AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Güresentepe Pass (Güresentepe Geçidi) is a high road crossing at about 2,180 m in the Melendiz Dağı range, just north of Niğde in Central Anatolia. The Google Maps waypoint "Güresentepe-2180 Mt." marks this summit of the pass, where the paved Niğde–Çiftlik road crests the divide between the southern Niğde–Bor plain and the northern Çiftlik (Melendiz) plain.↗
It is chiefly a scenic mountain drive and a roadside viewpoint rather than a developed attraction: open Anatolian plateau landscapes, distant volcanic peaks and a cool, breezy highland air reward travelers who stop at the top.
A high crossing over the Melendis massif
The pass links the city of Niğde with the towns of Yeşilburç, Çiftlik and Güzelyurt on the way toward Aksaray, threading a route across the broad volcanic spine of Melendiz Dağı. At roughly 2,180 m, the crest sits high above the surrounding plains, and on clear days the view sweeps across open steppe in one direction and the rolling volcanic uplands in the other. Melendiz itself is one of Central Anatolia's most extensive volcanic masses, its slopes long used as summer pastures (yayla) and fringed by highland valleys and small crater lakes, so the drive across the pass gives a taste of that wilder, elevated landscape.
