Bulak Mencilis Cave

About this place

The water you drink in Safranbolu comes out of this cave. Beneath the village of Bulak, a mere eight kilometres from the Ottoman mansions, a system of passages runs for somewhere between five and six kilometres on three levels, with a living underground river at the bottom that feeds the town's spring. That length puts Mencilis among the five longest caves in Türkiye, yet what a visitor actually sees is about 400 metres of the middle level: a lit metal walkway threading between columns, curtain formations and small pools, ending where the stream drops 10-15 metres and vanishes into a siphon. The tour is short, the impression strong, and outside the summer holidays you will rarely share it with more than a handful of people. The real price is not the ticket but the stairs. The entrance sits some 75 metres above the valley floor, reached by around 150 steps up and then the same back down. For teenagers and school-age children it is a stroll; older visitors and anyone with a pushchair should know the buggy stays in the car and the climb needs breath. Inside, the floor is damp and the handrail wet, so trainers are a requirement rather than a preference. The temperature holds at roughly 12 degrees all year, a blessing on an August afternoon and a chill if you walk in wearing a summer shirt. Bring a light layer. There is no public transport to Bulak. By car or taxi from Safranbolu it is 15-20 minutes via the Karabük road, and taxi drivers are used to waiting at the bottom. For the 2026 season the adult ticket is 140 lira, paid at the gate; the cave is run by Karabük's provincial special administration (İl Özel İdaresi), not the Culture Ministry, so the Museum Pass is useless here. Doors open 08:00-19:00 according to the administration's September 2026 notice, but note the catch: these hours are set by decree and have changed at short notice before, and the cave may run shorter hours or close for maintenance in winter, so anyone heading to snowy Safranbolu in January should ring the administration on 0370 415 09 32 before driving out to Bulak. Worth half a day? Yes if you are spending two nights in Safranbolu and have exhausted the hammam and the bazaar, and certainly yes with children of exploring age; pair it with the nearby İncekaya glass terrace, run by the same administration, and you have a full morning. If you have only a few hours in town, the old houses come first.