Things to do in Ephesus, Turkey, after the ruins: twelve picks from the guides who live here

The best things to do in Ephesus beyond the ruins are all within a 20-minute drive of the gates: the Basilica of St John and Ayasuluk Fortress, the İsa Bey Mosque, the last column of the Temple of Artemis and the Ephesus Museum in Selçuk, 3 kilometers away; the House of the Virgin Mary, about 5 kilometers up the mountain road from the upper gate; and the hill village of Şirince, 8 kilometers above Selçuk. The ancient city takes three to four hours, so a morning there leaves the afternoon for two or three of the twelve below.

We guide Ephesus for a living and live in the towns around it, so this list is ranked the way we send our own friends. The minutes are driving times from the lower gate unless we say otherwise. Two picks depend on the season, and we say which.

Written by the Gezginol guide team, licensed Ephesian guides. Sources: the official pages listed at the end. Last reviewed: September 2026.

What is there to do around Ephesus besides the ruins?

Most of it lies within a 20-minute drive of the gates. Selçuk has St John’s Basilica, Ayasuluk Fortress, the İsa Bey Mosque, the Temple of Artemis and the Ephesus Museum; above it sit the House of the Virgin Mary and Şirince; Pamucak beach is 7 kilometers west.

The twelve things to do in Ephesus, Turkey, once you leave the gate

1. The Basilica of St John and Ayasuluk Fortress (5 minutes)

If you do one thing after the ruins, do this. Justinian built a six-domed basilica on Ayasuluk Hill in the 6th century over the grave the tradition gives to John the Evangelist, and the restored arches and the marble slab of the tomb still hold the shape of it. The same gate and the same ticket take you on up to the fortress, which is open and walkable: Byzantine walls, Seljuk towers and the best view in the district, over the plain where the harbor of Ephesus used to be. Give it an hour and go late in the afternoon, when the stone turns warm.

2. The İsa Bey Mosque (5 minutes)

At the foot of the same hill stands the İsa Bey Mosque of 1375, built partly of columns carried up from Ephesus. It reopened for prayers in February 2025 after a two-year restoration and is free to enter outside prayer times. Cover shoulders and knees, take your shoes off at the door, and look at the west portal on the way in: the carving is the best Seljuk stonework on this coast.

3. The last column of the Temple of Artemis (5 minutes)

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is now a single column, rebuilt from fallen drums, in a marshy field on the road between Ephesus and Selçuk. There is no gate and no fee. From spring into August a stork usually nests on top of it, which is the photograph in the header of this page. The column is ten minutes, but the story of the temple is the reason to stop, so come with a guide or read up first.

4. The Ephesus Museum in Selçuk (5 minutes)

The best finds from the city you have just walked are here, not in the ruins: the two great marble statues of Artemis of Ephesus, the original friezes from the Temple of Hadrian, and a room of household objects from the Terrace Houses. It is small enough for an hour, and indoors, which on a July afternoon is its own recommendation. If you saw the ruins in the morning, the museum in the afternoon closes the loop.

5. The House of the Virgin Mary (10 minutes from the upper gate)

Meryem Ana Evi, the small stone chapel that tradition holds as Mary’s last home, sits in the pine woods about 5 kilometers up the mountain road from the upper gate. Pilgrims of both faiths come here, and the wishing wall below the chapel is covered in knotted notes. It is ticketed, it is a place of worship, so shoulders and knees are covered, and no minibus goes there. Our page on the House of the Virgin Mary covers the history and the visit, and pairs it with the upper gate so you walk Ephesus downhill afterwards.

6. The Cave of the Seven Sleepers (5 minutes)

On the far side of Panayır Hill from the theater is the grotto where, the legend says, seven young Christians of Ephesus fell asleep during a persecution and woke two centuries later. Austrian excavators found a church over the cave and hundreds of graves with inscriptions to the Sleepers. You see the site from behind a fence, and it is free, so this is a 15-minute stop, and a quiet one.

7. Şirince (20 minutes)

The hill village 8 kilometers above Selçuk is where we take people who want one afternoon with no marble in it: Greek-Ottoman stone houses stacked up a valley of olives and peaches, courtyard kitchens and small cellars pouring quince, mulberry and blackberry wine. At midday in August the main lane is busy, so the trick is the clock: before 10:30 or after 16:00 it is a different village. Our local’s guide to Şirince, Turkey has the history and the lanes worth getting lost in.

