Göreme National Park

Göreme National Park covers 95.72 km² of surreal volcanic tuff landscape in the heart of Cappadocia, central Turkey, and has held UNESCO World Heritage status since 1985 — one of only two natural World Heritage sites in the country. Early Christian monks began carving churches, chapels and monasteries into the soft tuff rock from the 4th century onward, covering their interiors with Byzantine frescoes that survive to this day. The Göreme Open-Air Museum, the park's focal point, concentrates more than a dozen of these rock-cut churches within walking distance of each other. Hikers can follow marked trails through the Rose, Pigeon and Ihlara valleys, while dawn hot-air balloon flights above the fairy chimneys have become the defining visual of modern Cappadocia.