Guide
The Balçova hot springs, also called the Baths of Agamemnon, take their name from the Mycenaean king who led the attack on Troy. The İzmir culture and tourism directorate says the springs appear in Homer's epics and in the writings of the geographer Strabo, and that historical sources tell of soldiers from Alexander the Great's army being treated here for their wounds, although no ancient remains have been found on the site.
In 1763 a Frenchman, recorded as Elfont Mil, brought the springs back to light; they were rebuilt, and accommodation and other facilities were added over later periods. The spa has hot-water baths, mud baths and drinking water, and its treatments draw on modern medicine.
The water reaches 63 °C, is radioactive and contains sodium bicarbonate and chloride. The directorate names it as useful mainly for chronic inflammation of the upper airways, nephritis, some other inflammatory conditions, rheumatic syndromes, metabolic disorders and skin diseases.
When to go
- Climate
- Across İzmir as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 8.9 °C in January to 28 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in April, May, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in December (146 mm) and lightest in July (4 mm). Long-term means for 1938-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
