Two completely different things share the name. Knowing which one you are buying is most of the decision.
"Turkish towel" means two entirely different things, and the confusion costs people money. A peshtemal is a flat-woven cotton cloth with no pile at all -- thin, fast-drying, traditionally used in a hammam. A Turkish cotton towel is an ordinary looped terry towel that happens to be woven from Turkish long-staple cotton. They behave nothing alike.
Most of the disappointment in this category comes from buying the first while expecting the second. A peshtemal bought as a plush bath towel is a bad plush bath towel. Bought as what it is -- a towel that packs to nothing, dries in an hour and gets better every year -- it is one of the best things in a linen cupboard.
If you are not sure which one you want, the comparison is the place to start. If you want the short answer on whether the category is worth your time at all, we wrote that too.
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Start here
Every guide below carries the products we would actually buy, with the retailer link attached.
Best Turkish Towels
Flat-woven peshtemals and Turkish cotton terry, sorted by purpose. Which packs smallest, which absorbs most, and which to skip.
Top pick: Cacala Peshtemal Turkish Hammam Towel
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Go deeper
The background that makes the picks make sense.
Compared
Egyptian is denser and plusher; Turkish dries faster and costs less. Both are long-staple, and that is the part that matters.
Top pick: Chakir Turkish Linens Hotel & Spa Bath Towel
#ad How we are funded · Prices checked September 23, 2026
Compared
Flat weave versus looped pile. What each is genuinely for, and why buying the wrong one is where all the disappointment comes from.
Top pick: Cacala Peshtemal Turkish Hammam Towel
#ad How we are funded · Prices checked September 23, 2026
Guide
Who Turkish towels genuinely suit, who should not bother, and what to expect from the stiff, unabsorbent first three weeks.
Top pick: Cacala Peshtemal Turkish Hammam Towel
#ad How we are funded · Prices checked September 23, 2026
Guide
What a peshtemal is, how it differs from a fouta and a hammam towel, and the four things to check before you buy one.
Top pick: Cacala Peshtemal Turkish Hammam Towel
#ad How we are funded · Prices checked September 23, 2026
Guide
Temperature, detergent and drying for flat-woven cotton -- plus how to break in a new peshtemal and rescue a stiff old one.
Top pick: Charlie's Soap Laundry Powder
#ad How we are funded · Prices checked September 23, 2026
A new flat-woven Turkish towel is stiff, slightly waxy, and barely absorbent. This is normal and it is temporary. Cotton is coated in natural waxes and, in most manufacturing, sizing agents that hold the yarn together during weaving. Terry towels hide this because their enormous surface area absorbs anyway. A flat weave has no such margin, so the coating is obvious.
Two or three warm washes strips it. From then on the towel improves for years: the flat weave has no pile to crush, so instead of the slow flattening that ends a terry towel, a peshtemal just gets softer. That is the entire argument for the category, and it is a good one.
It will not absorb like terry. A flat weave holds a fraction of the water a looped pile does, so drying off is a wiping motion rather than a patting one, and if you have long hair you will want a second towel. It is also thin, which reads as cheap to some people no matter how good the cotton is. Neither of those is a defect; they are the trade you are making.
If that trade does not appeal, buy Turkish cotton terry instead -- the fiber is the same, and the towels are in our main bath towel picks.
A flat-woven peshtemal absorbs noticeably less than terry, and needs two or three washes before it absorbs properly at all. Turkish cotton terry towels are as absorbent as any other good terry. The word covers both.
Natural cotton waxes and manufacturing sizing agents coat the yarn. Two or three warm washes with a normal dose of detergent and no fabric softener removes them, and the towel then improves for years.
Yes, and many people prefer it. Expect to wipe rather than pat, and expect to want a second towel for long hair. See are Turkish towels worth it.
Warm water, normal detergent, no fabric softener, and line dry or tumble low. Full detail in how to wash Turkish towels.