Acts 19 read where it happened, with a guide who can tell you which stones Paul saw.
An early flight to İzmir, about an hour and a quarter in the air
Downhill through Ephesus from the upper gate
Acts 19 on the spot, and the letters to and from the city
An evening flight back, and a driver to your door
The order follows the road from İzmir Airport: the hill above the city, then Ephesus from its upper gate down, then Selçuk. A shop goes on the day only if you ask.
Nine kilometres above Selçuk, on Bülbül Dağı, stands the small stone house that Christians and Muslims alike visit as Mary’s last home. Scripture stops at John 19:27: “From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.” Ephesus enters the story later, through tradition.
Mass here: 10:30 am daily from May to October; from November to April, 10:30 am on Sundays and 5:30 pm on weekdays, as the shrine lists it.
You enter by the upper gate and walk down through the civic square of Paul’s Ephesus. Somewhere in this city he taught daily for two years in the school of Tyrannus, “so that all those who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus”.
The royal stoa on the square was dedicated between AD 4 and 14, its inscription shows, so it stood when Paul arrived.
Curetes Street runs downhill to the Library of Celsus, the photograph everyone takes. Paul never saw it: the library went up some fifty years after he left, and its façade was pieced back together in the 1970s.
Built in the early 2nd century, in the reign of Trajan, as the Austrian Archaeological Institute dates it.
Here the silversmiths’ crowd shouted “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” for about two hours. Paul was kept out: “When Paul wanted to enter in to the people, the disciples didn’t allow him.” His companions Gaius and Aristarchus were dragged in instead.
The path from the Library of Celsus down Marble Street is closed for restoration work, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism notes, so your guide plans around it.
After lunch in Selçuk, Ayasuluk Hill. A 4th-century church stood over the grave that tradition gives to John, and Justinian rebuilt it as a great basilica in the 6th century. Around AD 190 Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, wrote that John “sleeps at Ephesus”.
Open until 7 pm in summer, with the last tickets sold at 6:30 pm.
In Paul’s day this was “the temple of the great goddess Artemis”, rebuilt after a fire in 356 BC and one of the Seven Wonders. Today a single column stands in the field; from here the road runs back to the airport.
The column is a modern assembly of “entirely mismatching fragments of a number of different columns”, UNESCO’s advisers note.
The couple Paul left behind heard Apollos preach and “took him aside, and explained to him the way of God more accurately”.
Three months in the synagogue, then two years of daily teaching in a lecture hall.
Demetrius, the rush into the theatre, and the town clerk who calmed the crowd.
Paul wrote to Corinth from this city: “But I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost.” Earlier in the letter he says he “fought with animals at Ephesus”.
He called the elders of Ephesus to Miletus and reminded them that “for a period of three years” he had warned them night and day.
The letter to Ephesus praises its toil and perseverance, then turns: “But I have this against you, that you left your first love.”
Paul lived in Ephesus from about AD 52 to 55, as scholars usually date it. Much of the marble you walk past went up after he left.
| Place | Built | In Paul’s day |
|---|---|---|
| Temple of ArtemisRead: Acts 19:27 | Rebuilt after a fire in 356 BC | Standing in Paul’s day |
| Commercial Agora | 3rd century BC; its gate 4 to 3 BC | Standing in Paul’s day |
| Royal stoa on the State Agora | AD 4 to 14 | Standing in Paul’s day |
| Terrace House 2 | Under Augustus and Tiberius; redecorated from AD 120 | Standing in Paul’s day |
| Great TheatreRead: Acts 19:29-41 | Hellenistic; stage front AD 85, enlarged into the 2nd century | Standing in Paul’s day |
| Library of Celsus | Early 2nd century AD, under Trajan | Built after Paul |
| Temple of Hadrian | AD 117 or 118 | Built after Paul |
| Harbour Street colonnades | AD 395 to 408, under Arcadius | Built after Paul |
| Church of MaryRead: The Council’s letter of 431 | Early 5th century; the Council met here in 431 | Built after Paul |
| Basilica of St JohnRead: Eusebius, Church History 3.31 | 4th-century church; Justinian’s basilica, 6th century | Built after Paul |
| House of the Virgin MaryRead: John 19:26-27 | Identified in 1881 and 1891 | A later tradition |
Your date, your group, and whether Mass matters. We reply with flights that fit.
A driver takes you from your hotel to a short flight to İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport.
Your driver waits in arrivals; your licensed guide leads the day.
An evening flight home, and a driver back to your hotel.
Bring your Bible and your questions. Getting you there and back is our job.
Both domestic flights, to İzmir and back, chosen around your date.
Entry is arranged ahead, so you skip the line at the gate.
No public transport reaches the House of the Virgin Mary; your air-conditioned car does.
Ephesus keeps different hours on different weekdays, so we plan the day around yours.
Swap or drop any stop, slow down in the heat, or stay longer in the theatre.
Too much for one day? Stay over near Ephesus and fly back the next day.
Ask for any of them by name when you write.
Seven Churches specialist
“His advanced expertise spans Early Christianity, Biblical studies, and the historical context of the New Testament.”
He holds a doctorate in Tourism Management and lives in Kuşadası.
Raised in Selçuk
“Raised a short stroll from the ruins, Özgür grew up amid artifacts and conversations about the past.”
He reads the Greek inscriptions on site and links Ephesus to the letters of Revelation.
English, Spanish, Portuguese
Fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Her days run unhurried, with real rest points, which matters on Ephesus marble in summer.
Licensed guides, TÜRSAB member #7651Guiding since 2011145 Google reviews rated 5.0560 TripAdvisor reviews rated 4.8No. Acts 19 sets the riot in the theatre, but Paul stayed outside: “When Paul wanted to enter in to the people, the disciples didn’t allow him.” Friends among the Asiarchs, the province’s leading men, begged him not to risk it. The crowd had seized two of his companions, Gaius and Aristarchus.
The Temple of Artemis, the commercial agora, the royal stoa and an earlier, smaller theatre stood when Paul lived in Ephesus, from about AD 52 to 55. The Library of Celsus, the Temple of Hadrian, the Harbour Street colonnades, the Church of Mary and the Basilica of St John came later.
Yes, by air, and without arranging any of it yourself. A direct flight from Istanbul to İzmir takes about an hour and fifteen minutes, as Turkish Airlines lists it, and The Other Tour books the domestic flights, the drivers and a licensed guide.
That is a tradition rather than a record. The Gospel of John says the disciple Jesus loved took Mary “to his own home”; tradition later placed John at Ephesus. The house on Bülbül Dağı was found in 1891 by Lazarist priests following the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich, and three popes have prayed there: Paul VI in 1967, John Paul II in 1979 and Benedict XVI in 2006.
Yes. The shrine lists Mass at 10:30 am daily from May to October; from November to April it is 10:30 am on Sundays and 5:30 pm on weekdays. Every 15 August it holds a ceremony for the Feast of the Assumption. Tell us you want Mass when you write, and we plan the morning around it.
Tradition places his grave on Ayasuluk Hill in Selçuk, under the Basilica of St John. Around AD 190 Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, wrote that John “sleeps at Ephesus”, as Eusebius records.
Send your date, your group, and what matters most: Mass at the shrine, a slower pace, or more time in the theatre. We reply within a day with flights that fit and the name of your guide, and take the bookings from there.
