A Roman bath that has been steaming away in central Türkiye for two millennia has gained a new lease on life: the Basilica Therma in Sarıkaya, Yozgat province, is now open to visitors in the evening, thanks to fresh lighting and a newly opened café right beside the ancient pool.
The site is no minor ruin. Its thermal waters still flow at around 50°C, and the bath's Roman-era architecture earned it a spot on UNESCO's Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in 2018. Local authorities are now pushing for full World Heritage status, and the evening openings are part of a wider upgrade backed by the Culture and Tourism Ministry and the Yozgat Governor's Office, with the municipality running the new café.
There's a good story attached, too. The bath is known locally as "Kral Kızı" — "King's Daughter" — after a legend that a Roman-era king's ailing daughter recovered her health after bathing in its hot waters. Two thousand years on, people still come for the same reason: the water is genuinely thermal, not decorative.
The facelift doesn't stop at lighting. A shopping area is planned in front of the bath for local souvenirs, and facade renovations are underway along nearby Marangoz Street. Early visitors seem sold. One traveller who drove in from Adana said the nighttime atmosphere and tea garden took him completely by surprise, while a Turkish expat visiting from Bochum, Germany, described the lit-up monument and its reflection in the water as especially peaceful.
Why it matters: Sarıkaya is well off the usual Cappadocia–Istanbul circuit, so this is a chance to see a major Roman thermal bath without the crowds — and now after dark, when the site takes on a completely different mood. If you're driving between Ankara and the east, or pairing it with Yozgat's pine forests and archaeological sites, an evening stop here with tea by the illuminated ruins is a genuinely memorable detour. And if it does make the full UNESCO list, you can say you saw it before the coach tours arrived.
