What it is
A village of white and stone houses on a steep slope among olive trees and vineyards, built by the Greek Orthodox community who farmed this valley until the 1923 exchange of populations between Greece and Türkiye. Turkish families from Thessaloniki moved in; the houses stayed.
The two churches — St John the Baptist on the hill and St Demetrius below — are shells, and the school is being restored. Walk five minutes uphill from the coach park and the tourism thins out fast.
The honest bit
Şirince is a beautiful village that has spent thirty years becoming a shopping street. Between about eleven and three the main lane is coaches, stalls of soap and dried fruit, and tastings of the fruit wine the place is known for.
The wine is made from peach, pomegranate, melon, mulberry. It is sweet and low in alcohol and, as wine, not serious. As a thing to try once with a view over a valley, it is fine, and nobody minds if you say so.
Go early or late and it is charming. Go at noon in August and you are in a queue.
Practical
- 8 km from Selçuk, about 20 minutes on a winding road
- dolmuşes from the Selçuk otogar roughly hourly
- free to enter; parking charged at the top
- allow an hour and a half, more if you eat
Worth it?
With a car and a spare afternoon after Ephesus, yes. On a cruise call under eight hours, no — that trades the Ephesus Museum for a gift shop with a good view.
Is Şirince worth visiting?
With a spare afternoon and a car, yes — especially early or late. In the middle of a summer day the main street is very crowded.
How do you get to Şirince from Selçuk?
Dolmuşes run from the Selçuk otogar roughly hourly, and it is about a 20-minute drive on a winding road.
