Saraykoy Thermal

Saraykoy Thermal is a geothermal spa in Sarayköy district of Denizli Province in western Anatolia, Turkey, situated in the fertile Büyük Menderes (Maeander) River valley — the ancient river whose sinuous course gave the English language the word 'meander' — where oligomineral geothermal waters from the graben valley's volcanic geology offer therapeutic bathing in one of Turkey's most historically significant river landscapes. The Büyük Menderes valley, fertile and strategically positioned, was one of the most densely settled regions of ancient Ionia and Caria, with major ancient cities including Miletus, Priene, Didyma, and Aphrodisias lining its valley and delta — all of them associated with the hot spring bathing traditions central to Greek and Roman life. Sarayköy Thermal continues the ancient Anatolian thermal tradition in a valley where Greek, Phrygian, Lydian, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman civilizations have all recognized the restorative properties of the naturally warm geothermal waters.