It’s the picturesque snow-white travertines that scoop all the publicity, but in fact Pamukkale is also the site of one of Turkey’s most extensive collections of Roman ruins in the form of ancient Hierapolis. What’s more, the ruins of Laodicea, one of the Seven Churches of Asia mentioned in the Bible, is only a short distance away. And while you’re here you can also pay a visit to the Kaklık Mağarası, a stunning cave with more travertines hidden inside it.

Let’s start with Pamukkale (”Cotton Castle”) itself. A half-hour bus ride north of Denizli, Pamukkale is a small rural settlement that has achieved enormous fame because of a freak of nature that means that the calcium-rich warm water pouring over a ridge facing the village quickly cools and deposits its calcium, which has, over the centuries, formed a thick white crust shaped into pools and terraces all along it. These are the famous travertines which crop up on the posters with happy tourists frolicking in them in a way that is certainly not permitted these days since the flow of water started to dry up, leaving many of the pools empty. The authorities have tried their hardest to get it flowing freely again by closing and knocking down the hotels with swimming pools that used to run along the ridge, but nature is having none of it with the result that some visitors come away feeling mildly disappointed. Perhaps the best way to ensure that that is not how you feel is to sign up for one of the nighttime visits organized by the pensions. The travertines by moonlight? Now, there’s something from which even the most cynical of souls should be able to get a kick.

One of the biggest problems for Pamukkale is that many visitors rush through on coach trips that leave barely enough time to look round. If you can manage it, it’s much better to stay for a couple of days, which will give you plenty of time to explore Hierapolis, the ruins of which are scattered across the hillside above the travertines. Hierapolis was founded around 190 B.C. by the Pergamene king Eumenes II and went on to become an early spa center, famous for its curative powers. During the Roman period it was one of the wealthiest towns of Asia Minor, adorned with many magnificent marble buildings. This wealth continued into the Byzantine period when the town became an early center of Anatolian Christianity along with neighboring Laodicea. In the early seventh century the town appears to have been hit by a major earthquake from which it struggled to recover. After that, Hierapolis crops up infrequently in the written records, although archeologists have shown that some settlement must have continued on the site into the 11th and 12th centuries. The last mention of a bishop of Hierapolis dates back to 1385. After that, the city fell off the map completely, only reappearing in the records when the British traveler Raymond Chandler stumbled upon the ruins in 1765.

Excavations at Hierapolis have been going on since 1957, and today there’s plenty to keep a visitor occupied. If you start exploring at the north gate to the site you will approach the ruins via the remains of an enormous necropolis full of huge tombs whose size suggests the wealth of their erstwhile occupants. Most unusual are the circular tombs which may have been topped with phallic symbols in the past. The necropolis extends for almost three kilometers and stops just before the impressive Arch of Domitian, which opens onto Frontinus Street, one of the best-preserved stretches of Roman road in the country. There are many things to look out for around Frontinus Street, including an ancient toilet block fitted out for multiple bottoms and the remains of a cathedral, probably dating back to the sixth century.

On the hillside above Frontinus Street are the slight remains of the agora (market place). Much more impressive is the huge Roman theater, which could seat up to 12,000 spectators. It was built in two stages by the emperors Hadrian and Septimius Severus and restored in the 1970s. Real theater addicts may also want to hack around the hillside until they find the much less impressive remains of the Hellenistic theater. Rather more worth the search are the curious remains of an octagonal martyrium, built on the site where it was thought that the apostle St. Philip had died (although it may in fact have been a completely different Philip, known as the Deacon). It was to see this building that the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa visited Hierapolis in 1190 on a trip that was to end with his death in a river near Silifke.

Many of the finds from Hierapolis are displayed in the excellent local archeological museum which is housed inside what were once the Roman baths. Here you can find a fine collection of sarcophagi as well as many statues from the famous Afrodisias school of sculpture. Close to the museum you should also look out for -- but not touch -- the Plutonium, a poisonous spring which was dedicated to Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld, and which was used by the priests at the adjoining Temple of Apollo to aid their predictions.

Worn out from all that exploring? Well, the best place to unwind is at the Antique Pool spa, the one swimming pool still open on the top of the ridge, where you can float romantically over fluted marble columns from Hierapolis.

If you can manage to prolong your stay here, there are plenty of other things to see and do locally. You could pop over to neighboring Karahayıt, for example, to bathe in one of its many hot springs (although Karahayıt itself is a depressingly ugly settlement). Alternatively you could visit the ruins of Laodicea, which are much less extensive than those at Hierapolis but do boast an interesting agora and the remains of the church that featured in the Bible. The famous Roman orator Cicero was briefly a resident of Laodicea.

More fun is a trip to the Kaklık Mağarası, a cave which lies west of Denizli off the main Isparta road and which is like an inverted Pamukkale, with the travertines underground. Without your own car, the easiest way to get to the cave is on a tour organized by one of the pensions. This should also enable you to stop off on the way to inspect the lovely Selçuk Ak Han (White Han), a caravanserai dating back to 1251 which is right by the main road.

Finally, you should certainly try and set aside some time just to kick back and relax in Pamukkale village. Not an especially pretty or even very interesting place, it does, however, boast a number of very decent pensions and hotels which serve excellent home-cooked food and which make great places to lounge around a pool for a few days.