A Day in Pamukkale, Turkey

If you’re in Turkey, you must spend a day in Pamukkale. Pamukkale (meaning cotton castle) is a site in western Turkey famous for its mineral rich thermal pools. Hieropolis, the ancient Greco-Roman city, was built on top of this cotton castle in the early 2nd century BC. Pamukkale is now one of Turkey’s most famous tourist destinations, with thousands visiting annually. There are 17 hot water springs, which range from 35 to 100 degrees celsius.

Pamukkale was high on my bucket list, so I had no choice but to make time to visit. I made the journey over on the last leg of my trip in Turkey. After a long bus ride from Cappadocia, I arrived in the early morning around 6. With two hours to spare until the park opened, I stored my luggage at the bus station and had some breakfast with a Korean guy I befriended on the bus ride over. Getting to the park was pretty easy; it was about a 5 minute walk from the bus station.

We paid 25 lira each and got our tickets. We immediately took our shoes off and began our journey across the pure white limestone.

At first glance, the limestone seemed like a mountain of snow. Before taking my first step onto the stone, I anticipated it to be ice-cold, but to my surprise, it wasn’t bad at all. Chilly, but nothing too serious. It was early March (non tourist season) and right after the park opened. As you can imagine, it was as free as one could ask for.

It was one of the most beautiful sites I’ve ever seen, even more beautiful knowing I had much of it to myself. I sat with my feet in the thermal pool as I gazed into the mountains.

The water was the perfect temperature, I can’t recall exactly how hot, but definitely comfortable to the point where one could stay in for a period of time.

You are free to get in the water, but I opted not to since I didn’t have any swimming trunks. The locals didn’t seem to mind however, I saw a few just hop in with their underwear on.

It took about an hour for my friend and I to reach the top given all the photos and resting we did.

When we finally reached the top, I was surprised to see an entire site of Roman ruins! Before I visited Pamukkale, I just did a quick Google search and only saw the thermal pools. I didn’t think much of what would be at the top. But now that I think about it, it made sense for city to be built on top of the thermal pools, it was the perfect place!

I worked up a sweat from all the walking and got some ice cream before visiting the ruins.

I had never visited Italy or Greece, so seeing Roman ruins was a first for me and I was excited. I immediately rushed to the first place in sight and climbed on everything like a child at the park. The amphitheatre was stunning. I sat down for a bit and tried to imagine what life might’ve been like here in the past.

Surprisingly, the writing was still intact after all these years! Though I couldn’t understand what any of it meant, I was fascinated by it all.

The area is quite large, but there are signs around to help you in case you get lost. It took my friend and I a few hours to check everything out.

The further from the thermal pools we went, the more interesting the sites became. I really enjoyed this particular area because of how well put together it was. You could get a clearer picture of how advanced this society was being here.

By mid afternoon we finished seeing everything. With hours to spare until my night bus back to Istanbul, I spent some time walking around the city, which had nothing to offer.

There is absolutely NO need to spend the night or spend more than a day in Pamukkale. You can visit both sites, the thermal pools and ruins in 5 hours max. Your best option is to take the night bus to your next destination to save money on hotels.

While Pamukkale is only worth a day, is without a doubt a must see in Turkey. Where else can you visit mineral rich thermal pools and an ancient civilization in the same place?