Yerköprü Mağarası

Useful Information

Location:	(37.0287447, 32.7000704)
Open:	no restrictions. [2025]
Fee:	free. [2025]
Classification:	Erosional Cave Suffosional Caves
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:	L=500 m.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

Although the site is known as Yerköprü Mağarası (Natural Bridge Cave) it is actually better called Yerköprü Şelalesi (Natural Bridge Waterfall). It is a rather strange and quite interesting karst related feature, and there is a cave which is not accessible as far as we know. The whole site is the result of a landslide, which blocked the river Göksu. A tributary named Karasu started to flow across this landslide and deposit tufa on top. But after some time the water was able to erode the unsolidified sediments of the landslide, gravel and sand, and create a strange cave. It is actually an erosional cave, of the rare type claystone cave, which is scientifically named suffosional cave. The covering layer of tufa now forms the roof of the cave, similar to a natural bridge, which is the explanation for the strange name.

The site was developed as a tourist site during the last years. It started with a local association founded by the locals to create a picnic area at the waterfall in the 2000s. Around 2020 the site was massively developed. There are now huge parking lots on both sides of the river, and there is a bridge across the river, as well as a restaurant and café. However, the site is not well published for unknown reasons, and there are many contradictory infos on the web. Even the Google Maps and OpenStreetMap locations are definitely wrong. We can only guess that the site is unfortunately far from the main tourist centers and thus there is little tourism. That’s probably the reason why it is not a So if you visit the site, please send us reliable data on open hours, fees, and especially the cave.