Things to do in Aksaray
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Aksaray
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Late April to early June is a best window, with a green gorge, the river running and walkable plateau temperatures.
September to mid October is the other best window, and gorge poplars turn gold later in October.
Summer is hot on the plateau, but Ihlara's shaded gorge is a fine early walk and Tuz Gölü dries to a walkable crust.
Winter is the worst season for most visitors, with snow normal at about 980 m, icy gorge stairs and thinner village services.
What's on
- Ihlara Valley culture and tourism festival summer season, dates vary by year
Village concerts, folk dance and valley events centred on Güzelyurt and the valley, in most years in summer.
- Hasan Dağı paragliding meets summer to early autumn flying season
Competition and meet flying brings pilots to Helvadere and the launch terraces, the best weeks to find tandem pilots active.
- Somuncu Baba commemorations dates vary by year
Devotional commemorations in Aksaray city for the Sufi whose tomb complex is a living pilgrimage site.
- Republic Day 29 October
A national holiday when domestic travel surges across the province, as at Ramazan Bayramı and Kurban Bayramı.
Best things to do in Aksaray
Ihlara Valley
A 14 km river gorge of poplars and frescoed cave churches, walked from Ihlara village to a riverside lunch at Belisırma.
Selime Monastery
The largest rock cut monastery in Cappadocia, a cathedral sized church, vast kitchen and stables inside a fairy chimney hill.
Güzelyurt Monastery Valley
A quiet valley of rock cut churches and cave dwellings wrapped around a Greek Ottoman stone village, with almost no crowds.
Saratlı Kırkgöz Underground City
A three floor underground city 22 km from Aksaray with a well, a tandoor and millstone doors, far calmer than Derinkuyu.
Aksaray Museum
The province primer, with Aşıklı Höyük finds, a Hittite stele and a famous hall of Byzantine era mummies including two cats.
Zinciriye Medresesi
Aksaray's most beautiful building, a Seljuk madrasa with a great carved portal and a calm three eyvan courtyard by the main square.
Eğri Minare
A red brick Seljuk minaret of 1236 leaning off vertical by the Melendiz River, a charming five minute stop on the centre walk.
Sultanhanı Caravanserai
The largest and best preserved Seljuk caravanserai in Turkey, a Silk Road fortress inn with a monumental gate and vaulted hall.
Where to stay in Aksaray
Güzelyurt
Ihlara, Selime and walkers
A Greek Ottoman stone village minutes from Monastery Valley and about 20 minutes from Ihlara, silent at night by design.
Aksaray centre
food, transport, Seljuk sights and value
The province's best restaurants, bus connections and cheapest good hotels, 40 to 50 minutes by car from Ihlara.
Ihlara village
the gorge itself, for one night
Small family pensions at the valley stairs, so you can be in the gorge at dawn before any tour bus arrives.
Think twice about
- Highway and otogar fringe east of Aksaray centre
Noisy all night, unwalkable and with nothing of the city in strolling distance. Fine for a bed and a car park, depressing as a base.
- Sultanhanı town as a base
One magnificent caravanserai but effectively no visitor accommodation or evening life. Visit it, then sleep elsewhere.
- Industrial estates on the Konya road outskirts
Motel style properties in cheap listings that are exactly what they look like, far from the centre and the sights.
Best restaurants in Aksaray
Mustafa Chef Restaurant
The city's special occasion steakhouse, steaks and grills in the smartest dining room in the province outside the big hotels.
Seyri Keyif Et Balık
A grill and fish terrace at the Hasan Dağı paragliding base, with breakfast by day and dinner above the whole Melendiz plain.
Kardeşler Restoran
The city's named house for etli ekmek and slow oven kebab, in a full, noisy, local dining room on the main food streets.
Ömür Baba Çorba Kebap
Soup first, then kebabs, served from 8am until 2am on cafe street, the most useful late kitchen in a city that closes early.
Belisırma Restaurant
Fresh trout on platforms over the Melendiz River at the mid point of the Ihlara walk, with your feet in the water in summer.
Kurtuluş Pide
A reliable wood fired pide salon at local prices near the centre, the lunch a taxi driver would name if you asked where he eats.
Sultan Lahmacun & Etli Ekmek
Thin, crisp lahmacun and etli ekmek at inexpensive prices, the quickest way to eat the region's two signature flatbreads at once.
Yaprak Döner
One of the city's oldest lokantas, leaf döner and İskender at inexpensive prices, open from 7am on Bankalar Caddesi.
Outdoor things to do in Aksaray
Cappadocia Green Tour
The southern Cappadocia circuit of an underground city, the Ihlara hike, a Belisırma lunch and Selime, best joined from the west.
