Top 10 Volcanoes in Turkey
Turkey sits where the Arabian and African plates push north into Eurasia. The collision pushes the Anatolian plate westward and triggers volcanism across central and eastern Anatolia. Cappadocia is not a quirky tourist destination but the eroded heart of a vast volcanic province.
1. Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı)
Turkey's highest mountain at 5,137 m, a stratovolcano near the Iranian and Armenian borders. Last eruption around 1840. Climbed in 4–5 days from Doğubayazıt under permit.
2. Erciyes Dağı
A 3,917-m stratovolcano east of Kayseri whose volcanic flows underlie much of central Cappadocia. Skied in winter, climbed in summer. Last eruptions in the Holocene; still considered potentially active.
3. Hasan Dağı
A double-peaked stratovolcano (3,253 m) at the western edge of Cappadocia. The famous Çatalhöyük wall painting that may depict its eruption around 6700 BCE is one of the oldest known images of a volcano.
4. Nemrut (Tatvan)
A caldera volcano at the western end of Lake Van, with a crater lake inside its 7-km caldera. Last erupted in 1597. Easy to visit by road from Tatvan in summer.
5. Süphan
A 4,058-m stratovolcano north of Lake Van. Older than Nemrut, with no historic eruptions but with extensive Holocene lava flows. A long trekking objective.
6. Tendürek
A broad shield volcano west of Mount Ararat, with hot springs and small Holocene flows. Less spectacular than its neighbour Ararat but geologically just as active.
7. Karadağ
An eroded stratovolcano on the Konya plain, dating from the late Miocene. The ruins of the Hittite-era settlements on its flanks predate modern Konya by millennia.
8. Karacadağ
A shield volcano in south-east Turkey near Diyarbakır, important in the early history of wheat domestication — wild einkorn from these volcanic slopes is the ancestor of bread wheat.
9. Kula
A monogenetic volcanic field in western Turkey, with around 80 small cones, Holocene lava flows and a UNESCO Global Geopark. Some flows are less than 10,000 years old.
10. Cappadocia volcanic province
Not a single volcano but the eroded ignimbrite deposits of several large eruptions from Erciyes, Hasan and Göllüdağ. The fairy chimneys are soft tuff eroded by water and wind into the world's most photographed volcanic landscape.
Why Turkey is volcanic
The Arabian Plate is colliding northwards into Eurasia at about 2 cm/year. Above the thickened crust, partial melting and crustal extension produce both calc-alkaline arc volcanism and intraplate alkaline basalts. The result: a country that is part Mediterranean, part Caucasus, and all volcanic underfoot.
Safety and access
Ararat requires permits and trekking experience. Cappadocia is fully open and visited by millions a year. Eastern volcanoes near Van and the Iranian border can be subject to access controls — always check current conditions before travel.
On the map
Open the map and filter to Turkey to see the volcanic centres strung across central and eastern Anatolia — a country that wears its geology on its surface.