Pamukkale tickets, prices & opening hours (2026)

Pamukkale is one ticket for two sights: the white travertine terraces and the ancient city of Hierapolis sitting right on top of them. You pay once at the gate and both are yours for the day. The same ticket also covers the Hierapolis Archaeology Museum. The one thing that is not included is a swim in the Antique Pool, which is charged separately at the pool.

What a ticket costs in 2026

Entry is a single site fee. For 2026, foreign visitors pay the equivalent of €30, charged in Turkish lira at the gate. Turkish citizens enter with the Museum Pass (Müzekart). Prices shift with the exchange rate and periodic increases through the year, so you can confirm the current figure on the official Ministry of Culture and Tourism list.

The Antique Pool (Cleopatra’s Pool) is a separate charge paid at the pool if you want to get in the water, and the Museum Pass does not cover it. If you only want to look, you can walk up to it for free once you’re inside the site.

If you’re visiting on a guided day trip, entry is usually already bundled into the tour price. That’s the simplest route for most first-time visitors, and it’s why a good tour is worth comparing on what the price does and doesn’t cover.

Opening hours

The site keeps long summer hours and shorter winter hours:

• Summer (roughly April to October): 08:00 to 21:00. Summer evenings also bring night museum hours, with the gates staying open past 19:00 for the floodlit terraces.
• Winter (roughly November to March): 08:00 to 18:00, with no evening visit.

Ticket sales stop about half an hour before closing. The Antique Pool and the museum keep their own, shorter hours inside those windows, so plan to be through the gate well before the last entry.

Which gate to use

There are three entrances. Where you come from decides which one saves you the most walking:

• South gate: best if you arrive by car or tour from Denizli or other cities. You walk down through Hierapolis to the terraces.
• North gate: drops you at the top of Hierapolis, a longer but quieter approach.
• Town (Pamukkale village) gate: the classic barefoot walk up the terraces from the bottom. Beautiful, but it’s uphill.

Making it count

Two things decide whether your ticket feels worth it: when you go and how much time you leave yourself. The light and the crowds change everything, which is why we keep a separate guide on the best time to visit. And if you’re still working out the journey, start with how to get to Pamukkale.