Ihlara Valley Tickets and Tours | GetExperience.com

The Ihlara valley is a green crack in a dry plateau, fourteen kilometres of it. The Melendiz river cut it through volcanic rock and still runs along the bottom. Walls rise a hundred metres and more.

Poplars and willows line the water. That one fact makes the floor unlike anywhere else in Cappadocia, where shade is theoretical.

The churches in the cliffs

Byzantine monks cut chapels into the walls, from the seventh century on. Records count more than a hundred churches. About fifty can still be identified.

• Agacalti — at the foot of the stairs, an Ascension across the dome.
• Yilanli — the Snake Church, and its scenes of hell.
• Kirkdamalti — near Belisirma, painted 1283 to 1295, with a Seljuk sultan in the dedication.
• Selime — at the far end, the largest rock-cut monastery in Cappadocia, begun in the eighth century.

Walking it

Almost nobody walks the full fourteen kilometres, and there is no need to.

A staircase of 382 steps drops into the gorge beside Ihlara village. From the bottom it is three or four kilometres to Belisirma, about two hours with church stops. Restaurants there build platforms over the river.

Going on to Selime makes a day of four or five hours. Most tours walk the short stretch and drive round. That is the sensible one.

Practical

• The stairs. 382 steps down, and the same back up unless a driver meets you at Belisirma. The climb catches people out.
• Temperature. The floor runs cooler than the plateau, the place to be on a July afternoon.
• Winter. The steps ice over and the path stays muddy after rain.
• Kit. Plank bridges and loose stone, so closed shoes; nothing to buy until Belisirma, so water.
• Light. The churches are unlit, and without a phone torch the ceilings stay invisible.
• The gate. A fee is taken at the top of the stairs, and the regional museum pass is accepted.
• Getting here. Forty kilometres from Aksaray, ninety from Goreme, and no useful bus.