Fodor's Expert Review Hierapolis

The sprawling, well-maintained site of Hierapolis is lovely proof of how long the magical springs of Pamukkale have drawn eager travelers and pilgrims to partake of the waters' supposed healing powers. The ruins that can be seen today date from the time of the Roman Empire, but there are references to a settlement here as far back as the 5th century BC. Because the ruins are spread over nearly 3 km (2 miles), prepare for some walking—or hop on the mini-van shuttle, which runs between the North Gate and the Sacred Pool every 30 minutes. The main points of interest are well marked along the path and include a vast and beautiful necropolis (cemetery) with more than 1,000 cut-stone sarcophagi spilling all the way down to the base of the hill; the ruins of a Temple of Apollo and a bulky Byzantine church; a monumental fountain known as the Nymphaeum, just north of the Apollo Temple; and the Ploutonion, built over a cave that leaks poisonous fumes from the bowels of the earth, so deadly that the Romans revered and feared it as a portal to the Underworld. Below the theater, near the Sacred Pool, the stone building that enclosed Hierapolis's public baths is now the Pamukkale Müzesi (museum) with a fine display of impressive carved sarcophagi and marble reliefs, statues, and funerary stelae found at the site.