Pammukale & Hieralopis, Turkiye

“Pamukkale” means “cotton castle” in Turkish. From the moment I saw a photo I knew I wanted to visit this beautiful spot in Türkiye. We went to Antalya during our trip and took a day tour up to Hierapolis and Pamukkale. Here is some info about what to expect and when you should visit.

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Hierapolis
The Hierapolis site is a UNESCO world heritage and is massive! You could easily spend an entire day here. Though driving in other countries intimidates me, I wish we would’ve rented a car and driven here on our own to maximize our time. I will also say that the day we went we had absolutely horrible weather. A storm came through the day we flew in and it was too late to move our tour to a different day. We visited in November during Thanksgiving week and froze our butts off. Luckily the rest of our trip ended up being warm but this day it was in the 40’s.
View more info HERE and HERE.

There are multiple areas of the site which requires different entrance fees/tickets. We did the combo ticket for Hierapolis & Archaeological Museum. I thought the museum was cool and we enjoyed seeing the statues and things that had been discovered here on the site.

Pamukkale Pools & Terraces
The pools and terraces are the main reason why most people visit, they are unlike anything else I’ve seen in the world! I really wish it would have been a nice sunny day but at least the warm thermal water heated up our feet. You can walk through the pools and explore. We were told that in the summer these pools are full of thousands of people.

These pools are totally unreal. You can’t wear shoes on the terraces but I will say there are some really sharp and slippery parts! We had to Google how they were formed: “a spring with a high content of dissolved calcium bicarbonate cascaded over the edge of the cliff, which cooled and hardened leaving calcium deposits”. Thanks Google!

The other area you can check out inside Heirapolis is the Antique Pool. This is a separate ticket to enter and it can be purchased here at the door. This was our favorite part because we got to warm up in the hot thermal pools and escape from the chilly weather. There is also a gift shop, cafe, coffee shop, and showers/lockers here. Don’t forget to bring your own towels, they do not provide them.

When you’re swimming in the pools you will actually be swimming in an ancient Roman agora. This is where the market was held before an earthquake made the site collapse and fill with thermal water from beneath. You can see the columns we are sitting on in the photo.

Don’t miss walking around the site itself to check out the ruins. The amphitheater was the coolest as it has been restored and has a gorgeous view of the entire site from the top.

Read my other posts about things to do on your trip to Türkiye HERE.

Finding the fun everywhere life takes us!
Love, Olivia Michelle