Tickets for ancient Ephesus are sold by Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, which prices entry for foreign visitors in euros and has already fixed a new tariff from 1 April 20271. The current foreign-adult site ticket costs €402 (checked on ) and includes the Ephesus Experience Museum. The Terrace Houses need a separate ticket or a combined pass. Below are the Ministry’s published prices and hours; conflicting closing times are marked clearly.

What does an Ephesus ticket include?

The ancient-city ticket takes in the Ephesus Experience Museum, which the Ministry’s combined-ticket list folds into the site ticket itself4. It does not cover the Terrace Houses, the roofed Roman houses on the slope above Curetes Street10, which the tariff prices on their own1.

The audio guide is easy to miss. The Ministry calls it the Electronic Guidance System, and for foreign visitors its cost is already built into the ticket wherever the service runs6. There is one at the ancient city, at the Terrace Houses and at the Ephesus Museum in Selçuk6.

The Ephesus Museum and the Ayasuluk site, with the Basilica of St John, are separate sites again, each with its own entry1.

The Library of Celsus and the Mazaeus-Mithridates Gate in warm light
Fig. 1 The library square and the Gate of Mazaeus and Mithridates.

Current single-ticket prices

Site Current price
Ephesus, including the Experience Museum: foreign adult €402 (checked on )
Terrace Houses: foreign adult / Turkish citizen with MüzeKart €15 / 200 TL with MüzeKart3 (checked on )
Ephesus Museum in Selçuk: foreign adult €1011 (checked on )
Ayasuluk–St John: foreign adult €612 (checked on )
Experience Museum: Turkish citizen 600 TL for Turkish citizens13 (checked on )

MüzeKart holders pay separately for the Experience Museum; the foreign-adult ancient-city ticket already includes it13.

Is there a combined ticket?

The Ministry sells two combined tickets for foreign visitors, both valid for 72 hours: one pairs the ancient city with the Terrace Houses, and a larger one adds the Ephesus Museum and the Ayasuluk–St John site4. Current prices for the two, smaller bundle first: €52 / €654 (checked on ).

On 1 April 2027 both bundles go up, and they stay valid for 72 hours from first use5. The four separate foreign-adult tickets total €71231112. At €65, the larger bundle saves €6 if you visit all four within its 72-hour window4.

The triple-arched Gate of Mazaeus and Mithridates, with visitors passing through
Fig. 2 The triple-arched Gate of Mazaeus and Mithridates, with visitors passing through. Archive photograph (2013).

What will tickets cost from April 2027?

The Ministry has already published the tariff that takes over on 1 April 2027: new single tickets1, new prices for the combined bundles5 and a new MuseumPass list14. The same decision sets a new MüzeKart price for Turkish citizens at the Terrace Houses1.

Ticket, foreign adults From 1 April 2027
Ancient city / Terrace Houses / Ephesus Museum / Ayasuluk–St John €45 / €16 / €11 / €71 (checked on )
Combined 72-hour tickets, smaller / larger €57 / €725 (checked on )
MuseumPass Türkiye / MuseumPass The Aegean €185 / €10514 (checked on )

The new MuseumPass list also covers the İstanbul, Mediterranean and Cappadocia passes, but only the Türkiye and Aegean passes include Ephesus14.

Do you need a separate ticket for the Terrace Houses?

Yes, unless you hold one of the combined tickets. The Terrace Houses have their own line on the Ministry’s tariff1, and the smaller 72-hour bundle exists to pair them with the ancient city4. The houses have been open to visitors since their protective roof went up in 1999 and 200015.

The two passes part company here. The Turkish MüzeKart is not valid at the Terrace Houses8, whereas the Ministry’s own MuseumPass pages put the Terrace Houses on the map of sites covered by both MuseumPass Türkiye and MuseumPass The Aegean16.

A room with pale painted walls, red borders and a patterned floor mosaic in the Terrace Houses
Fig. 3 An excavated room in the Terrace Houses. Individual homes survive; the city’s total population remains an estimate.

MuseumPass or MüzeKart: which one applies to you?

MuseumPass is the Ministry’s multi-site pass sold to visitors16; MüzeKart is the museum card for Turkish citizens8. They are different products and are not accepted in the same places.

Current prices, Türkiye first and Aegean second: €165 / €9517 (checked on ). The Türkiye pass lasts 15 days; the Aegean pass lasts seven and covers sites in İzmir, Aydın, Muğla and Denizli17.

