Archaeological site · Efes Harabeleri, Acarlar, Selçuk, İzmir

Ephesus Ancient City

Name: Ephesus Ancient City
Address: Efes Harabeleri, Acarlar, İzmir, Turkey

Efes Örenyeri · Efes Antik Kenti · Ephesus

The excavated Greek and Roman city of Ephesus, near Selçuk in İzmir province, run as a ticketed archaeological site by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and one of the four components of UNESCO's Ephesus World Heritage property.

The two-storey columned facade of the Library of Celsus at Ephesus under a clear blue sky, with a few visitors on the steps. — The Library of Celsus, Ephesus Ancient City. · Photo: Benh LIEU SONG / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Where it is

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37.9410, 27.3425

Why go

The Ministry describes Ephesus as a city of great importance in the ancient Mediterranean, capital of the Roman province of Asia, whose remains include the theatre, the Library of Celsus, the Odeon, bathhouses and the commercial agora. UNESCO inscribed Ephesus in 2015 as a serial property of four components: Çukuriçi Mound, the Ancient City of Ephesus, Ayasuluk Hill with the Artemision and the medieval settlement, and the House of the Virgin Mary. This record is the ancient city that visitors enter through the Ministry's ticketed gates. It is a large open-air site with an upper and a lower gate. On 22 September 2026 the Ministry's list of temporarily closed units showed the path from the Library of Celsus down Marble Road as closed for restoration, with no reopening date beyond 'until the works are complete'. According to the Ministry, the site ticket also covers the Ephesus Experience Museum.

Getting there

The Ministry lists two ticket offices: a lower gate (alt gişe) open 08:00-19:00 and an upper gate (üst gişe) open 08:00-18:00, read 22 September 2026. It gives its postal address as Efes Harabeleri, 35920 Selçuk/İzmir, and the İzmir provincial directorate puts the ruins 3 km from Selçuk town. The Ministry does not publish how the two gates connect, which one suits a given visitor, or parking.

Best time to visit

No official source consulted recommends a month. For summer heat only, MGM's İzmir city station (1938-2025; there is no Selçuk series) gives an average daily high of 33.3°C in July and 33.0°C in August, with 43.2°C the highest ever recorded there. That is a different place from the ruins, and the Ministry describes no shade or drinking water inside the site.

Through the year

The Ministry's page shows one set of opening hours and no season. Its printed leaflets for the Ephesus Museum and for the Basilica of St John show different summer (1 April to 31 October) and winter hours, and the leaflet for this site was not available, so do not assume the hours shown are year-round. Evening opening on Wednesday to Saturday depends on the Ministry's allocations and is not a guaranteed programme.

Public transport

The Ministry's culture portal says Ephesus is reached by urban transit vehicles; it does not name a route or say which gate it serves.

Accessibility

The Ministry does not publish a step-free route, a stroller route, toilets, seating or shade for this site; ask the museum directorate on 0232 892 60 10 before you go. The road that starts at the Library of Celsus and descends along Marble Road has been closed for restoration since 10 April 2025 (Ministry closed-units list, read 22 September 2026). An academic study of wheelchair access at Ephesus, published in December 2025 after the researchers toured the site by wheelchair, concluded that ramps should be built and broken areas repaired; it is not an operator statement.

Visiting

Type: Archaeological site
Where: Efes Harabeleri, Acarlar, Selçuk, İzmir
Opening: According to the Ministry (muze.gov.tr, read 22 September 2026), the site is open every day, 08:00 to 18:45, with the lower ticket office open until 19:00 and the upper until 18:00. Those figures do not line up exactly and no season is named, so confirm on the day. Evening visits, 19:00 to 23:00 on Wednesday to Saturday, are run only where no 'allocations' (the Ministry's word) are in place. The Terrace Houses have their own hours and a separate ticket.
Cost: Ticket rules are set by the Ministry; check the price on muze.gov.tr. Its entrance directive gives free entry to Turkish citizens under 18, to foreign children aged 8 and under (elsewhere the same document says under 8), and to visitors with disabilities; the Terrace Houses are outside the Museum Card.
Best for: Visitors who want the best-known excavated Roman city on the Aegean coast, with its theatre and the Library of Celsus.
Not ideal for: Visitors who need a confirmed step-free or stroller route, or reliable shade: the Ministry publishes neither.

Details last verified 2026-09-22. Conditions change — check locally before setting out.

Base yourself nearby

Town

Selçuk

Selçuk is a town and district in İzmir province on the Aegean coast, the base for visiting the ancient city of Ephesus. Its own monuments sit around Ayasuluk Hill, where the Basilica of St John stands, and the Ephesus Museum, run by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, is in the town. UNESCO inscribed Ephesus in 2015 as a property of four separate components, and the visitor-facing Ministry sites are only some of them.

Near Ephesus Ancient City

Related guides

Ephesus Ancient City and the Ephesus Museum: two different places near Selçuk
Ephesus Ancient City and the Ephesus Museum are two separate places about 3 km apart, each with its own gate and its own ticket, and the ruins' Terrace Houses need a third ticket of their own. This guide sets out the Ministry's hours and fees for each, what's currently closed, and what's held in the museum rather than at the site.