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Credit Shutterstock.com/Birol Aydin
With its cobbled streets, spectacular surviving villa interiors and painstakingly restored facades, Turkey’s best-known ancient site stunningly evokes Roman-era life in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. It’s rare to experience a city quite so rich in architectural detailing, not least inscriptions, statuary and restored facades.
Wandering Ephesus’ main street, past a wealth of buildings including bathhouses, temples and the exceptional Library of Celsus, is an unmissable experience for anybody with the least fascination for the past.
The southern gate, the recommended entrance, delivers visitors to the top of the original ‘main drag’. Guides and audio guides are available for hire, though those who prefer to wander at leisure will have little trouble finding their way through the well-signed site’s straightforward topography, especially with the hand-out maps.
The site is served by taxis while some of the pansiyons at Selcuk, the nearest accommodation base, shuttle their guests to Ephesus. By foot, it’s about a half-hour walk from Selcuk.
There are restaurants outside the entrance turnstiles, but nothing on the site. Bring snacks and water.
The site is open all year round, seven days a week. Ideally be there for opening time – which is the best time to avoid the heat and the crowds.
September and June are the best months to go. The site offers little shade and in July and August, when the weather is hot, even at 8am. The site is always crowded in high summer – often with cruise groups who flood the ancient streets.
Our selection of the best Viator tours of this attraction or activity
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Our writer’s recommended tour operators to book with
Monmouth, Wales, United Kingdom (UK)
Highly-regarded, multi-award-winning cultural tour and upscale gulet cruise expert operating a fleet of boats in Turkey, Croatia, Greece. There’s a range of expert-led themed tours available including foodie, archaeology, hiking and special family tours for small groups or private land-based tours or gulet charters.
Turquoise Coast, Turkey
Delightful small-group tours around Turkey, both by gulet and on land, personally led by two top Turkey specialists – leading Turkish travel writer Jeremy Seal, and Turkish archaeologist Yunus Ozdemir.
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