Pamukkale: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Pamukkale means cotton castle: hot springs full of dissolved lime have poured down a cliff for thousands of years and left a slope of white stone pools some two hundred metres high. On top stands Hierapolis, a Roman spa city. You walk up the terraces barefoot — shoes are forbidden on them. Two hours; the light is best near sunset.
A short history of Pamukkale
Over thousands of years, the hot water flowing down the cliff has left layers of white calcium on it, hence the name, which means "cotton castle" in Turkish. In the 2nd century BC the kings of Pergamon founded the city of Hierapolis above the cliff, and it became a spa town. An earthquake destroyed it in AD 60, and it was rebuilt. According to Christian tradition, the Apostle Philip died there. In 1988 Pamukkale and Hierapolis were declared a World Heritage Site, and the hotels built on the cliff were later demolished to stop the damage to the terraces.
The ten best sights in Pamukkale
1Pamukkale villageThe village at the foot of the white cliff; the lower entrance
-
2Travertine Terraces
Walk up the white terraces barefoot; go at sunset
3Antique PoolSwim in warm spring water among fallen Roman columns
-
4Hierapolis Museum
Sculpture from the theatre in the Roman baths
5PloutonionThe Gate to Hell, a cave of deadly gas
-
6Hierapolis Theatre
A great Roman theatre on the hillside
-
7St Philip Martyrium
The shrine where the apostle Philip was said to be martyred
-
8Frontinus Gate
The Roman gate at the end of the colonnaded street
9NecropolisA city of tombs a kilometre long
10KarahayıtA spa village with a red hot spring
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Pamukkale →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Pamukkale:
Free walking tours in Pamukkale
The cotton castle
Pamukkale means cotton castle: hot springs full of dissolved lime have poured down a cliff for thousands of years and left a slope of white stone pools some two hundred metres high. On top stands Hierapolis, a Roman spa city. You walk up the terraces barefoot — shoes are forbidden on them. Two hours; the light is best near sunset.
- Pamukkale village · The village sits at the foot of the white cliff, and from its pond the path starts up the terraces. In the 1970s and 1980s hotels were built on top of the cliff and drew off the spring water, and the terraces began to turn grey; after the site was listed as world heritage in 1988, the hotels were torn down.
- Travertine Terraces · The water comes out of the ground at about thirty-five degrees, full of calcium. As it cools and loses gas, the calcium settles as white travertine, building rims that hold shallow pools. The flow is now channelled in turns so the terraces stay white, and some pools are dry on any given day.
- Antique Pool · A warm spring pool on top, where you swim at about thirty-six degrees over the marble columns of a Roman portico that fell into it in an earthquake. It is called Cleopatra’s Pool, though there is no evidence she ever came here.
- Ploutonion · Ancient writers described a cave here, the gate to the underworld, whose breath killed any animal that went in, while the priests of Cybele walked in unharmed. Italian archaeologists found it in 2013: the cave still gives off carbon dioxide that pools near the ground, deadly to small animals, and the priests probably knew to keep their heads high.
- Hierapolis Theatre · A Roman theatre for more than ten thousand people, cut into the hill above the city in the second century and restored, with its stage building carved in reliefs of Apollo and Artemis. From the top rows the white terraces and the whole valley spread below.
- Hierapolis Museum · The museum is in the city’s Roman baths, whose vaults still stand, and shows the sculpture of the theatre and the sarcophagi of the necropolis. Hierapolis was one of the great spa towns of the Roman world, where the sick came for the water.
The city of the dead and the apostle
North of the pool the Roman city runs along a colonnaded street to a gate, and beyond it lies one of the largest ancient cemeteries in Anatolia — the sick came here for the cure, and many stayed for ever. On the hill above is the shrine of the apostle Philip. Two hours on foot, hot and shadeless in summer.
- Frontinus Gate · A gate of three arches between two round towers, built around 84 AD under the Roman proconsul Julius Frontinus, who later ran the aqueducts of Rome and wrote a book on them. It opens the colonnaded main street of the city.
- Necropolis · More than a thousand tombs line the road for about two kilometres — sarcophagi, house tombs and round mounds — many half-buried in travertine from the springs. Among them are tombs of the city’s Jewish community, carved with a menorah.
- St Philip Martyrium · Christian tradition says the apostle Philip was martyred in Hierapolis in the first century, and in the fifth century an octagonal shrine was built here in his memory. In 2011 Italian archaeologists announced they had found, in a church nearby, a tomb they believe was venerated as his.
- Karahayıt · A spa village five kilometres north where a different spring comes out at about fifty-five degrees, rich in iron, and its deposits are red and orange instead of white. The hotels here pipe it into their pools.
- Travertine Terraces · To finish, walk back down the white terraces at sunset, when the pools turn pink and gold. The stone is rough and wet; it is easier going down slowly, sideways.
