Pamukkale is a true Turkish natural wonder, which has almost no rivals in the world. Tourists often call this place the “White Mountain”, and the locals know it by the “cotton castle” name, because that’s how the Pamukkale name is translated. It’s not for nothing, since Pamukkale is a thermal spring formed by snow-white travertines cascading down the hill. This beauty can be seen from afar. It’s astonishing to see a snow-white hill suddenly appearing out of nowhere in the middle of a common Turkish summer landscape, looking just like white snow.
Pamukkale — description
The Pamukkale complex is the pearl of Turkey. It’s listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as the ancient city of Hierapolis located nearby. This place is the most popular and visited by tourists and locals. Pamukkale consists of 17 thermal springs. Their water temperature ranges from 35 to 100 degrees Celsius. These springs form the white terraces.
The water is rich in calcium. It has been flowing down the hillsides for many millennia, becoming hard and forming these snow-white terraces. People believe that this water has healing properties. In some terraces it’s about knee-deep, so you can fully plunge into it, lie down, enjoying magnificent views.
Besides calcium, the milk-blue water is also rich in magnesium, sodium sulfate, and hydrocarbons. When stepping into the water, you can feel a liquid mass resembling soft light gray clay at the bottom. 15-20 years ago, almost all travertines were opened for tourists. But for last few years only a small part of them has been available. The cascades of small travertines that you can often see in advertising booklets are now dried up and totally closed to the public. What’s the reason?
It happened so that the Turks realized that the healing water kept flowing from the earth all the time. So, they decided to use it not only for tourism but constructed water pipes and headed them into hotels and nearby villages. At the mountain top, they built 2 large hotels. All these activities made the water decay, the travertines turned yellow and dried out. Only then the Turks began to worry.
In 1998, after the Pamukkale geothermal complex was listed as a UNESCO heritage site, all hotels on the mountain were demolished. The water and unique travertines were taken under protection. Now, in the travertines you can walk only barefoot. Guards patrol the complex and protect the natural wonder from any damage that can be imposed by people. I think it’s right. Since this place is widely advertised, you can come here from almost anywhere in Turkey, especially from the seacoast. So, the number of tourists coming here is simply incredible. Every day, hundreds of buses bring tourists from all over the world to see the unique Turkish phenomenon. During and after the pandemic, you can feel that there are much fewer tourists. But there are still a lot of them during rush hours. You can only imagine what it used to be before the pandemic, when all the Asian tourists were allowed to enter. That time, there were especially many Chinese here.
Pamukkale on the map
Pamukkale — how to get there
Pamukkale is located in the southeastern part of the country. The nearest to Pamukkale large city is 60 km away – it’s the city of Denizli. In Denizli, there’s an airport, so you can fly here from Istanbul, Antalya, and Dalaman. From the airport, you can get to Pamukkale by bus.
The minimum distance from sea resorts is about 210 km – from Oludeniz, Fethiye, and Marmaris. From the Mediterranean coast, the distance to the Pamukkale springs is 380 km from Alanya, 330 km from Side, 250 km from Antalya, and 280 km from Kemer. The farthest to Pamukkale are Alanya and Side. From there the road will take you 4.5-5 hours. The average travel time from Antalya is 4 hours, from the Aegean Sea resorts (Fethiye, Oludeniz, Marmaris) it’s about 3-3.5 hours. As you can see, it’s a long way, especially considering that you’ll have to cover the same distance back. There are a few ways to get to Pamukkale:
- by rented car
One of the most convenient ways that we use most often. During our last trip in September 2021, we rented a car from rentalcars.com for 2 weeks. We comfortably traveled on our own to all tourist places around Antalya and Oludeniz. I will write more about them in a separate article. The roads in Turkey are excellent. The Turks drive decently, without scorching – all in all, driving a car there is a real pleasure. It’s become even safer during the current pandemic. I recommend!
- with a guided tour.
This is probably the most popular way. As I’ve already mentioned, there are guided tours to Pamukkale from any tourist point of the Turkish coast. Quite often, Pamukkale tours are coupled with a stop at Lake Salda (another Turkish Maldives). We’ve been there too. I highly recommend it! But, as usual, be ready to stop at all sorts of unnecessary souvenir shops on your way and spend your precious time there.
- by public transport.
In your city, you should take a bus to Denizli. Then, make a change for a bus or a minibus to Pamukkale.
Hotels in Pamukkale
A few years ago, tourists could come to Pamukkale for 1 day only. Now, there is a full-fledged tiny village at the foot of the snow-white hill with hotels and places for tourists to rest at. Now, tourists often come to Pamukkale for 1-3 nights to explore the country’s main pearl leisurely, relax, and visit other local attractions. Many people fly to Pamukkale from Istanbul, relax here for a couple of days, and then go to the coast. If you also want to visit Pamukkale for a few days, here is my hotel list:
A hotel that offers magnificent views of Pamukkale. The southern entrance to the Pamukkale complex is just across the street from the hotel.
A hotel where you can have breakfast watching the lake and the snow-white travertines beyond it. Besides, balloons fly to Pamukkale every morning. You can enjoy them when having breakfast at Hotel Sahin.
Pam Thermal Hotel Clinic & Spa
This 5-star hotel is located in Karakhait village, which is famous for its hot springs. At the hotel, you can enjoy hot baths and become a little healthier.
