Experience Turkey's Greek and Roman history firsthand with a 3-day outing to Ephesus, Pergamum, and Pamukkale. Wander among ancient ruins, bathe in Pamukkale's opalescent thermal springs, and enjoy comfortable hotel accommodations, traveling by overnight bus to maximize your time spent exploring.
Day 1
Arrive in seaside Kuşadası after catching some shut-eye during your overnight bus from Istanbul, and set out for the classical Greek city of Ephesus. Visit the Greco-Roman ruins along the Arcadian Way, admiring the well-preserved columns and statues of the Celsus Library's re-erected facade and the sloping steps of the Great Theatre—the largest in Anatolia with room for 25,000 spectators. Head to the Mt. Koressos shrine where the Virgin Mary is believed to have spent her final years, and then admire the 14th-century architecture of the İsa Bey Mosque. End your day checking out the excavated artifacts on display at the Ephesus Archaeological Museum, and see the site where the grand Temple of Artemis once stood before heading back to your hotel for dinner.
Day 2
After breakfast, ride out to the UNESCO-listed city of Pergamum. Visit the ruins of the Asclepion, a medical center dotted with carved columns, a Roman theatre, and sacred pools. Learn how healing methods from meditation and music therapy to blood transfusion were first developed at this facility. After lunch, make your way up to the hilltop Acropolis. Gaze out over the nearby valleys to see the remains of aqueducts, and marvel at the sheer mass of the marble Temple of Trajan and the partially reconstructed Temple of Athena. Have dinner at your hotel before turning in for the night.
Day 3
Rise early and drive to Pamukkale to visit the striking thermal springs that have been used since Roman times. Soak up the therapeutic benefits of these healing mineral waters as you bathe in the pools perched on white travertine terraces and petrified waterfalls. Roam around the archaeological museum at Hierapolis, the ruined city built atop the surreal stepped basins, and then head back to İzmir to board your overnight bus back to Istanbul.
