Bayramhacı Kaplıcası (Thermal Springs) in Cappadocia

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Are your muscles aching from all the hiking you have done on your visit to Cappadocia?


Is your heart in need of a tune-up after your exhilarating balloon ride?

Did you over indulge on the food and drink at the Turkish night show and now your stomach needs tending to?

If any of those things is true of you, then the healing waters of Bayramhacı Kaplıcası await you.

While not a true hamam we wanted to include this natural hot spring in our list for a number of reasons. The beauty of the village is a draw in itself. It is also a money-saving alternative to the fancier hamams in the area. It is unique in that it is the only thermal facility in the immediate area.

Bayramhacı Köyü (Village)


If you like getting off the beaten path then Bayramhacı Kaplıcası is the perfect place for you. Bayramhacı is just 25 kilometers from Avanos, but has none of the trappings of a tourist destination. The village was founded in 1570! It used to be on the banks of the Kızıl Irmak (Red River) but since the completion of the dam a year ago, Bayramhacı now sits on a lake. From the open terrace of the hot spring restaurant you have breathtaking views of the village, caves, and the lake. Look the opposite direction and you are captivated by Mt. Erciyes!

Backpackers Paradise


Bayramhacı Kaplıcası is perfect for those on a tight budget. The facility offers 50, three bed hotel rooms (40tl/night), an indoor thermal pool, and outdoor thermal pool (7.50tl/day), private family rooms with shower, bathtub and tiled bench (15tl/hour). They also offer camping areas, picnic areas, a market, and a restaurant. I was shocked that the camping is FREE, and if you want to use the pool it is just 7.50TL! If you are hiking or biking the area and need a relaxing day in a beautiful place you cannot beat Bayramhacı.

The History of Bayramhacı Kaplıcası

I was fortunate enough to visit this thermal facility with my friend Cemil (see Kuruyemiş post), a village native. He introduced me to the manager, Ramazan Bulent, who told me some interesting tales about this place.

The buildings on the grounds were all made from local materials. The village is built on the same sand-stone rock for which Cappadocian cave houses are famous. Back in 1936, after “city councilman” Ali Osman, bought the hot spring from the government, he began construction on the grounds. The villagers would cut away at the floors of their mangers and stables in order to make them bigger. The rock that they cut away was chiseled into rectangular formation to be used as building materials. The rocks/bricks would then be hauled more than a kilometer away by donkeys to the thermal spa. Because the whole village used these thermal springs to bathe in, they all pitched in to help in the construction of the facilities.

Just next to the outdoor thermal pool is a rock with a hole in it. My friend Cemil pointed to the rock and said “that’s where I learned to swim.” I couldn’t believe it because the hole couldn’t have been more than two meters wide by two meters long, but he insisted that he and many of his friends learned to swim there. He said it was two meters deep and that when he was little he started to drown and his friend had to rescue him!

Ramazan wanted to point out that you do not have to drive over an hour to Kozaklı to go to a thermal spa when there is one right here in Avanos’ backyard. The hot water that Cemil learned to swim in is the same water that is circulated throughout the thermal facility. Pumped in from a spring (which he insists is 50 meter below ground), the pools are completely recycled with new water every three days!

The outdoor pool is 45 degrees celsius and the indoor pool is 50 degrees celsius. The manager, Ramazan, explained that many people come and use the pool when it snows! He also says the water has healing properties for the stomach, liver, intestines, heart, circulation, rheumatism, dermatological problems, joints, and arthritis. Believe it or not, he adds that women trying to get pregnant come to these waters and leave fertile!

Even if you do not stay overnight at the Bayramhacı Kaplıcası, it really is worth the day trip. Come in the morning, explore the caves and the village, and then spend the afternoon washing away the day in the natural hot spring pool.

Which do you prefer: natural hot spring off the beaten path or fancy hamam among the tourists?


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