Turkish Cotton Towels: The Ultimate Guide to Peshtemal Beach Towels
There's a particular kind of frustration that comes with a soggy, sand-caked beach towel taking up half your bag on the walk home. If you've ever wished for something that packs smaller, dries faster and still feels good against your skin, you've already found the reason Turkish cotton towels exist.
Known in Turkey as peshtemal, these towels have been part of everyday Turkish life for centuries — originally made for the hammam, now just as at home on an Australian beach. At Istanbul Grand Bazaar, every towel we sell is woven in Turkey using that same traditional technique, just in colours and sizes that suit how Australians actually spend their summer.
What Makes a Turkish Towel Different?
The short answer is the weave. A standard beach towel is looped and piled — thick, fluffy, and built to hold a lot of water, which is also exactly why it takes so long to dry and so much space to pack. A peshtemal is flat-woven instead. Less bulk, less weight, and a lot less time spent waiting for it to dry between swims.
That flatter weave has a second advantage most people don't expect: sand barely clings to it. Give it one shake and most of it falls straight off, instead of working its way into a thick pile the way it does with a conventional towel.
Why It Works So Well for an Australian Summer
Every one of our towels is 100% Turkish cotton, 90 × 180cm, and designed around the same three things: lightweight, quick-dry, and sand-resistant. In practice, that makes them genuinely useful for more than just the beach:
- Beach and pool days
- Travel and holidays — they fold flat enough to actually save suitcase space
- Gym, yoga or pilates
- Picnics, as a lightweight blanket
- Camping and caravanning
- A sarong or wrap on a hot afternoon
- Left in the car for whenever a beach trip happens to come up
That last one is probably the most honest use case. A peshtemal takes up so little space that there's not much reason not to keep one on hand.
One Towel, So Many Ways
This is where a peshtemal earns its keep. Lay it flat on the sand, wrap it around yourself walking back from the water, tie it as a sarong, or throw it over your shoulders once the sea breeze picks up. At home, the same towel works as a light throw over a couch or the end of a bed. It doesn't really have an off-season.
Beach Towel
Sarong or Wrap
Picnic Blanket
Travel Essential
Bathroom Towel
Pool & Spa
Does It Actually Travel Well?
Yes — and this is genuinely one of the better reasons to own one. Because a peshtemal folds almost flat, it takes up a fraction of the space a rolled-up terry towel does in a suitcase or carry-on. For a family packing four or five towels for a trip, that difference adds up fast. Ours can double as a travel towel, a plane blanket, or an extra layer without needing its own packing cube.
Does It Get Softer Over Time?
It does, and it's worth knowing this before your first wash. A peshtemal fresh out of the packaging feels a little crisper than the terry towels most people grew up with — that's just the weave, not a flaw. Every wash relaxes the cotton a bit further, so the towel you have after a summer of use is noticeably softer than the one you started with.
Caring for Your Turkish Towel
Keeping one in good shape is simple: cold, gentle wash, and air dry. Avoid high heat and harsh detergents, and be a little gentle with the tassels specifically — they're the one part that can fray if machine-dried too roughly. Treated well, a Turkish towel is genuinely a multi-summer piece, not a one-season buy.
Bringing a Piece of Turkey Home
What we like most about the peshtemal is that it doesn't ask you to choose between practical and beautiful. The story behind it is Turkish — generations of hammam tradition and hand-weaving — but the way it actually gets used here is thoroughly Australian: thrown in a beach bag, dragged to the pool, packed for a weekend away. That's exactly the kind of everyday usefulness we want every product at Istanbul Grand Bazaar to have, not just something that looks nice sitting still.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Turkish towel?
A Turkish towel, or peshtemal, is a traditionally woven Turkish cotton towel with a flat weave rather than a thick pile, making it lighter, more compact and faster-drying than a standard beach towel.
Are Turkish towels good for the beach?
Yes — their flat weave sheds sand easily, dries quickly between swims, and packs down small enough to fit comfortably in a beach bag alongside everything else.
Do Turkish towels dry quickly?
Yes. The lightweight, flat-woven cotton holds far less water than a thick terry towel, so it dries significantly faster both on the line and while you're using it.
Are Turkish towels sand resistant?
Largely, yes. Sand sits on top of the flat weave rather than working into a deep pile, so a single shake removes most of it.
What's the difference between a peshtemal and a regular towel?
The weave. A regular towel is thick and looped for maximum absorption; a peshtemal is flat-woven, trading a little bulk-absorbency for being lighter, more compact and quicker to dry.
Can you use a Turkish towel as a sarong?
Yes, easily — the lightweight fabric and generous size make it a genuinely comfortable wrap, not just a towel pressed into service.
How do you wash a Turkish cotton towel?
Cold, gentle wash and air dry. This protects the tassels and the weave, and the cotton will keep softening with every wash regardless.
Find Your Turkish Towel
From classic blues and neutrals to bright pink, turquoise and orange, there's a peshtemal for every beach bag.
Shop Turkish Cotton Towels →