The setting of Homer’s epic The Iliad, the Aegean coast has a 5,000-year-history that is unsurpassed. With the fabled lost city of Troy in the north and the Roman capital of Asia Minor, Ephesus, in the south, visitors are able to stay in the various beach resorts and travel to some of Europe’s best cultural attractions on day excursions.
The city of Bodrum was once the site of the Halicarnassus mausoleum, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and has an excellent crusader castle. North of Bodrum are the hillside towns of Priene, Didyma and Miletus, ancient reminders of the Ionian league.
Further inland from the coast are the Roman ruins of Pergamon, Aphrodisias and Hierapolis. View the travertine terraces of salt at Pamukkale for a different view of the area. Stay in either the chic resorts of Cesme and Ayvalik or the more mainstream destinations of Bodrum and Marmaris.