8. Pamucak beach (10 minutes)

Few visitors realize that Ephesus has a beach. Pamucak is a long, wide crescent of fine, pale sand where the Küçük Menderes river reaches the sea, 7 kilometers west of Selçuk and about 4 kilometers west of the ruins. It is a swim after the ruins in summer and a long empty walk in winter. It suits people who want space more than a beach bar; for sheltered coves, the Dilek Peninsula national park is a better half-day.

9. The Saturday market in Selçuk (5 minutes)

Selçuk’s municipality calls the Saturday market the town’s main one, and it is where the villages come to sell: tomatoes with dents, white cheese from the barrel, olives in a dozen buckets, figs and peaches by the season, and gözleme cooked on the spot. Go in the morning, bring small lira notes, and eat as you walk. A smaller market runs on Wednesdays. The rest of the town is in our guide to Selçuk, Turkey, and our free Selçuk walking route strings picks 1 to 4 and the market into two hours on foot.

10. An olive mill, from October to December (10 to 20 minutes)

From October the nets go down under the trees around Selçuk and the mills start pressing, and in November and December the first green oil comes out of the machines peppery enough to make you cough. If you are here in those weeks, ask your guide or your hotel which mill is pressing; a liter bought at the mill is the best souvenir this district makes. We wrote up the olive harvest in Selçuk, month by month.

11. The Night Museum, June to early October (the lower gate)

This is Ephesus again, but it is a different city after dark. In 2026 the Night Museum runs Wednesday to Saturday, 19:00 to 23:00 (ticket office until 22:00), from 1 June to 1 October, through the lower gate only, with the Library of Celsus, Curetes Street and the theater floodlit. If you did the ruins in the morning heat, come back for the cool evening. Our note on the Ephesus Night Museum covers tickets and what is lit; the dates are set each year, so check before you plan around them.

12. The birds of the Küçük Menderes delta, in the cool months (15 minutes)

Behind Pamucak beach the river spreads into reed beds, salt marsh and two lagoons, Çatal and Gebekirse, and the İzmir tourism board keeps an observation point over them. Its list of birds starts with the flamingo and runs through redshanks and dunlins. Go out of season, when the beach is empty and the light is low, and take binoculars.

How to fit two or three of them into one day

The ruins take three to four hours at a normal pace, and our note on how long to spend at Ephesus breaks that down stop by stop. After that you have time for two or three picks, and they group by direction. Selçuk (picks 1 to 4 and 9) is one cluster, five minutes apart. The mountain (5) pairs with the upper gate. Şirince (7) wants an afternoon of its own. The sea (8 and 12) is ten minutes west.

The pairing we recommend most is the simplest: Ephesus in the quiet of the morning, then the hill road to Şirince for lunch. That is our Ephesus and Şirince day: about seven hours door to door with a licensed guide, a private car and driver, and lunch in the village included in the price. Your Ephesus tickets are bought ahead with our agency priority pass, so you go in through the priority entrance instead of standing in line at the window; the ticket itself is paid separately, at the official price.

And we add nothing to the ticket. The fast pass is ours to give; the entrance fee stays exactly what the Ministry of Culture and Tourism charges at the gate, to the lira. You are paying us for the queue you skip — never for the ticket itself.

If you are staying longer on the coast, our resident’s list of things to do in Kuşadası picks up where this one ends.

Questions people ask about things to do around Ephesus

What town is closest to Ephesus?

Selçuk. The town center is about 3 kilometers from the lower gate of Ephesus, a five-minute drive, and it holds the Basilica of St John, Ayasuluk Fortress, the İsa Bey Mosque, the Temple of Artemis and the Ephesus Museum. Kuşadası, the port and beach town, is 19 kilometers away.

Is the Temple of Artemis inside Ephesus?

No. The temple stood outside the Roman city, on the plain between Ephesus and Selçuk. Today one re-erected column marks the site, about a five-minute drive from the lower gate, and the field is free to walk up to. It is not included in the Ephesus ticket because nothing there is ticketed.

What are the beaches like around Ephesus?

The nearest is Pamucak, a long, wide beach of fine, pale river-delta sand 7 kilometers west of Selçuk and about 10 minutes by car from the ruins. It is open and uncrowded outside high summer. For coves and clear water, Kuşadası and the Dilek Peninsula national park are 25 to 50 minutes south.

Can you do Ephesus and Şirince in one day?

Yes, comfortably. Ephesus takes three to four hours in the morning, and Şirince is about 20 minutes’ drive from the gate, so the village gets the afternoon and a long lunch. Our Ephesus and Şirince day is about seven hours door to door.