In the heart of central Türkiye, far from the country’s crowded coastal resorts, a 2,000-year-old Roman spa is quietly becoming one of Anatolia’s most intriguing heritage sites.

Known locally as the “King’s Daughter” Bath, the Basilica Therma complex in Yozgat’s Sarıkaya district couples steamy thermal pools and snow-dusted winter views with an unfolding archaeological story and an ambitious tourism push that is starting to put this little-known town on the map.

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A 2,000-year-old spa with a living thermal heartbeat

The King’s Daughter Bath, or Basilica Therma, dates back to the second century and was built as a monumental Roman thermal complex in what was then a prosperous settlement on an important east-west route across Anatolia. Archaeologists and historians identify it as one of the region’s most significant surviving spa structures, a rare example where ancient engineering and geology still work together much as they did in imperial times.

What sets Sarıkaya apart is the water itself. Emerging at around 45 to 50 degrees Celsius, the thermal spring feeds a large open-air pool and a series of interior basins that visitors can see steaming even on the coldest winter mornings. The hot flow has continued uninterrupted for nearly two millennia, giving the site an almost cinematic quality as clouds of vapor rise against a backdrop of stone arches and Corinthian pilasters.

Local officials describe the bath as one of only two comparable Roman spa complexes in the world, the other being in England. That claim, while partly promotional, reflects the rarity of a monumental Roman bath where geothermal water still emerges naturally into the original pool areas. For travelers used to heavily reconstructed ruins, Sarıkaya offers a striking contrast in which the main spectacle is not just the walls and columns but the water that never stopped running.

From buried ruin to tentative UNESCO World Heritage candidate

For much of the modern era, the Bath of the King’s Daughter lay partially buried and hemmed in by buildings. Although locals used the surrounding hot springs, the main Roman pools and the impressive western façade were only gradually revealed through archaeological work in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Key excavations in the 2010s uncovered a semi-Olympic natatio pool, inner basins and architectural details that confirmed the site’s importance.

Official recognition came in 2018, when the Sarıkaya Roman Bath was entered on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. That step does not guarantee full inscription, but it signals that Turkish authorities and international experts consider the complex to possess outstanding universal value. Since then, regional and national agencies have treated the site as a flagship for central Anatolia’s cultural tourism ambitions.

To support the nomination and make the bath accessible, the provincial authorities and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism backed a program of expropriations and clearance around the complex. Shops and other modern structures that crowded the façade were removed, revealing the full length of the monumental wall and allowing for landscaping and visitor routes. Officials involved in the project have stressed that “as you dig, the history rises,” and further archaeological work is expected to continue in the surrounding zone.

Restoration, lighting and a new tourism chapter

A turning point came with landscaping and restoration works launched in 2022 under the supervision of the Yozgat Museum Directorate. These efforts, completed in August 2024, focused on stabilizing the Roman masonry, improving drainage, reintroducing thermal water to the principal pool after a temporary interruption, and creating safer access points for visitors. Care was taken to preserve the character of the original pools while making them legible to non-specialists.

A new lighting system has transformed the atmosphere after dark. Soft illumination picks out the lines of the façade, the niches, and the steps descending into the water, while the steam rising from the pool adds a theatrical haze. Local authorities have promoted nighttime views of the bath as a fresh draw for both domestic travelers and residents of Yozgat, with images of the glowing pools frequently shared in Turkish media coverage of the site.

The upgrade appears to be working. According to figures shared by local officials and reported by national outlets in January 2026, the King’s Daughter Bath welcomed around 50,000 visitors in 2025, a significant number for a provincial town away from Türkiye’s traditional tourist corridors. Governors and mayors in the region have publicly set their sights on doubling or even quadrupling that figure in the coming years as infrastructure and promotion increase.

The legend behind the “King’s Daughter” name

Beyond the stone and steam, the bath’s enduring appeal owes much to a local legend that has been handed down for generations. In folk accounts compiled by cultural organizations, the story begins in nearby Kayseri, where a Roman ruler’s daughter falls gravely ill. Her ailment, described in modern terms as a severe rheumatic disease, leaves her unable to walk and resistant to every known treatment of the time.

As a last resort, the king sends his daughter to the hot, marshy area that would later become Sarıkaya, instructing her companions to let her rest and bathe in the warm mud and waters that bubble up from the ground. On the edge of what was then a swamp, the young woman spends her remaining days among the reeds and pools, seeking comfort rather than cure.

According to the legend, the waters work a quiet miracle. Day after day, the princess feels stronger. Her stiffened knees begin to bend, and she gradually takes her first steps, eventually regaining full mobility. Word of the recovery reaches her father, who orders a monumental bath complex built in marble around the spring, encircled by hefty stone blocks, and a new city arises in its shadow. The settlement, said in some versions to have been called Öper or Hoperi, thrives until a catastrophic earthquake destroys it, leaving only the bath intact.

Today, no one claims the story as documented fact, but it continues to shape local identity. Guides and residents recount the tale to visitors standing on the same stone platforms and steps where the “king’s daughter” is said to have bathed. For modern travelers, the myth adds a narrative thread that links the very real heat of the water and the ancient walls with imagined scenes of imperial-era drama and recovery.

