Pamukkale is a set of white lime terraces: the water comes out of the karstic ground at 35.6 degrees and, as it cools, drops the lime it carries. The white calcareous tufa left behind — the heaps that look like cotton — is what the terraces are made of. The province sits in the Çürüksu valley, which has its own character because of these springs.
People have used the water for treatment for thousands of years and built working, ornate baths over it. Hierapolis became known across Anatolia in the Roman period for its springs, and the sick came for a cure; the city turned into a medical centre where patients stayed temporarily or for good. Graves in the Roman necropolis belong to people who came from elsewhere and stayed to the end of their lives. The research cited by the ministry indicates the treatments were directed by priests and physicians together, and that religious rites and public festivals were held where the springs rose.
The ministry's portal lists the conditions for which the water is recommended after a doctor's examination — cardiovascular and circulatory complaints, blood pressure, rheumatism, rickets, paralysis, and conditions of the skin, eyes and nervous system — and adds uses for the water taken warm.
Pamukkale is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and that is the frame the swimming happens in: the pools sit among the standing remains of Hierapolis, and access to the terraces is restricted to protect them.
Getting there
- Access
- Eighteen kilometres north of central Denizli; minibuses run to the Pamukkale ruins from the Denizli coach station.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Denizli as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 6 °C in January to 27.5 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in January (90 mm) and lightest in August (11 mm). Long-term means for 1957-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