A MuseumPass allows one entry at each museum or site, and it does not work for night-museum sessions16. Its sales pages list the ancient city, the Terrace Houses, the Ephesus Museum, Ayasuluk and the Basilica of St John among the sites covered16. Several sites within a day’s reach are on the Ministry’s tariff too, among them Priene, Miletus, Didyma, Aphrodisias, Hierapolis at Pamukkale and Laodikeia18.

A MüzeKart has cost 200 TL8 (checked on ) since 2 February 20268. It is refused at the Terrace Houses8 but accepted at the Ayasuluk–St John site9.

Columns of the Basilica of St John with Ayasuluk castle on the hill behind
Fig. 4 Columns of the Basilica of St John with Ayasuluk castle on the hill behind.

Who gets into Ephesus free?

Children under eight who are not Turkish citizens enter free19. So do Turkish citizens under 18 and 65 and over, and university students of archaeology, art history and museology19.

Visitors in the orchestra and curved seating of the Great Theatre
Fig. 5 Visitors in the Great Theatre.

What are the opening hours?

The ancient city’s official page currently gives an 08:00 opening and an 18:45 closing time, but a note on the same page says the Lower Gate ticket office operates until 19:00 and the Upper Gate until 18:00. Another Ministry page gives different seasonal hours. These entries conflict; do not plan a last-minute visit around the latest time20.

Place Published daytime hours
Terrace Houses 09:00–18:0021 (checked on )
Ephesus Museum, summer 08:30–20:00 in summer22 (checked on )
Ayasuluk–St John, summer closing until 19:00 in summer23 (checked on )

The museum’s published summer ticket-office cutoff is 19:30. Its seasonal dates overlap on the official listing, so check again for an October visit22. At St John, Ministry pages disagree on whether opening is 08:00 or 08:30; the published summer ticket cutoff is 18:30. Castle access has separate, conflicting notices2312. The ancient city’s page says the Experience Museum follows its hours, though the separate museum listing has differed; confirm a late visit directly24.

For a late arrival, ask the Ephesus Museum directly on +90 232 892 60 10 before setting off. The gate-specific hours above were checked on 15 September 202620.

The House of the Virgin Mary is run separately and publishes its own hours: 08:00–18:0025 (checked on ).

Can you visit Ephesus at night?

In summer the ancient city reopens after dark as a night museum. The 2026 season runs from 1 June to 1 October7, on these evenings: Wednesday–Saturday, 19:00–23:007 (checked on ). The night ticket office closes at 22:007. A MuseumPass is not accepted for night entry16.

The scheme is recent. The Ministry began night openings in 2024 at Ephesus, Hierapolis and Side, and press reports of Ministry figures put night visitors across the participating sites at 395,212 in that first year26. Ministry figures for Ephesus alone, from 1 June to 1 August 2026: 213,192 in two months27 (checked on ). Almost all of those were visitors from within Turkey27. The two counts cover different sites and years, so they cannot be set side by side.

The Library of Celsus floodlit at dusk
Fig. 6 The illuminated Library of Celsus at dusk.

Which nearby sites need a ticket, and which don’t?

Around Selçuk the picture is uneven. The Ayasuluk–St John site, with the basilica and the castle hill, is on the Ministry tariff at €69 (checked on ). The field of the Temple of Artemis, marked today by a single column reassembled from fragments28, and the İsa Bey Mosque are not on the Ministry’s fee lists29.

Two places tied to early Christian tradition are not simple walk-ins. The Grotto of St Paul is closed to the general public, and a visit needs prior permission from the Ephesus Museum Directorate in Selçuk30. The Cave of the Seven Sleepers at the foot of Panayırdağ has no ticket office, and guide sources report it fenced, with a gate that is often locked31.

The standing Artemision column reflected in water among scattered column bases
Fig. 7 The Temple of Artemis site, with its re-erected column reflected in the flooded foundations.

What does the House of the Virgin Mary cost?

The House of the Virgin Mary is not a Ministry site, and entry appears to be by a separate ticket32. There is no official published price, so none is given here33.

The shrine keeps its own calendar. A liturgy is held there every year on the feast of the Assumption, with a vigil the evening before34.

The House of the Virgin Mary at Meryemana, a small stone chapel among trees
Fig. 8 The House of the Virgin Mary at Meryemana, a small stone chapel among trees.

How these prices are checked

Every price and time on this page comes from the fact register behind the site and carries the date it was last read. Where official pages contradict one another, the page says so rather than picking one. Gates, seasons and the shape of a day at the site are on visiting Ephesus.

The inscribed attic of the Gate of Mazaeus and Mithridates with its dedication
Fig. 9 The dedication on the Gate of Mazaeus and Mithridates.
Sources (51)

Each source is listed once. The numbers link back to the claims it supports; dates show when the source was checked.