Avanos is Cappadocia's pottery town, a place of stone houses on the banks of the Kızılırmak. The "Red River" is the longest river entirely within Türkiye, and its clay has been worked here for thousands of years. Almost every family once had a potter's wheel, and today dozens of workshops open their doors to visitors to show how a water jug is made in three minutes.
An hour here fits into almost any tour of northern Cappadocia, usually alongside Paşabağ and Göreme, and it is one of the few chances on your trip to see real craftsmanship rather than shop-window souvenirs.
A little history
The Hittites were already making pottery from the river's clay more than 3,000 years ago; the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara holds vessels from the area. The Kızılırmak carries a reddish silt that, mixed with the local clay, gives a fine, hard-wearing paste, good for everyday pottery and for decorated pieces alike. For centuries Avanos supplied water jugs, plates and storage jars to the whole of Central Anatolia.
With tourism, the workshops added decorated ceramics in the Iznik and Seljuk styles, with tulips, carnations and birds in blue, red and turquoise, as well as plates with Hittite designs. Some workshops are huge caves with showrooms carved into the rock.
What to see in Avanos
The wheel demonstration
The master potter sits at a traditional kick wheel and, in a few minutes, throws a jug, a bowl and an oil lamp, explaining each step as he goes. He usually invites someone from the group to have a go, and that is when you realise how hard it is to centre the clay.
The painting rooms and the showrooms
In the next rooms, painters decorate the pieces by hand with fine brushes, and then come the showrooms, arranged by style and price. A small hand-painted plate is reasonably priced; the large Iznik-style pieces take weeks of work, and their price reflects it.
The old town
The old town has steep streets of Ottoman stone houses, some with cellars cut into the rock, a mosque in the centre and tea houses on the square where the men play okey, a tile game similar to rummy. A handful of the restored houses now serve as hotels and restaurants.
The bridge and the river
A pedestrian suspension bridge crosses the river, and a riverside promenade with willows and ducks runs along the bank. On the far bank, a market is held on Fridays with produce from the surrounding villages.
The hair museum
In a well-known workshop on the square there is a cave with thousands of locks of hair hanging from the ceiling, left by visitors over the decades. It is a curiosity that amuses some people and unsettles others; you can see it in five minutes.
Tips for your visit
Allow an hour for the workshop and another for the town. The centre and the riverside are flat and easy to explore on foot; only the old quarter climbs uphill.
- Ask the price before they wrap anything; a little bargaining is normal for the large pieces, but not for the small ones.
- Ask them to show you the difference between a hand-painted piece and one decorated with a transfer: you can tell from the back and from the edges of the brushstrokes.
- If you are tempted by a hands-on session, set aside time: making your piece and waiting for it to dry takes more than an hour, and the finished piece is sent on to you afterwards.
Entry and prices
The workshop visit and the demonstration are free; a hands-on session to make your own piece is paid separately. On our tours we choose family-run workshops where there is no pressure to buy, and your guide explains what you are looking at and what is worth buying.
Where it is and how to get there
Avanos is about 8 km north of Göreme, past Çavuşin, and ten minutes from Ürgüp. Local buses run from Göreme and Nevşehir, and by car it takes about a quarter of an hour.
How we visit it on our tours
On the Red Valley, Göreme and Paşabağ day tour, Avanos is the first stop after lunch, before Devrent Valley and Paşabağ. For other crafts worth taking home, read what to buy in Türkiye; to see how Avanos fits into the region, see the complete Cappadocia travel guide.
If you would like a trip with craft stops and no obligation to buy, tell me when you plan your tailor-made trip.