Architecture that blends ritual, health and social life

Architecturally, the King’s Daughter Bath is striking for its combination of open-air and interior spaces. The dominant feature is the large western pool, fed directly by thermal springs and framed by a two-story façade articulated with columns and engaged pilasters. From a distance, this wall creates the impression of a Roman civic monument, but up close it becomes clear that the focus is on water rather than a temple or forum.

Behind the façade, archaeologists have documented at least three main pools. The vast outer basin functioned as a public natatio, while a long, relatively narrow inner pool, approached by symmetrical staircases, suggests more controlled ritual or therapeutic use. A third pool, perpendicular to the inner basin and fed by water boiling up from the floor, adds a more intimate, almost grotto-like dimension to the complex.

Research indicates that the bath was used repeatedly from the Roman through Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods, with each era leaving subtle adjustments rather than wholesale rebuilding. That continuity underscores its dual role as both a hygiene and health facility and a venue for social interaction. In antiquity, such baths were spaces where politics, business and leisure overlapped, and the scale of the Sarıkaya complex hints at the importance of the surrounding settlement.

For visitors today, the architecture offers a rare chance to imagine that layered usage. Unlike many ruins reduced to low foundations, the King’s Daughter Bath rises high above eye level, and the combination of architectural depth and active water movement helps non-specialists grasp how ancient spa culture operated in practice.

Winter steam, summer homecomings and the visitor experience

Despite its relative obscurity on the international stage, the Bath of the King’s Daughter is firmly on the radar of domestic travelers and members of the Turkish diaspora returning home for holidays. Reports from 2024 and 2025 highlight waves of visitors in the summer months, when expatriates based in Europe and beyond add Yozgat to itineraries that might once have focused solely on coastal resorts or major cities.

In winter, the atmosphere changes but the appeal arguably grows stronger. Photographs and drone footage taken in January 2026 show the pools shrouded in mist as warm vapor billows into sub-zero air, while snow settles lightly on the stone arches. Local tourism officials have promoted these images as a signature of the central Anatolian interior, countering the perception that Türkiye’s tourism season ends with the first frosts along the Aegean.

On the ground, visitors find a site that blends open-air ruin with curated pathways. After the recent landscaping, access points are clearer, safety barriers guide people around the pools without intruding too heavily on the views, and interpretive signage outlines the history and legend in both Turkish and other languages. While bathing in the main archaeological pools is not part of the standard visit, the surrounding district offers modern thermal facilities that draw on the same geothermal resources.

For travelers who enjoy combining heritage with local life, Sarıkaya’s modest scale is part of the charm. Cafes, small eateries and family-run guesthouses cluster within easy reach, and the absence of mass-tourism infrastructure keeps the town’s rhythm largely intact. That balance may prove hard to maintain if visitor numbers rise into the hundreds of thousands as officials hope, but for now the King’s Daughter Bath still feels like a discovery rather than a spectacle.

Positioning a small Anatolian town on the global heritage map

The momentum around the King’s Daughter Bath is tied to a broader strategy to diversify Türkiye’s tourism beyond its coasts. Regional leaders in Yozgat emphasize that the bath is both a cultural emblem and an economic engine. As more travelers arrive, local commerce benefits in visible ways, from increased demand for accommodation and food services to craft sales and transportation.

In public remarks, the provincial governor and municipal leaders have repeatedly underlined their aim to harness this interest without overwhelming the site. Efforts focus on controlled expansion of visitor amenities, continued archaeological investigation and ongoing collaboration with national heritage institutions. The UNESCO Tentative List status functions as both a badge of honor and an incentive to maintain high conservation standards.

The bath also serves as a stepping stone to promote other attractions in the region, from valleys and plateaus to lesser-known archaeological sites. Tourism planners have started talking about routes that link Sarıkaya with nearby natural landscapes, inviting travelers to see central Anatolia not merely as a place to transit through between major cities but as a destination in its own right.

For international visitors, especially those already familiar with Istanbul’s monuments or Cappadocia’s rock formations, the King’s Daughter Bath offers a different lens on Anatolia’s past. It is a reminder that Roman and Byzantine history is not confined to headline destinations and that some of the most evocative ruins sit in towns that, until recently, had little presence in global guidebooks.

Why this “hidden gem” merits a place on your itinerary

When travelers describe a destination as a hidden gem, they often mean it is uncrowded or under-publicized. The King’s Daughter Bath fits that description, but its value runs deeper. Few places in the Mediterranean world allow visitors to stand beside a functioning thermal pool built in the high Roman Empire and still see hot water coursing through basins that follow their original layout.

The site’s appeal comes from the layering of tangible and intangible heritage. There is the stone architecture, impressive yet accessible, and the constant movement of water linking present to past. There is the legend of the ailing princess, which resonates in an era when wellness travel and therapeutic bathing are once again in vogue. And there is the contemporary story of a small Anatolian town using its ancient heart to imagine a different future.

As restoration work beds in and the global travel industry continues to look for destinations that combine authenticity with distinctive experiences, Yozgat’s King’s Daughter Bath is well positioned to move from local curiosity to international talking point. For now, it remains a place where visitors can walk up to the pool edge, feel the heat on their faces in winter or the cool spray on a summer evening, and sense that rare thing in tourism: a site whose moment is only just beginning.