Pamukkale and Hierapolis

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Hierapolis Pamukkale, 1988); A Mixed Natural And Cultural Inscription · Pamukkale, Denizli

Hot calcium-rich water has run out of the hillside above Pamukkale for thousands of years, dropping its mineral load as it cools into white terraces of travertine that look from the valley floor like a frozen waterfall. You walk up the terrace path barefoot, because shoes damage the surface, through shallow warm pools that are deliberately rotated on and off to protect the formation - so some basins are full and turquoise and others are dry white chalk on any given day. On the plateau at the top sits Hierapolis, a Roman spa city built around the same springs, with one of the best preserved theatres in Anatolia, a necropolis of more than a thousand tombs and a thermal pool where you swim over fallen marble columns for a separate fee. The pairing is what makes this a place people cross a continent for rather than a photograph they have already seen. Denizli, twenty minutes down the hill, is the usual base.

Pamukkale Mahallesi, Hierapolis Oren Yeri, Pamukkale, Pamukkale, Denizli, Turkiye

Open daily, with long summer hours and a much earlier winter close. The three gates - South, North and the lower town entrance - may keep different hours. Cleopatras Antique Pool charges separately and closes before the site does. The travertine terraces are walked barefoot at all times. Check before planning a sunset around it.

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