Ancient city

Field notes for tour guides on Ancient city sites: walking order, realistic timings, group logistics and the spots where a group stops hearing you.

9 destinations

• Ancient cityDidymaThe largest unfinished building of the ancient world, standing in the middle of a modern town. The site is compact enough to keep a group together — the difficulty comes from outside the fence.Didim, Aydın · 1 h 15 min
• Ancient cityEphesusThe best preserved classical city on the Mediterranean, and one of the hardest places in Türkiye to be heard in. A working guide's read of the site: the walking order, where groups lose the thread, and what the acoustics actually do.Selçuk, İzmir · 3 h
• Ancient cityGöbeklitepeThe oldest known temple complex in the world, seen from a walkway you cannot step off. The site decides where your group stands, which is the opposite of every other problem in this job.Haliliye, Şanlıurfa · 2 h
• Ancient cityHierapolis and PamukkaleTwo sites on one ticket, and they pull a group in opposite directions. The terraces are a barefoot walk with no shade; the ruins are a 1.6 km ancient city on a slope above them.Pamukkale, Denizli · 3 h
• Ancient cityKarahantepeA working excavation, not a presented site. What a group sees here depends on the season, and that changes what you can promise before you set off.Eyyübiye, Şanlıurfa · 1 h 15 min
• Ancient cityMiletusIonia's richest harbour city now sits eight kilometres inland: a wide, flat, shadeless site where a group spreads out within minutes, and one theatre where it does not.Didim, Aydın · 2 h
• Ancient cityPergamon AcropolisA capital built on a cone. Everything worth seeing is on a different terrace from everything else, and the group is always either above you or below you.Bergama, İzmir · 2 h 30 min
• Ancient cityPergamon AsklepionThe ancient world's most famous hospital, and the easiest ground in Bergama to guide on. After the acropolis it is flat, enclosed and forgiving — which is exactly why it should not come first.Bergama, İzmir · 1 h 30 min
• Ancient cityPrieneThe textbook of Greek city planning, built on terraces up a mountainside. The plan is the reason to come and the reason your group is never standing on one level.Söke, Aydın · 2 h