Church is a remnant of the Greek Orthodox community expelled in 1923, now serving as a mosque. Derinkuyu is 30 kilometres south of Nevşehir and easily visited by bus or on a day tour from Göreme.