- Pamukkale village · Back in the village, the restaurants along the pond look up at the white cliff lit at night. Most visitors come on day trips from the coast; staying the night means the terraces at sunset and early morning without the crowds.
The three cities of the Lycus
Hierapolis was one of three cities in the valley of the Lycus river, with Laodicea and Colossae, all three among the early Christian communities addressed in the New Testament. The Book of Revelation calls Laodicea lukewarm — and the water here explains why. Half a day by car.
- Laodicea · A rich Roman city of banks and wool, with a large Jewish community — in 62 BC the Roman governor Flaccus seized its gold collected for the Temple in Jerusalem, and Cicero defended him in court. In the Book of Revelation the city is scolded for being neither hot nor cold but lukewarm: Hierapolis had hot springs, Colossae cold water, and Laodicea’s water arrived tepid by aqueduct.
- Colossae · The town to which Paul’s Letter to the Colossians was addressed is now only a grassy mound, one of the few major biblical sites never excavated. It was destroyed by an earthquake in the first century and later abandoned.
- Kaklık Cave · A cave whose floor is covered with small white travertine terraces made by the same kind of mineral water, so it is called the underground Pamukkale. The story is that it was found when a shepherd’s sheep fell into a hole.
- Denizli · The city of the valley is known for its rooster, a long-crowing breed with a statue in every square, and for Denizli kebab: lamb roasted in a pit oven and sold by weight on paper.
- Buldan · A hill town of old Ottoman houses whose weavers have made a thin cotton cloth on hand looms for centuries; the town’s cloth was sought in the Ottoman palace. Shops still sell it by the metre and as towels and scarves.
- Karahayıt · On the way back, the red spring of the spa village, a reminder that the same valley holds hot, warm and cold waters side by side — the geology behind the line in Revelation.
Getting to Pamukkale and getting around
- Denizli Airport · About an hour by shuttle; most visitors come by road from the coast
- Denizli Station · Trains from İzmir; minibuses to Pamukkale from the bus station next door
Cheap eats in Pamukkale
The Denizli valley eats inland Aegean food: Denizli kebab, lamb roasted for hours in a pit oven and served on thin bread with onion; gözleme from the village women; and fruit — pomegranates, figs and grapes from the vineyards of Çal, where wine has been made since antiquity. A portion of kebab sold by weight on paper costs a few euro.
- Denizli · Pit-roast lamb by weight
- Pamukkale village · Gözleme and pomegranate juice under the cliff
- Karahayıt · Village breakfast in the spa town
- Buldan · Home cooking in the weaving town
- Laodicea · Wine of the Çal hills nearby
Museums in Pamukkale
The valley is an open-air museum of Roman Asia: a spa city, a banking city, an unexcavated biblical mound, and a museum in the Roman baths.
- Hierapolis Museum · Theatre reliefs in the Roman baths
- Laodicea · Colonnaded streets being rebuilt
- Ploutonion · The rediscovered Gate to Hell
- Necropolis · Tombs including Jewish ones
- Colossae · The unexcavated mound
Nature and day trips near Pamukkale
The valley sits on a fault line full of hot springs, which build white and red stone wherever they flow, above ground and below.
- Travertine Terraces · The white terraces barefoot
- Karahayıt · The red spring
- Kaklık Cave · Terraces underground
- Antique Pool · Warm water over Roman columns
Things to do in Pamukkale with kids
Children love walking barefoot in the warm pools, swimming over Roman columns and the cave of terraces.
- Travertine Terraces · Paddle in the warm pools
- Antique Pool · Swim over the columns
- Hierapolis Theatre · Climb to the top row
- Kaklık Cave · A small cave of white terraces
Holy places in Pamukkale
The Lycus valley holds three of the earliest Christian communities, a shrine of the apostle Philip, and traces of the Jewish communities that lived here before them.
- St Philip Martyrium · The apostle’s shrine
- Laodicea · One of the seven churches of Revelation
- Colossae · The town of Paul’s letter
- Necropolis · Menorahs carved on the tombs
Nightlife in Pamukkale
Pamukkale is a village and its nights are quiet: dinner facing the lit-up cliff and a warm pool in a spa hotel at Karahayıt.
- Pamukkale village · Dinner facing the white cliff at night
- Karahayıt · Thermal pools after dark
- Travertine Terraces · Sunset on the terraces
Frequently asked questions about Pamukkale
What is there to see in Pamukkale?
The top sights in Pamukkale are Pamukkale village, Travertine Terraces and Antique Pool. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Pamukkale?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Pamukkale without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Pamukkale?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Pamukkale, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The cotton castle.
How do you get to Pamukkale and get around?
The main ways are Denizli Airport and Denizli Station. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Pamukkale, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Pamukkale that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Pamukkale for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.