Things to do in Zelve Open-Air Museum

Zelve was an inhabited valley village until the Turkish government evacuated it in the 1950s, after decades of rockfalls made the soft tuff dwellings too dangerous to live in.

Unlike Paşabağ's freestanding fairy chimneys ten minutes away, Zelve is a maze of three connecting valleys where homes, a rock-cut church and an old mill sit empty in the cliff face, left as they were abandoned.

Walking all three valleys takes 45 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, with narrow passages, steep steps and a few ladders that rule out anyone unsteady on their feet. Several tunnels and upper galleries are closed off for safety, and loose rock underfoot means this is not a site for flip-flops.