The archaeological site of Ephesus (or Ephesos) is located close to the city of Selcuk, a few km inland from the coast of western Turkey. It's perhaps the most significant Greco-Roman site in Turkey and as such receives a large number of visitors every year.
While the area around Ephesus has been settled since prehistoric times (at least since the Neolithic age around 6000 BC), Ephesus was first founded by the Greeks as an Attic-Ionian colony in the 10th century BC on a hill 3km from the current site. The location of the city moved over time as the coastline moved westwards due to silting by the rivers and Ephesus was a harbour city.
The site is huge (there is over one km between the lower and the upper entrance) and there are a number of relatively well preserved structures, such as for instance the great theatre, the Celsius library, the lower and upper agora and some temples.
Ephesus has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 2015 and is a major tourist attraction. As such it inevitably attracts a large number of local people who try to offer tourists unnecessary services at inflated prices. Once visitors manage to navigate through the local crowd and enter the actual site, the visit is free of harassment.
How to get to Ephesus
The closest international airport is in Izmir. From there the archaeological site can be reached by car or taxi.
Accommodation
There are countless accomodation options in the area, most bookable via the international booking portals.
01 Necropolis 02 Sarcophagus 03 Sarcophagi 04 Sarcophagi
05 Sarcophagus 06 Harbour road 07 Theatre
08 Theatre 09 Theatre 10 Theatre
11 Theatre 12 Arch 13 Lower agora 14 Celsius library
15 Celsius library and lower agora 16 Curetes street 17 Celsius library
18 Celsius library 19 Gate of Mazaeus and Mithridates 20 Celsius library column 21 Statue in Celsius library 22 Greek inscriptions
23 Curetes street 24 Hadrian temple 25 Hadrian temple detail 26 Hadrian temple detail
27 Mosaics 28 Mosaics 29 Mosaics 30 Gate of Herakles 31 Ionic column
32 Baths of Varius 33 Baths of Varius 34 Baths of Varius 35 Temple of Isis
36 Temple of Isis 37 Odeion 38 Odeion 39 Cat 40 Curetes street
41 Celsius library and Augustus gate 42 Freshly baked bread 43 Freshly baked bread 44 Selcuk fountain and Byzantine aqueduct
45 Selcuk castle 46 Selcuk castle
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