These three Ionian Greek cities sit within an hour or so of each other southwest of Aydın and are usually done together: Priene for a hillside city plan and the Temple of Athena Polias, Miletus for its enormous theatre, and Didyma for the Temple of Apollo, one of the largest temple ruins in the ancient world and once a major oracle site rivaling Delphi. Unlike Ephesus, none of the three gets heavy tour-bus traffic, so you can walk them at your own pace. Covering all three properly, with driving between them, is a full day rather than a stop on the way to somewhere else.
| Distance | 40–100 km southwest of Aydın city |
|---|---|
| Travel time | 1–1.5 hours to Priene (furthest site ~100 km to Didyma) |
| Getting there | Rental car strongly recommended to cover all three sites in one day. Dolmuş to Söke then local minibus to Priene possible but slow. |
| Address | Güllübahçe Köyü, Söke, Aydın 09261 |
How to get there
- rental car
- organized tour
- dolmuş to Söke + local minibus
Location
Güllübahçe Köyü, Söke, Aydın 09261
37.5333, 27.3500 View on map
Highlights
- Temple of Athena Polias, Priene - a well-preserved temple on a terraced hillside site with views over the former Maeander floodplain
- Priene theatre - a compact, intact Greek theatre carved into the hill above the town's grid-planned streets
- Miletus Great Theatre - a massive Roman-rebuilt theatre that once seated around 15,000, visible from a distance across the plain
- Temple of Apollo, Didyma - unfinished but enormous, with two standing columns and a partly intact adyton chamber that held the oracle
- Miletus Museum - a small site museum with finds from the city's Hellenistic and Roman phases