My Ephesus self-guided walking tour, eight stops from the Odeon down to Harbor Street, is now a guide plan in Navly, a trip-planning app for iPhone that runs on Apple Maps. It is free to open on an iPhone or in any browser, and free to copy into your own trip. Follow the route on the map, read my note at each stop, and take as long as you like.
The team behind Navly asked me to curate and write their Ephesus route, and I said yes. Below is what is in the route, how to open it on your phone, and my honest view on when a map is enough and when it is not. If you would rather have me walking beside you, my guiding rate and a link to check my availability are further down this page.
What Navly Is, in Plain Words
The full name is Navly: Trip Planner & Maps, and it is an iPhone app. You tell it where you are going, and it builds a day-by-day plan on Apple Maps, with your itinerary, your saved places and your next stop together in one place. It is a free download from the App Store and needs iOS 18.6 or later. The app’s AI trip planner is free within limits and paid beyond them, but you do not need it for my route at all.
In October 2026 Navly added guide plans: short walking routes drawn on the map with stops, measured distances and a note at each one. Copying a guide plan into your trip, or adding only a few of its stops, is free. Admission tickets are not included, which is true of every app on earth. You still buy your Ephesus ticket at the gate.
The app itself works in English and eight other languages (my notes are written in English), and when you want directions, it hands you over to Apple Maps.
The Route: From the Odeon to Harbor Street
I built the route the way I guide: start at the Upper (Magnesian) Gate and walk downhill, so the city unfolds in the right order and your knees thank you at the end. The plan is 840 meters long, about fifteen minutes of actual walking. With the time I suggest at each stop, plan on an hour and a half. These are the eight stops:
- Odeon and State Agora (10 minutes). The council chamber of Roman Ephesus, with the administrative square beside it. Start here, near the upper entrance.
- Prytaneion (5 minutes). Where the city’s sacred flame was kept burning. Then downhill toward Domitian Square.
- Temple of Domitian and its square (5 minutes). The emperor’s temple, or what is left of it, at the top of the main street.
- Hercules Gate and Curetes Street (5 minutes). The photo everyone wants, then the long marble walk down past fountains, inscriptions and columns.
- Temple of Hadrian (10 minutes). Look closely at the reliefs on the facade. The Terrace Houses across the street are an optional detour; they need a separate ticket and extra time.
- Library of Celsus (15 minutes). The two-story facade and the statue copies. Step slightly to the right for the best photo, then look at the Gate of Mazeus and Mithridates beside it.
- Great Theater (15 minutes). Follow Marble Street down. From the upper rows, look toward where the harbor used to be. The steps are steep and smooth, so take them slowly.
- Harbor Street and the lower exit (10 minutes). The colonnaded avenue that once led to the ships. It walks you out of the site.
Every stop carries a short note from me: what you are looking at, what to notice, and where to go next. At the Library, for example, I tell you where to stand for the photo and that the four women in the niches are copies; the originals have been in Vienna for more than a hundred years, which is a story for a longer walk. I kept the notes short on purpose. Nobody wants to read an essay on a phone in the August sun.
How to Open My Ephesus Route
On an iPhone: download Navly: Trip Planner & Maps from the App Store, open the app and look among its guide plans for Ephesus: From the Odeon to Harbor Street. Copy the whole plan into your trip, or add only the stops you want. Both are free. You can preview the same route first on the route page at navly.app.
On Android, a laptop or anything else: open that same route page in your browser. The stops are drawn on Apple Maps there too. No app and no account needed.
At the site: go to the Upper Gate, buy your ticket there (the current Ephesus entry prices are on this site), and begin at stop one. Bring water and proper shoes. The marble is beautiful and it is slippery, and the cats will not help you up.
Tips for Your Ephesus Self-Guided Walking Tour
A few things I tell every guest, and they apply double when nobody is walking beside you. Come early, right at opening, or after three in the afternoon; the marble throws the heat back at you and there is very little shade on Curetes Street. Wear closed shoes with some grip, bring a hat and at least one bottle of water each, and know that the restrooms are at the two entrances, so go before you start. Open the route on your phone before you reach the Upper Gate, so you are not fiddling with it in the ticket line. The ticket offices take cash and the usual cards. If your time is really short, enter from the Lower Gate instead and spend it on stops six to eight: Harbor Street starts at that gate, and the Great Theater and the Library are within ten minutes’ walk of it. And if you have both the time and the ticket, the Terrace Houses are the one detour I would not skip.
Why I Said Yes to Navly
I have guided at Ephesus since 2008, and I know that many of the people who walk through the gates each day do it without a guide. Cruise guests with three hours ashore, families on a budget, couples who simply like to wander. For years I have watched them walk the main street with a paper map, missing the Prytaneion entirely, standing in the wrong spot for the Celsus photo, and asking each other what the Odeon was for. I would much rather they had a good route with honest notes in their pocket. So when the team behind Navly asked me to curate their Ephesus route, I did not have to think for long. My thanks to them for asking.
I will be honest about the limits too. A route on a map cannot answer the question you did not know you had. It cannot read you the inscription at your feet, and it cannot slow down when your knee says so or speed up when your ship says so. That is what guiding is for, and it is why the walk in Navly and the walk with me are two different things, not two versions of the same thing.
On Your Own or With Me?
Walk it on your own if your visit is short, your budget is tight, or you simply prefer to explore by yourself. The route is built for exactly that. If you want timings, photo spots and practical tips to go with it, they are in my two-hour Ephesus walking plan.
Walk it with me if you want your questions answered as they come up, a pace set by your knees and not by a timetable, and someone else to worry about the day. My guiding rate is 150 euros for a full day, for your private group and not per person. Entrance tickets, transport and meals are separate. I meet you at your hotel, at Kuşadası port or at the Ephesus gate. The details are on my guiding rates page, and you can check my availability here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you visit Ephesus without a tour?
Yes. Ephesus is an open archaeological site: you buy a ticket at the gate and walk it on your own. The Navly route gives you a sensible order of stops and a short note from me, a licensed guide, at each one.
Is the Navly Ephesus route free?
Yes. Navly is a free download, and opening a guide plan, copying it or adding its stops to your trip costs nothing. The app’s AI planning has paid tiers, but you do not need it for my route. Your Ephesus entrance ticket is separate and paid at the gate.
Do I need an iPhone?
Only for the app itself. The route page opens in any browser with the map and all eight stops, so Android and desktop users can follow it too.
How long does the walk take?
The route is 840 meters and about fifteen minutes of pure walking. With the time I suggest at each stop, allow about an hour and a half, and add thirty to forty-five minutes if you go into the Terrace Houses.
Which entrance do I start from?
The Upper (Magnesian) Gate. The route runs downhill and ends at the lower exit by Harbor Street, which is also how most guided groups walk the city.
Are the Terrace Houses included?
They are marked as an optional detour at stop five. They need a separate ticket and extra time, and in my opinion they are worth both.
One Last Thing
If you walk the route and one of my notes leaves you confused, write and tell me. I would rather fix it than have you standing there wondering.
Last reviewed: October 15, 2026. Navly added guide plans to the app in October 2026; I will update this page if the route or the app changes.
Görüşmek üzere, see you in Ephesus.
Hasan Gülday
