Plan Your Visit to Ephesus

One full day covers the biblical circuit properly: the ancient city, the House of Virgin Mary and the Basilica of Saint John. Half a day is enough for the ruins alone. Add a second day if you want the Ephesus Museum, Sirince or the Terrace Houses at leisure, and allow three days for the full seven churches of Revelation circuit.

It is the most complete classical city you can walk anywhere in the Mediterranean, and for anyone who reads the New Testament it is the one place where a whole chapter — Acts 19 — has an address. Around two million people visit each year. The honest caveat: it is hot, bright and short of shade, so the hour you choose matters.

Ephesus itself has none. The House of Virgin Mary and the Basilica of Saint John are religious sites where shoulders and knees should be covered — a light scarf or shawl solves it. Comfortable closed shoes matter everywhere: the ancient marble is polished smooth and genuinely slippery.

April to early June and mid-September to October give the kindest weather and the thinnest crowds. July and August are hot and busy with cruise passengers — go at opening time if you come then. Winter is quiet, green and often lovely, with short daylight. For pilgrims, 15 August brings the Assumption Mass at the House of Virgin Mary.

Yes — the site is open daily and you can buy a ticket at either gate. The difficulty is everything outside it: Mary's house and St John's basilica are several kilometers away in opposite directions with no walking route and little public transport, and the biblical layer of the ruins is largely invisible without someone to point it out.