Ephesus is the reason almost everyone comes to Selçuk — one of the best-preserved Roman cities in the Mediterranean, with a 25,000-seat theatre, the marble façade of the Library of Celsus, and the painted Terrace Houses still being excavated. Allow a full day.
Beyond Ephesus, the town itself has serious sites within walking distance: the Basilica of St John on Ayasuluk Hill, the column of the Temple of Artemis, the fourteenth-century Isa Bey Mosque, and the small but excellent Ephesus Archaeological Museum. Şirince, a restored Greek village in the hills above the town, is worth a half-day. The House of the Virgin Mary on Bülbül Mountain draws Catholic pilgrims and curious travellers; the Cave of the Seven Sleepers on the eastern edge of Ephesus is one of the strangest places in the region.