Why You Should Book Your Next Ski Vacation in Türkiye
Because the perfect way to relax after a day on the slopes is a trip to the hammam.
It’s winter in Türkiye, but I’m not even a little bit cold. Earlier today, I bundled up and shivered amongst snow-covered evergreens. Now, I lie on the heated marble slab at the center of a hammam, a Turkish bathhouse, while the attendant scrubs my body with a coarse cloth, or kese, sloughing off the dead skin. The sound of hot running water echoes all around me as I am gently rinsed, then covered with silky soap bubbles and rinsed again. Seal smooth, I rise from my stony repose and the attendant leads me through peaceful hallways to a room with a massage table, where she proceeds to spend the next hour ensuring my muscles have never felt quite so relaxed. I emerge from the hammam in a daze, riding the elevator to my hotel room where I look out the window over a white expanse of mountain slopes dotted with skiers and snowboarders. This is, after all, a ski resort—but it’s unlike any other I’ve ever been to.
I grew up in a skiing family. Every winter, we’d drive a few hours from Boston to the snowy mountains awaiting in nearby Vermont or New Hampshire, car filled to the brim with gear. With that background in visiting American ski resorts, I was curious to see what ski culture looked like in Türkiye—a place I'd long associated with the markets and minarets of Istanbul, and the stone spires and caves of Cappadocia, but had thoroughly failed to imagine covered by a blanket of snow.
My journey to a Turkish ski mountain proved longer and more involved than those brief car rides to New England’s slopes. I spent nine admittedly comfortable hours installed in a plush lie-down seat in Turkish Airlines’ business class before landing in Istanbul. From there, we drove north for four hours, finally turning onto a dirt road that climbs into the mountains. As the car gained elevation, I glimpsed tall needled trees, then snow. White flakes drifted lazily through the air. A family clustered outside their stopped car, busily rolling out a snowman on the side of the road—a scene from a real-life snowglobe. Still the car climbed, finally pulling to a stop outside of Kaya Palazzo Kartalkaya, one of the most popular ski resorts in Türkiye.
From the outside, Kaya Palazzo looks like just about any ski resort in the US or even Europe, with lodge-like structures overlooking its 15 well-groomed slopes. But venture indoors, and you'll instantly remember you’re in Türkiye: A huge chandelier in the lobby drips with crystals, illuminating bowls of fruit and sweets. The enormous hotel buffet, which serves three meals a day for guests who choose the all-inclusive package, does Turkish breakfast just right, from the heaping platters of olives to the traditional pastries and desserts. The slopeside Palazzo Lounge, a busy restaurant that turns into a raucous nightclub later in the evening, serves Turkish cuisine alongside a wide range of international drinks and dishes—and naturally, there’s always the option to smoke hookah. There’s also the fact that 85% of the resort’s visitors are Turkish—and mostly excited to ask where you’re from. And, then, of course, there’s the hammam, which is a far cry from your average post-slope spa offerings and a true enhancement to the skiing experience.
“Guests enjoy hammam experiences particularly after skiing because it is good for the skin, balances blood circulation, and helps to eliminate toxins from the body due to the heat of the bath,” explains spa manager Özgür Sedalı. According to Sedalı, “a hammam is a place for healing and purification,” and I certainly believe it after my first experience in the Turkish baths, which melts away any lingering soreness in my muscles and makes me forget the persistent overindulgence of the past few nights at the Palazzo Lounge.
It’s a nice reminder, too, that I’m adventuring far from home. Some trappings of a traditional ski resort are present here: the ever-important ski rental room with its mountains of gear, lobby and lounge spaces lit by flickering fireplaces, and cozy couches clad in leather and plaid. There’s also Swiss Fondue, an onsite fondue restaurant with an atmosphere that belongs in the Alps around Christmastime—enough to warm the hearts (and frozen fingers) of even the coldest skier. But at its core, Kaya Palazzo Kartalkaya feels uniquely Turkish—so you can have your ski vacation and a cultural experience, too.