Hasan Dağı
Drive to the volcano's foot for the pond reflection at Helvadere and a terrace meal above the Melendiz plain, no climbing needed.
Mount Hasan Summit Trail
A long guided summer ascent of the 3,268 m dormant volcano, over scree and old lava to a crater rim above all of Cappadocia.
Hasan Dağı Paragliding Launch
Tandem flights from an established competition mountain, with long thermal rides over the plain toward Aksaray on a good day.
Narlıgöl
A small, deep, heart shaped crater lake in the dry steppe south of Güzelyurt, good for a quiet walk around the shore and a picnic.
Derinkuyu Underground City
The deepest and most famous underground city, an hour east, best entered at opening time before the tour groups fill the tunnels.
Kaymaklı Underground City
Derinkuyu's sprawling sibling city, a little easier to read and usually a little calmer, about an hour east of Aksaray bases.
Tuz Gölü
A vast salt lake north of Aksaray, walkable white crust in summer and a mirror at sunset, with flamingos in the shallows in season.
Best hotels in Aksaray
Continent Hotel Kapadokus Thermal - Ihlara Valley Cappadocia
The province's one resort tier hotel, a thermal spa property near Ihlara for a pool and massage after the gorge hike.
Kapadokya Ihlara Konakları Antik Gelveri Konağı
A historic Gelveri stone mansion hotel in Güzelyurt, at the door of Monastery Valley and 20 minutes from Ihlara.
Cappadocia Ihlara Mansions & Caves
Stone mansion and cave rooms in Güzelyurt, the closest an Aksaray base gets to a cave hotel at a fraction of Göreme prices.
Grand Altuntaş Hotel
The city flagship above Aksaray, with a pool under a glass atrium, a full spa and a dining room travellers detour to for lunch.
Ağaçlı Hotel
A full service road trip hotel by the main junction, praised for breakfast and value, with an easy exit toward Konya or Nevşehir.
Otel Ahsaray
A modern, clean, well run value hotel at the edge of the centre, the city's best cheap night's sleep with breakfast.
Akar Pansiyon
A family pension a short walk from the Ihlara Valley entrance, for being at the stairs at dawn before any tour bus arrives.
Is Aksaray expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | TRY 1,800 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | TRY 3,500 a person |
| Splurge | TRY 7,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Cappadocia Green Tour: a few days ahead
- Mount Hasan Summit Trail: a few days ahead
- Hasan Dağı Paragliding Launch: a few days ahead
- Continent Hotel Kapadokus Thermal - Ihlara Valley Cappadocia: a few days ahead
- Kapadokya Ihlara Konakları Antik Gelveri Konağı: weeks ahead
- Cappadocia Ihlara Mansions & Caves: weeks ahead
- Grand Altuntaş Hotel: a few days ahead
- Akar Pansiyon: a few days ahead
- Book Güzelyurt's two mansion hotels weeks ahead for May, September and Turkish holiday weekends, as room counts are tiny.
- Grand Altuntaş fills with weddings and events in summer, so reserve a specific room type.
- A private Green Tour, a named Hasan Dağı guide and tandem paragliding all need a few days of notice in season.
Is Aksaray safe?
- Rural Anatolian driving is the serious risk, so drive defensively and avoid night drives on unfamiliar plateau roads.
- Selime's rock is treacherous when wet, the Ihlara stairway is long, and Hasan Dağı adds altitude, weather and scree.
- Underground cities are a hard no for claustrophobia or serious mobility limits, with low tunnels and no early exit.
- Aksaray is conservative, so alcohol is scarce outside big hotels and modest dress draws less attention in the villages.
Aksaray travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Green Tour shopping stops at onyx, gem and sweet shops burn an hour, so choose operators that minimise them or self drive.
- At Belisırma, confirm the trout price before it is cooked and check the bill against the menu.
- At Selime, park in the official lot, as reviewers report payment demands on dirt areas that are not the car park.
- Do not book a cheap Aksaray or Güzelyurt room as a balloon base, as Göreme's launch fields are 80 to 100 km away.
Getting around Aksaray: public transport and more
- A car is close to essential, as Ihlara is about 40 km, Güzelyurt about 45 km and Sultanhanı about 42 km from the city.
- Nevşehir Kapadokya Airport is about an hour away, Kayseri has far more flights, and Ankara is about 3 hours via Tuz Gölü.
- At Ihlara, walk to Belisırma and taxi back on the road rather than retracing the gorge, and carry water and a head torch.
- The Seljuk centre of Ulu Cami, Zinciriye and Eğri Minare is flat and walkable, but the museum needs a short taxi.
Who Aksaray suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Aksaray your trip
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