The volcanic springs beneath Bursa have been healing travellers for two millennia. We explain the science — and the extraordinary history.
Bursa sits at the foot of Uludağ, the ancient Mount Olympus of Mysia, above a network of volcanic springs that have never stopped flowing. Roman legions bathed here after campaigns in the East. Byzantine emperors maintained the baths. Ottoman sultans — Orhan Gazi among them — built hammams directly over the hottest vents, and the tradition of kükürtlü (sulphur-rich thermal bathing) in Bursa has continued uninterrupted for over two thousand years.
What the Waters Actually Do
Bursa's thermal waters are genuinely therapeutic, not merely pleasant. The springs vary in composition across the Çekirge district — the sulphur-rich springs of Eski Kaplıca have water temperatures of 47°C and mineral profiles shown in peer-reviewed studies to reduce inflammatory markers in joint conditions. The bicarbonate springs at Ada Kaplıca are milder and particularly beneficial for skin conditions including eczema and psoriasis. Modern thermal hotels in Bursa now integrate these spring-fed pools with physiotherapy, nutritional counselling, and sleep medicine.
Bursa is also remarkably easy to reach from Istanbul — a fast ferry to Yalova followed by a 45-minute bus ride brings you into central Bursa in under two hours, which makes it straightforward to add to a stay in the city rather than treat as a separate trip.
Gizem Burteçin founded TurkeyHealth.care after two decades building platforms, communities and ecosystems across e-commerce, marketplaces, coworking and AI — including senior roles at Alibaba.com and Doğuş Holding, and the 2013 founding of Yaşa Devam at Doğuş, Türkiye's first platform focused on aging well. Editorial responsibility for everything published on TurkeyHealth.care sits with the founder: no payment is taken for coverage, and every page is read by a person before it goes live.
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