Pamukkale, travelling independently to visit "Cotton Castle"


Our trip to Pamukkale, {not with the local Tour operators}.

Deciding to visit Pamukkale traveling from Fethiye. The day before we purchased 2 bus tickets 17Tl each, this journey was advertised as 4hours, more like 6hours! However, the journey was so much better than taking the car or a tour group bus which travels direct, as we passed through small villages which otherwise would have been missed.

On arrival in Denizli, we had to get off the bus, even though it stated on the front Pamukkale, buses do not go direct, we were not told that we had to change to the local bus, and pay the extra 1.75Tl (no hardship there). The driver was walking us to the Pamukkale bus when 2 men approached him stating that they were the transfer, and would take us from there,. Now if we were not so tired and hot, then we would have told this pair to take a hike.

We walked to the the transfer mini bus, {which was parked 500 metres outside the Bus Station}, our luggage was loaded and off we set for Pamukkale, the 2 men were very friendly and chatty but then the hard sell, "have you booked a hotel"? well we decided prior not to book, just go with the flow, it had worked well on other occasions! One of the men then went on to describe a local hotel, family run, good food etc etc..
The one thing I hate is the hard sell, it was becoming increasingly obvious these 2 were tipped from the Fethiye end or by passengers en-route that 2 foreigners were on the way to Pamukkale, I was starting to feel so cross being duped in this way, I told them I had chosen the hotel on the internet and I wanted to go there.

We got to the hotel I had talked about in the mini bus, the guy darted up the steps to the reception area followed closely by my husband. Entering the foyer one of the men was telling the hotel receptionist to tell us the hotel had no vacancies, fortunately my husband has a good grasp of the Turkish language, and understood fully what was being said, it was at this point the driver admitted to owning the hotel ( Melrose Allgau Hotel) they had talked about in the bus. Not a good move on his part.

We declined their offer and went in search of another hotel.
We found YildizHan otel. the owner showed us 2 rooms, they were very basic, a bit tired looking, shabby chic (?) when we asked the price, 100TL for the night. Being hot and tired I did snap "you have to be joking"! we finally agreed on 50TL by then I could not have cared less, we rested, freshened up, took a stroll around Pamukkale village and came across a lovely hotel The Hal Tur with views of the famous Travertines. The owner invited us in to have a look around the hotel and inspect the rooms. Now this is what I was looking for, clean, modern, comfortable, we agreed to 2 nights stay from the next day.

The Hal Tur is an excellent hotel, the cost was 80TL per room per night, but well worth it, I would highly recommnend anyone to stay at this hotel. www.haltur.net

When travelling independantly to Pamukkale be careful when arriving by bus in the village, we watched many young lads on scooters lying in wait for unsuspecting passengers, touting aggressively for hotel business, not only do they wait for the buses, but we also spotted them following cars that appeared to be travelling at slow speeds looking for hotels, these young men on scooters would then confront the tourists, trying to co-erce them into using their prefered hotels!

We had a wonderful time at the Hal Tur, and would not hesitate to recommend this small, {11 rooms} Boutique Hotel to anyone looking for a clean, friendly hotel, with good food, and English speaking hosts. Tufan especially, has a fantastic sense of humour!!

We spent the evenings walking around, before having a lovely meal at Kayaş Restaurant & Bar, where we spent the rest of the evening, English spoken here as well.

The return trip by bus was an adventure in itself, we saw some of the most beautiful scenery ever, and after we turned off the main road towards Cameli, the road climbed and wound its merry way for 40 kilometres, until the engine eventually overheated, and the bus ground to a steaming halt on a VERY steep incline 1550 metres above sea level "Look Ma, Top of the world"!! We all got off the bus, and the driver and his helper proceeded to fill the radiator with water from their stock of bottled water, {passengers for the use of}. We eventually set off again, after being fed the sweetest cherries supplied {free} by two young lads who appeared from nowhere with buckets full of the fruit!!

In Cameli, we changed drivers and set off again, but, wait for it, we had only gone about 2 kilometres when the driver suddenly did a u-turn, and went back to Cameli to collect 2 bags of cherries that he had forgotten!!!

The rest of the journey was very pleasant, passing through scenery that reminded us of the U.K. in some places, {vivid imagination} we eventually descended down through the mountains, and after having not a clue as to where we were, we came to Uzumlu!! 15 minutes later, the driver kindly dropped us off at the end of our Sokak (street) in Akarca.

3 nights was not enough, so much to see and do, next time a visit to Karahayit for the red travertines and water