Ephesus: what to see and how long it takes

What Ephesus actually is

Ephesus was one of the largest cities of the ancient Mediterranean and, for a long period, the most important port on this coast. The sea has since retreated several kilometres, which is why a great harbour city now sits inland — and also why so much of it survived. The silt that stranded the port also buried and protected the ruins.

What you walk through is not a scattering of stones but a street plan: marble paving, drainage, shopfronts, public buildings on either side.

The main things you will see

• The Library of Celsus — the two-storey façade that appears on every photograph of Ephesus. It was built as both a library and a tomb for the man it is named after, who is buried beneath it.
• The Great Theatre — cut into the hillside and large enough for tens of thousands. It looks down the road that once ran to the harbour.
• Curetes Street — the marble avenue that connects the upper and lower city, lined with column bases, statues and inscriptions.
• The Terrace Houses — the homes of wealthy residents, with mosaic floors and painted walls still in place. These are under a protective roof and entered separately from the main route.
• Public latrines and baths — unglamorous, and often the part visitors remember most, because they show how the city actually worked.

How long each part takes

The sites nearby, and whether to add them

The House of the Virgin Mary sits on a wooded hillside above the ancient city. It is a place of pilgrimage for both Christian and Muslim visitors, and the atmosphere is quiet and contained — a contrast to the open ruins below.

The Temple of Artemis was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Almost nothing of it remains standing: a single reassembled column in a field. Visitors expecting a temple are often disappointed; visitors who understand they are looking at the footprint of something enormous find it moving. Know which one you are before you go.

Sirince is a hill village above Selcuk, known for its stone houses and its fruit wines. It works well as an afternoon after a morning of ruins, when you want to sit down rather than walk further.

Practical things that matter here

• Shade is scarce. The site is open marble and stone. In summer the reflected heat is significant — a hat and water are not optional.
• The surface is uneven. Ancient marble paving is polished smooth in places and broken in others. Proper shoes matter more than they would at most sites.
• There are two gates. Tours normally enter at the upper gate and walk down, which is easier than the reverse.
• Mornings are quieter. When cruise ships are in port the site fills up in the middle of the day.

Is a guide worth it?

More here than at most sites. Ephesus is well preserved but sparsely labelled, and a lot of what you are looking at — which building was what, why a street bends where it does, what the inscriptions say — is not obvious from the stones alone.

Without some form of explanation, a great deal of Ephesus reads as handsome ruins. With it, it reads as a city.