Pamukkale Day Tour From Selcuk

This was a very entertaining and educational tour, we had a great time. Pamukkale is such an amazing place and natural wonder.

I've taken enough tours to know what to expect and most have booked through Viator. This review is soley about the tour guide and unfortunately he represents the entire tour company. I will start with his ability as a guide then move to why this is a 1 star rating. I wish I had his name, it is difficult for me to remember Turkish names and I don't want to mistakenly use the wrong name. In truth, the guide makes or breaks a tour, the places/event usually handle themselves but it is the role of the guide to ensure everyone is engaged and enjoying themselves. It is a skill. As a guide he was quite knowledgable but his delivery of the information was done facing forward looking out the front window and speaking into the microphone and delivering a monologue. It was like listening to a recording, no breaks, pause or interaction with the people. For a 3 hour ride, it was painful and everyone fell asleep. Because of this there was no chemistry on the bus and it did not feel very welcoming. Now the big reason I would give 0 stars if I could....his first comment to people is that everyone needed cash to pay for extra events not included in the ticket. He said Turkyie doesn't readily accept credit cards which is untrue, especially going to tourist attractions. This seemed very strange and then I realized why he said that. He asked to pay him in cash for any events and he would name the price. People thought he was making things easier for them and being a helpful guide. This didn't sit with me because of his credit card comment so when I decided to pay for the thermal pool swim as an extra, I went to the ticket both myself and paid by credit card. I then realized he was overcharging people. For this extra activity he asked for 860 Lira cash for 2 people. When I went to the ticket counter to pay by credit card, I paid 640 Lira. He then asked for 80 Lira to get a locker for your things and you had to bring the key back to him when done. I gave my key back to the person hosting the lockers and when he asked where my key was, he showed some panic and went back to the locker attendant to talk to him. Strange. To top it all off he never offered water, which he had for the tour, and expected people to buy there own when we stopped for a break. I knew water was available and asked him for it and his response was people usually buy there own but if I wanted, he could get me a water. He was strangely discreet about it. I would ask 2 more times on the trip and each time it was like I was bothering him. It was 32 degrees celsius! Not that size matters, but they were the tiny 330ml bottles not the normal 500ml. And last but not least, the company took all our hotel names so we could be picked up and dropped off at our hotels. No one was picked up at their hotel but someone did come to collect each of us at our hotel and everyone needed to walk to a bus convienient spot, some people walking 15 min. Some were elderly. After almost a 12 hour day can you imaging having to walk back to your hotel because they dropped everyone off where you walked to in the morning. Young or old, it is a bit of a chore, and it was at night. I felt so bad for some people, they looked very disappointed but didn't really say much. As you can imagine it was hard to truly enjoy ourselves as I knew what was going on behind the scenes but decided to not cause a mutiny and leave my comments here. I hope that reprecussions come to the guide and the company for allowing this to happen.

A site worth seeing. Unfortunately there was little water flowing over the travertines at this time. The highlight was the theatre. The guide was very informative and helpful. Trip could be improved be eliminating the stop for the onyx and jewellery factory and given us the extra 1/2 hour at Pamukalle and Hieropolis.

Very professoinal, on time helpfull, friendly and informative.great guides and lovely lunch no waiting at entranses nothing to hard for them!

Wonderful small group tour from Izmir/Kusadasi/Selcuk to Pamukkale/Hierapolis. Comfortable ride, knowledgeable guide Mr Fais, sumptuous Turkish lunch and the beautiful Pamukkale. Just a regret, only if the tour was about an hour long would've been perfect.

Eran was a good guide, lots local and Turkish nowledge, the hot springs were a very comfortable warm temperature

Unique site, but many of the pools did not have water in them. Despite this, we enjoyed our time exploring; tour guide was knowledgeable, he showed us around the main sites, then we had free time to explore. Prompt pick up from our hotel, comfortable journey- interesting landscape en route and excellent lunch. Yes, would recommend this tour.

The tour was up to my expectations. Pamukkale is amazing. I was happy the guide spoke good English and he was really nice. the bus was comfortable I slept the whole distance. We stopped for lunch. the lunch was fine not bad.

I would definitely recommend this tour from Selcuk! The trip to Pamukkale wasn't too long so I was on-time for my evening transportation out of Selcuk after coming back from the tour. I would recommend making the optional payment to use Cleopatra's Pools, it's a nice experience and they have all the modern facilities like bathrooms and storage lockers.

Great things to see. Guide was friendly and knowledgeable. Long day trip but terraces and Cleopatras pool was great. Heiroplois theater one of the best I've ever seen.

Josh our tour guide was awesome. He spoke English well so that was very helpful. He was instrumental in arranging a last minute paragliding for me, and also made sure we had a great experience with all the activities. the buffet lunch had lots of options and everything was delicious. The restaurant was really large and had lots of open space. Ali our driver was excellent. Would highly recommend!

