Is Pamukkale worth the hype?

Pamukkale is the most out of this world place to visit in Turkey. It is famous for its white limestone travertines, which are terraced pools with cascading thermal water, and is one of the most visited places in Turkey. We went there on our most recent trip on our way back to Istanbul from road tripping Turkey’s Turquoise Coast. So is Pamukkale worth the hype?

How to get to Pamukkale

Pamukkale is located about halfway between Istanbul and Kaş in Turkey’s interior. If you are doing a road trip to Turkey’s Turquoise Coast then it makes for a great stopover for a night on your way up or down. Make sure you check out DiscoverCars.com which allows you to compare prices across multiple car rental companies, allowing you to pick the one that best suits your needs. Our car hire was valued at 214.60 EUR for 9 days including full coverage (note we received this car hire as a sponsorship in exchange for blogging content).
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Where to stay in Pamukkale

We stayed at Melrose House Hotel in Pamukkale and it was a 5 minute drive from the travertines. The rooms were basic and clean and there was a lovely pool and dining area at the property.

What to do in Pamukkale

Visit the travertines

The reason anyone goes to Pamukkale is to view the travertines. This means that every single tourist staying in Pamukkale on any given day will likely be at the travertines. This means it can get very very crowded.

My advice is to try visit at sunrise or sunset to firstly avoid the crowds and to secondly avoid the heat of the day and the bright glare reflecting off the white travertines.

To visit the travertines I’d recommend driving to the South Gate to enter. This means you are level with the travertines already and can just walk down a bit to see more pools rather than entering from the bottom and needing to hike all the way up the hill.

You’ll pay an entrance fee of 30€ per person. This can be purchased at the entrance gate upon arrival.

Upon entry you will walk past a number of ancient ruins including the ancient Hierapolis amphitheatre. If you keep walking you’ll arrive at the travertines which is where you can walk down past the cascading pools of milky white water. You are allowed to swim here if you’d like to. This is a beautiful spot at sunset time.

Swim in Cleopatra’s Antique Pools

Another place inside the travertines and Hierapolis site is Cleopatra’s Antique Pools. These are thermal pools that contain ancient ruins and swimming here is a really unique experience. You will pay an extra 200 Turkish Lira to swim in these pools.

Is Pamukkale a completely unique experience in Turkey? Yes! Is it also pretty over-priced and over-touristed? Yes! I think Pamukkale is a great spot to add to your itinerary if it makes sense as a stopover on the way to the coast or back to Istanbul. However, I would not spend more than one night here and I wouldn’t say you should go out of your way to get here.

We went at sunset and outside of peak tourist season and still had a loooot of people around. I also thought the entrance fee was really high compared to prices generally in Turkey. These were both turn-offs for me. But I really loved experiencing this totally unique landscape and swimming in the thermal pools and travertines.

So I would’t say it’s a BIG yes or a BIG no. It depends on your trip and your priorities.