Soğanlı Valley

About this place

Soğanlı Valley lies in the Yeşilhisar district of Kayseri Province, in the southeastern part of Cappadocia in central Turkey, about 40 km south of Nevşehir in a straight line. It was once known as Soandos. The valley holds many churches and buildings carved into the soft tuff that shapes the Cappadocian landscape. The village of Lower Soğanlı stands at its southeastern end, and the valley splits into northern and southern parts at Upper Soğanlı. Byzantine monks lived here from the 9th to the 13th centuries, and about a hundred churches with carved houses and cloisters have been found, most now buried or ruined, along with rock-cut dovecotes. The quiet green valley runs between cream and brown rock walls pierced by carved doorways and windows, with rock cones like fairy-tale castles. Poplars and walnut trees grow on its floor, with dry plateaus around. Visitors walk the trails among caves and rock cones, see the carved church facades from outside and eat in the village. The valley is far quieter than central Cappadocia and makes a half-day trip from Göreme or Ürgüp.