Our guide josh was very patient and attended to all our needs. His English is perfect because he is half English. His knowledge about Roman architecture and the culture of Turkey was immense. Our driver Ali was very professional and made sure we were safe at all times. We would definitely recommend the tour with this duo. Thank you ALATURKA!

It was very good Josh was very helpful with all the instructions and history introduction Thank you.

Our travel agent put us with this company and it’s has been great. Josh (Coscua) our tour guide is very knowledgeable really knows the history inside out. He is detailed and knows how to cover the tour creatively in a short time.

A very nice entertaining and knowledgeable tour. Our driver Yasar made us feel safe and comfortable through the trip. He was very kind and helpful. Our guide Coskun was very knowledgeable and you could tell he was very experienced. I knew he was part English as soon as he spoke. I would strongly recommend this tour with Coskun and Yasar. Best experience in Turkey so far.

My itinerary was slightly adjusted, as I was staying in Kusadasi but the folks from Alaturk were able to accommodate me well. Guray our guide was delightful guide and skillfully took us to all the major sites with plenty of time for our swim at the end. Be careful on the calcium build ups! They are super slick and can be dangerous. I saw plenty of people slipping around and those rocks are hard when you fall! Also, do yourself a favor and splurge by going to the paid thermal spring pool. The thermal springs are delightfully warm and reinvigorating. The public, non paying pool is down stream from the pay pool. After speaking with our tour mates, the water is cold by the time it makes its' way downhill!

Visited the Cotton Castle Pamukkale with my husband in March 2020. Our tour guide was Marsy from AlAturka. Such a wonderful experience. Pamukkale is truly a beautiful gift of nature from The Almighty. Our trip was made even more wonderful by Marsy. A very patient & energetic & lovely lady full of stories, explanations & ever so willing to help us snap the couple pictures. She also gave us time to look for pomegranate juice. Luv U Marsy. U truly added joy to our trip! The ride was also very comfortable with enuf WC & tea breaks. Thank you Alaturka!

We really enjoyed it. Pamukkale is definitely worth the trip and this tour company picks you up from your hotel. Your guide will differ depending on the day you take the tour, ours was quite average to be honest. We also spent a lot of time picking up other people for the tour. Besides that, it was a good experience overall.

We had an amazing time with Ala Turka tours! They were so professional! And they made us feel comfortable and the guided tour was very informative! Our driver, Ali abi was the best! He was so kind, professional, and very caring! We will definitely come. Back to Turkey and book with Ala Turka! We will also recommend everyone going to Selçuk, Pamukkale and Ephasus to book with Ala Turka! Çokkkkk teşekkür ederim!!!!!!!!

I could say it’s amazing experience for my first time in Turkey! We met wonderful guide Marsy, speaking fluent English and activity movement instruction with for the non English old ladies of our team! Really nice! I would say I will come to Turkey again!its great place for touring!

I did both the Pamukkale and Ephesus tour with our driver and tour guide Marsy. Marsy was an exceptional tour guide, extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the places we went. She was energetic, enthusiastic and attentive which was brilliant as I was travelling on my own. Marsy made me feel welcome and was very helpful. Couldn’t recommend enough. Marsy is a little piece of sunshine and her English is easy to understand. She made sure everyone felt included. Only reason I wouldn’t give 5/5 is due to visits to onyx, leather places etc they’re lovely to see but I always feel guilty when I don’t buy anything! Marsy told us that we were under no obligation to buy but still makes me feel bad. Good job Marsy x

3 hour there and 3 hour back, was it worth it! The main attraction is the travenes which are empty of the thermal pools expected. There are two larger ones in use but so slippery and rocky underfoot was treacherous. If they were to be restored to its former glory then it would be awesome, but for us, just not worth it

<p>This tour was disappointing. The one benefit was that tourism is really slow in Turkey right now June 2017 so it was less crowded than it probably could have been I can't imagine what this would be like during a busy time, Blech!. <br/> The calcium terraces are very visibly worn by the volume of people visiting them, so they don't look as striking as the photos suggest. I think the water source is also diminishing, so the flow has slowed and shrunken the pooling area. <br/> Hieropolis was a neat site, and is all in the same place as the cotton castle. <br/> The guide that I had for this tour contributed to its disappointment. He was nice, but clearly not excited about being there that day maybe just an off day for him, who knows?, so he hardly told us anything interesting that we couldn't have just read on a sign. <br/> All in all, the sign was not worth the length of the trip and expense to get there.</p>

<p>Picked up right outside my hotel ,excellent tour guide ,funny and excellent atmosphere ,great group of people on the tour bus ,stopped for buffet style lunch on the way ,shown in a shop how marble is made into ornaments and then drove to pamukkale ,amazing sight to see,well worth the long drive</p>