This hotel is located 200 meters from the southern entrance to the Pamukkale complex. On the 4-star hotel’s territory, you can relax and enjoy magnificent views from the terraces.
The old city of Hierapolis
About 4 thousand years ago, the ancient Greeks built Hierapolis city near the Pamukkale springs. They built houses, an amphitheater, a temple, as well as baths. In the 2nd century BC, it was an earthquake, and they had to restore the whole city. That time it was named Hierapolis. Then another earthquake happened, and the city was restored again. After the first earthquake, a cavity with mineral water appeared. Today, it is known as Cleopatra pools. Their water temperature is 36 degrees all year round. Cleopatra pools are located next to the Pamukkale springs and are one of tourist attractions in Turkey. I will write more about them in a separate article.
Pamukkale — ticket price and opening hours
In September 2021, an entire ticket to the Pamukkale springs and the Hierapolis Amphitheater cost 110 liras for adults. They charged 50 liras more for an audio guide. You will need to pay extra for Cleopatra pools that costs 100 liras for an adult.
Opening hours keep changing all the time due to the pandemic. From June 1 to September 30, the opening hours are 6.30-20.00; in winter from 8.00-17.00. If you want to stroll along the travertines when there’re few people, come as early as possible. The groups usually come by 10-10.30. Besides, you can stay at sunset or better spend a night at the hotel right here and come in the morning when the travertines open. Thus, you will be able to better enjoy this great place.
Our visit to Pamukkale and Hierapolis
There are 2 official entrances to Pamukkale. One of them is the southern one, where there are much fewer people than at the second – the northern one. What is the difference between these 2 entrances? The thing is that in the south, you start exploring Pamukkale with travertines, climbing from the bottom to the top. Only then you head to Hierapolis. When entering through the northern entrance, you explore Hierapolis first, and then go to the travertines. The choice is yours.
We arrived at the north entrance since there is a car parking here. There are ticket offices, and you can buy tickets to all the places of interest. Almost all guided tours start at this entrance, as there are 2 large parking lots. Parking costs 10 liras.
Then we went to the ticket offices, where we bought tickets. The old city of Hierapolis opened before us right there. We spared it very little time, exploring only the amphitheater.
At the entrance, we saw this kind of vehicles. If you want them to take you to all the important places at Hierapolis, you will need to pay extra. I think this is a good idea for elderly people or if you come to Pamukkale in July-August – the hottest season in Turkey.
So, we went along the local paths on foot. Even though it was the middle of September, it was very hot!
On the way, we saw these gates and immediately headed to the main attraction of Hierapolis – the amphitheater.
The amphitheater was very impressive! Indeed, some of its elements have been restored. And you can’t walk everywhere – only up and down the stairs. For example, in Aspendos we even come to the stage. We could see white travertines in the distance, so we hurried to them so as not to waste time.
We enjoyed walking along the well-kept paths. Then we headed to the entrance to the travertines. Here, you must take your shoes off – in the travertines it’s only allowed to walk barefoot! At least, aquashoes are forbidden for adults. I saw a few little kids in aquashoes. Probably they were allowed to wear them. Security guards patrol the complex and make sure that all people walk barefoot and don’t go outside the fence.
People simply leave their shoes on the path that adjoins the entrance to the travertine and begin to descend the white stone carefully.
At first, the stone was more of greenish-red color than white, with slippery and even hurting parts. You should be as careful as possible! Meanwhile, a side view of the travertines opens before you. These are the ones that used to be open to the public and filled with water. But now they have dried up – you can see them in all Pamukkale advertising booklets.
The cascading white pools look splendid in the photos, but unfortunately, today they aren’t accessible to the public. A channel has been dug next to them for the water to flow down. Here, you can take a sit and dip your tired feet into the water or even swim as my husband did.
When we all approached the first pool, I was blown away by the number of people in it and my regrets about beautiful photos without people.
Well, what could I do? But my worries turned out to be vain because all I needed is to go down. There were fewer and fewer people in every next pool.
The only thing that made me a little sad was the time we visited Pamukkale. We went there at about 11.30-12.00 p.m., and the sun was shining from the side that was just right for taking photos. As a result, the photos weren’t as bright as I would like them to be. I think that the best time here is 3-4 p.m. and sunset. The sun will be just behind the photographer and beautifully illuminate everything around without dazzling.
The largest crowds were at the top. Below, we saw the southern entrance, with a few people there too. But closer to the bottom there were pools with no people at all.
The lower we descended, the more I admired these snow-white travertines and walls as if made of ice! It’s an incredible place! I’ve never seen anything like it in the world!
Don’t they look like snow-covered mountains that you want to descend on a snowboard?
On our way, we saw both pools with water and empty ones. Besides, some pools were filled with quite cold water, and others were very warm.
It turned out that it was forbidden to climb these “snow-covered” mountains. The guard immediately starts calling you back from below.
From now on, this place is in my heart! Blue water and white walls of “ice”.
An incredible, unique place! To feel it better, go down to the bottom, to the southern entrance, or enter Pamukkale right through the southern entrance.
The water is flowing everywhere, under your feet, and sometimes even from the walls.
It’s a magnificent place, it feels like walking on another planet! I really liked it here and I was inspired by its beauty.
We went down to the bottom, and then slowly up. Then, I decided to swim in Cleopatra pools, but I will write about them in a separate article.