Guide
Ilıksu is a public beach and natural resting place in the village of Aşağıçayır in the Kozlu district of Zonguldak. It takes its name from the geothermal spring that rises naturally just beside it.
The beach lies on the road out of Zonguldak — named in the source both as the Zonguldak–İstanbul highway and as the Zonguldak–Ereğli road — about seventeen kilometres from the city centre. It runs some 250 metres and its shore is a mixture of sand and shingle. The bay is ringed to east and west by green slopes.
The hot spring stands close to the beach at the roadside. Its water is reported to hold a temperature of about 27 to 29.5 degrees through the year, with a flow of some twenty-three litres a second, and it is recorded in the inventory of the Zonguldak Coal Geopark as the Ilıksu geothermal spring. The water is said to contain minerals such as calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate, and local people believe it does good for rheumatism and for some skin complaints.
The beach is laid out by the Kozlu municipality and is heavily used in summer. Besides basic facilities — parking, showers, lavatories, changing cabins and a prayer room — there are a tea garden, a buffet and picnic grounds.
In the summer season the municipality runs regular public buses to the beach from the centre of Zonguldak and from Kozlu, and the minibuses working the Zonguldak–Ereğli route stop at the entrance.
