Current Time in Selçuk, Turkey

Selçuk is a small town in Aydın Province on the Aegean coast of Turkey, located approximately 80 kilometers south of İzmir and a few kilometers inland from the coast. Despite its modest size, Selçuk is one of the most historically significant towns in Turkey and the immediate base for visiting the ancient ruins of Ephesus — one of the great cities of the Roman Empire — as well as several other sites of exceptional archaeological and religious importance concentrated in this small area of western Anatolia.

With a population of approximately 33,000, Selçuk is a small agricultural town that has developed a tourism economy around its extraordinary heritage. It is a far more pleasant and authentic base for exploring the Ephesus area than the larger resort of Kuşadası on the coast, offering budget accommodation, good restaurants, and a genuine local market atmosphere. The weekly Saturday leather and produce market is a lively event drawing villagers from the surrounding plain.

The ruins of Ephesus lie about three kilometers from Selçuk town center and are accessible by road or a pleasant bicycle ride through olive groves and past the ruins of the Basilica of Saint John. Ephesus was one of the most important cities in the ancient Mediterranean world, a great port and commercial center of the Roman province of Asia during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The Library of Celsus, its two-story facade magnificently restored, the Great Theatre (where the Apostle Paul reportedly preached and caused a riot described in the Acts of the Apostles), the marble-paved Curetes Street, and the Terrace Houses with their extraordinary painted and mosaic interiors represent one of the most compelling archaeological experiences anywhere in the world.

The Basilica of Saint John, built in the 6th century AD by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian on the hill above Selçuk, marks the traditional burial site of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist. Though largely ruined, the restored columns and walls give a sense of the building's original grandeur. Adjacent to it, the İsa Bey Mosque (1375), one of the finest examples of early Anatolian Turkish architecture with its magnificent courtyard and carved stone decoration, represents the transition from Byzantine to Turkish rule in the region. The site of the Temple of Artemis — one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World — is identifiable by a single reconstructed column rising from an otherwise empty field a short walk from town.

The Ephesus Museum in Selçuk town center is one of the best small archaeological museums in Turkey, displaying a comprehensive collection of sculpture, friezes, everyday objects, and the famous double-breasted statue of Artemis of Ephesus. The House of the Virgin Mary (Meryemana), about eight kilometers from Selçuk on the slopes of Bülbül Dağı, is an important Christian pilgrimage site visited by millions annually, including several popes.

Selçuk is connected to İzmir by frequent train services (about one hour) and by buses. Kuşadası and its ferry connections to Greece are about 20 kilometers away. İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport is about 75 kilometers north.

Selçuk is a town whose modest present contrasts dramatically with its extraordinary past, serving as the ideal base for an immersive encounter with the ancient Greek and Roman world of western Anatolia.