Current Time in Denizli, Turkey

Denizli lies in south-western Turkey, at the eastern edge of the Aegean region where the fertile valley of the Büyük Menderes River meets the mountains of the interior. The city spreads across a wide plain at around three hundred and fifty metres above sea level, ringed by peaks, with the great bulk of Mount Honaz, the highest summit in the Aegean region, rising to the south-east. Abundant springs gave the place its name, which means with water.

The city has a population of around six hundred and fifty thousand, and the province more than a million. Denizli is one of Turkey's manufacturing success stories, a centre of the textile industry specialising in towels, bathrobes and home linens that are exported worldwide, along with wire, cable and marble processing. Geothermal energy from the surrounding fields supplies electricity and heating.

The plain has been inhabited since antiquity, and three important ancient cities stood within a few kilometres of the modern one. Laodicea on the Lycus was a wealthy Roman commercial centre famous for black wool and eye medicine, and it appears in the Book of Revelation as one of the seven churches of Asia. Hierapolis was a sacred spa city built beside hot springs. Both were repeatedly damaged by earthquakes, a hazard the region still lives with. The medieval town, known as Ladik, passed to the Seljuk Turks after the eleventh century, was visited and described by the traveller Ibn Battuta, and later became part of the Ottoman Empire before growing into an industrial city in the twentieth century.

Denizli's fame among travellers rests on Pamukkale, some eighteen kilometres to the north. There, calcium-rich thermal water spilling over a hillside has built dazzling white terraces of travertine filled with warm turquoise pools, a landscape unlike anywhere else on earth. Above the terraces lie the extensive ruins of Hierapolis, including a superbly preserved Roman theatre, a colonnaded street, a vast necropolis and the sacred pool where visitors swim among fallen marble columns. The site is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list and receives millions of visitors. Laodicea, extensively excavated in recent years, is equally worth the journey.

The city itself is proud of the Denizli rooster, a local breed celebrated for a crow that can last more than twenty seconds, which appears on statues and emblems everywhere. The Atatürk Ethnography Museum, the old bazaar, the Karahayıt red springs and hill villages producing carpets and wine add further interest, and Honaz Mountain National Park offers hiking and skiing.

Denizli is well connected, with Çardak Airport serving domestic and seasonal international flights, a rail link on the line from İzmir, motorway-standard roads and frequent buses to Antalya, İzmir and Istanbul. Pamukkale University, founded in 1992, is a large institution with a medical faculty and tens of thousands of students.

Denizli combines a natural wonder, major classical ruins and a thriving modern industry, making it one of the most rewarding stops in western Turkey.