7 Tips for Visiting Pamukkale, Turkey

Pamukkale is Turkey’s top tourist destination, attracting over 2 million visitors per year. Pamukkale means “cotton castle” in Turkish, and the main attraction is the cascading travertines, perched on the side of a mountain and overflowing with water supplied by natural hot springs.

Visiting Pamukkale is more than just a day trip from one of Turkey’s many tourist hotspots. If you want to visit this limestone marvel you’ll be going out of your way to do so, spending 2 or 3 days of your holiday including travel. It goes without saying that you probably won’t be coming back here soon, so we’ve got some tips to help you make the most of it. You can read about how to get to Pamukkale here.

1. Start from the bottom

Given that the travertine baths are perched on the side of a mountain, there are two ways to access the site. The first is to drive to the top of the UNESCO world heritage site and walk down, and the other is obviously to start from the bottom and walk up.  We recommend starting from the bottom for several reasons.

Firstly, it’s not as crowded. The tour buses drop everyone off at the top of Pamukkale so it’s nice to get your first impression of Pamukkale without a million people around. Next, the top is only accessible by car, which most people don’t have. If you want the exercise you can walk 1 hour up the long and winding road in the heat, but we suggest saving your energy and starting from the bottom, which is in the centre of Pamukkale town. 

Thirdly, the ancient city of Hierapolis is at the top. So unless you plan on visiting Hierapolis first, you’ll end up unnecessarily yo-yoing up and down the mountain.  

2. A waterproof bag is your friend

To walk on the white travertines you must take off your shoes at the entrance and walk barefoot. The limestone is moist in most places, so it’s not somewhere you want to be resting your backpack. A waterproof bag will store your shoes and protect your backpack, but if you don’t have one a couple of plastic bags will do. 

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3. Allocate one full day

If you want to walk swiftly up and down Pamukkale, it probably won’t take you more than an hour. However, if you’re keen on photography, are looking to enjoy a beautiful day walking outdoors, or want to see the ancient city of Hierapolis, then you definitely need at least 8 hours. 

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If you haven’t already noticed, Clinton and I are obsessed with photography. Getting that one great shot is the main reason we travel to a lot of places. As magnificent as Pamukkale is, it needs beautiful sunlight and shadows in order to reveal the nuances of the white surface, otherwise your camera just won’t pick it up and your photos may look drab. So you need to allocate extra time for when those annoying clouds block your precious sunlight. 

Hoards of tourists will also slow down your day at Pamukkale. They arrive in busloads and it’s very difficult to snap a photo without someone accidentally photobombing your amazing shot. You might find yourself waiting 10 minutes for people to clear away at times. 

4. Don’t ignore Hierapolis

Perched behind the beautiful pools is an equally stunning landscape with ancient Greek and Roman ruins. It’s the remainder of a spa city called Hierapolis, which was eventually abandoned in the 14^thcentury after several earthquakes. Much to our surprise, and probably due to the beautiful gardens, we enjoyed visiting Hierapolis just as much as the travertines!

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A couple was taking their wedding photos at Hierapolis, which is usually a good indication that you’re at a good sightseeing spot. After reaching the top of the travertines, you’ll find yourself roughly in the middle of Heirapolous and it should take you around 1.5 to 2 hours to walk around the ancient city, with photo stops.

5. Stay until sunset

There’s a couple of reasons why you’ll want to stay until sunset. The first is because you’ll get some great shots during the golden hour leading up to sunset. 

The second is because almost everyone is gone by then, so you can really enjoy the beautiful sunset, and a peaceful walk back down the travertines. Even though we started the walk back down after the official closing time, nobody seemed to care.

6. Day-trip from Denizli

If you’re visiting Pamukkale you can either stay in the town itself, or in the nearby city of Denizli. We totally recommend staying in Denizli, which is what we did. Pamukkale is a town made for tourists, so it has tourist prices to go along with it and an unauthentic atmosphere. Denizli on the other hand is a great place to get a feel for real Turkish culture and food, and for a fraction of the price.

We stayed in an Air B&B and caught the minibus to Pamukkale from the Denizli bus station, which took 20 minutes and only cost 4 Turkish lira! If you’re looking for a great place to eat, we recommend Uger Pide. Don’t worry we aren’t getting a cut off this recommendation; a dinner for two costs less than 30 lira, or $5 USD.

7. Don’t be disappointed

The travertines at Pamukkale are supplied by hot springs at the top of the cliff, which are not visible to tourists. In the late 20^thcentury, the water was diverted for use by nearby hotels and simultaneously polluted, which resulted in the travertines turning brown. To combat the issue, water has been diverted away from a large percentage of the travertines for some time now in order for them to recover. The hotels were demolished.

So, don’t be disappointed if you don’t see that perfect view you saw on Instagram because it may have been taken before the water was diverted. Nevertheless, there are still some great spots to capture the sun setting over the reflective surface of the travertine pools.