(07190) Döşemealtı - Unnamed road

Roadside parking to get to Kocain Cave. I’m adding this place not because it is particularly good, but to let you know about the parking possibilities when visiting Kocain Cave. There is a closed barrier that prevents cars to drive up the gravel track to the cave. In front of the barrier there is space for 2 vans to park on the side of the track. If it is full or if you are arriving with a very long vehicle or one with low clearance, you can find various road-side parkings along the “main” road a bit further south from the junction where the track branches off. Jandarma came and told us that this is a “forbidden area”. I suppose that this is a natural park and staying overnight is forbidden; we did not have any problems parking here in the day. To get to the cave you have to walk or cycle the gravel track for 3.8 km. It goes uphill but is not steep, by bicycle only the first bit is a bit rough. The way is absolutely worth it. The cave covers an area of 608 060 m², and most of its rooms are larger than the inside of a cathedral. This is really on the opposite end of the spectrum than some of those narrow wild caves that you sometimes see people squeeze through in videos. Because it is so spacious, it is worth to bring a really bright light so that it can reach the ceiling and walls that are so far away. Inside it is a bit less than 15 °C, so it is good to bring warm clothes. I spent a bit more than one hour discovering the cave, and you can spend much more. There are also some ancient cisterns in the cave, and apparently there are supposed to be some inscriptions on the walls (I did not see them). There is no infrastructure at the cave except for some picnic tables, a trash bin and a Turkish toilet with running (non-drinkable) water and even soap.