Pamukkale Thermal Pools and Hierapolis

A visit to the glistening white travertines or the Pamukkale Thermal Pools and Hierapolis, the ancient city ruins more than justifies a 1 day trip to Pamukkale (literally translating to Cotton Castle). These white travertines are cascading saucer shaped limestone terraces filled with the water from thermal springs. Travertines are a natural geological phenomenon also found in other places like Bagni San Filippo in Tuscany (Italy) and Huanglong in Sichuan (China) among others.  It can be easily done as a day trip from Izmir, Bodrum or Denizli (adjoining city and textile capital of Turkey).

If you’re driving to the Pamukkale turkey thermal pools yourself and don’t know Turkish, just follow Google maps. It is accurate and works well in Turkey. People in Denizli (the adjoining city) and surrounding areas don’t know English and trying to stop and get directions may not bear any fruits. Talking of fruits, Don’t forget to notice the pomegranate orchards along the road, laden with fruits (Aug and September) on your way to Pamukkale (around 15mins away from the travertines). 

Distances and Road Conditions:
Pamukkale is around 3hrs driving from Izmir and 3.5hrs from Bodrum. The roads are well maintained, however there are stretches without a street light. Driving after sun down is avoidable so starting early after a sumptuous breakfast will help. The kids can then doze off for the driving time and be fresh for the long walk in Pamukkale.

If you’re driving from Izmir, do notice The Burger King constructed as an overbridge on the road.

The travertines or thermal pools are shallow accumulation of natural spring water, Formed like terraces, you can enter these shallow pools and sit in them for a while too if you wish. Having a swimsuit on or something similar to that, may be a good idea.

Opening Time: In summers it opens at 8am and stays open till 9pm every day. In winters (Oct – April) the timings are from 8:30am to 5pm. The Hierapolis Archaeology Museum is open from 9 in the morning until 12:30 then again in the afternoon from 1:30 until 7pm.  It is closed on Mondays.

Start from the bottom and walk up the top. It is around 2km and the whole walk should take you around an hour or 1.5hrs while going up as you may like to stop and enjoy both the thermal pools and the view.

While coming down, you should be able to do it within 30minutes. These time estimates are when walking with young kids.
At the top of these pools, you will find the Hierapolis ancient site and the antique pool, more popularly known as the Cleopatra pool. You can read more about this in the following section. The travertines are a delicate geological phenomenon and hence stepping on it with shoes is forbidden.  Carry a poly bag/ bag with you to carry your footwear in as you have to walk barefoot in the travertines. No strollers are allowed and its very manageable without the stroller since the incline is not steep and the walk is really pleasant between the pools and flowing water, so kids are bound to love it. Apply a good doze of Sunscreen and carry some for both yourself and the kids as after you take a dip in any of the pools, you will still have to walk in the sun.

As you climb up along the travertines, at the top of these travertines is Ruins of Hierapolis, the museum and Cleopatra Pools. There are also a lot of small food shacks serving fresh juices, ice-cream (its a staple in Turkey) and snacks immediately atop the travertines. From this point there is a short walk of about 2 minutes to the Cleopatra pools, passing the archaeological museum along the way. The Hierapolis ruins are scattered along the way and next to Cleopatra pools too.

These Ruins of Hierapolis are designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with the archaeological museum. The museum encloses the original Roman Baths and houses a display of the smaller and more fragile finds from the site such as coins and other small objects in one of it’s three galleries.  The other two galleries are given over to statues and sarcophagi respectively.
If you’re traveling with younger kids, it may be difficult to spend considerable time in these ruins especially if like us, you’ll be visiting Ephesus either before or after the trip to Pamukkale. My elder one loved Ephesus when we started linking the ruins with some historical stories, essentially in an effort to bring it alive to her. You can see more on Ephesus here.

Cleopatra Pools or the Antique Pool is another key attraction here.There is a minimal entrance ticket for the area and an additional Euro 10 ticket for taking a dip in the pool. The folklore is that this is the same pool, water that Cleopatra used to swim in and there is actually no real evidence of the same. It is not the water from thermal springs, rather the regular municipality water. The pool has a lot of algae and there is nothing much in it to justify that ticket price. Can be missed. Kids are surely going to love it and if you are staying at a hotel what has swimming pool, taking them there instead might be better.

Next to the start gate of the travertines there is a small park, known as the natural park. Activities like boating are offered in this park. So in case you have a lot of time at hand after visiting the Pamukkale thermal pools and Hierapolis, you can think about visiting this too. There is another swimming pool (accessible on a chargeable basis) which is located next to this Natural Park.

There are a lot of restaurants near the starting point of the Pamukkale thermal pools and Hierapolis ruins. In terms of vegetarian food you can expect vegetarian pizza, french fries and turkish Pides. There is always fresh juice and ice cream, no matter where you go.
A small ground next to a mini water park amidst these restaurants doubles up as a paid parking area. You can park there for a whole day in 10TL.

Most of the restaurants also have wash rooms so this will not be a challenge when with kids. Do note that there are no washrooms along the travertines and it can be a 1.5hr long walk.