The House of the Virgin Mary is a small stone chapel in a pine forest on Mount Bülbül, seven kilometres from Ephesus. Christian tradition holds that Mary spent her last years here, after the apostle John brought her to Asia Minor. It is a place of pilgrimage for Catholic and Orthodox Christians, and for Muslims too, who revere her as Meryem Ana, “Mother Mary”.
It is a short, quiet visit, very different from the ruins. I always go first thing in the morning, before heading down to Ephesus, while the forest is still cool and the coaches haven’t arrived.
A little history
The Gospels tell how Jesus, on the cross, entrusted his mother to John, and an ancient tradition places John in Ephesus, where he died and was buried. In the 19th century Anna Katharina Emmerick, a bedridden German nun who never left her homeland, described in her visions, in great detail, Mary’s house on a mountain near Ephesus, down to its spring and the layout of its rooms.
In 1891 two Lazarist priests from Izmir set out with those descriptions and found the ruins of a chapel that Christians from a nearby village already called the Door of the Virgin and visited every 15 August. The foundations turned out to date from the 1st century, and the building itself from the Byzantine period. Pope Paul VI came in 1967, John Paul II in 1979 and Benedict XVI in 2006. The Catholic Church regards it as a shrine, although it has never ruled on its authenticity.
What to see at the House of the Virgin Mary
The chapel
A small stone building with a main room, an altar with an image of Mary and a side room that tradition calls her bedroom. You go in quietly, in single file, and leave by the other side. Capuchin friars look after the shrine and celebrate Mass every day.
The spring
Down the slope are three taps fed by a spring credited with healing powers. People drink from them, fill bottles and touch the water to their foreheads. It runs cool all year round.
The wishing wall
A railing covered with thousands of slips of paper, handkerchiefs and strips of cloth, each tied on with a prayer or a wish in every language you can think of. You can add your own; the stalls have paper.
The forest and the viewpoint
From the car park, through the pines, you look out over the plain of Ephesus with the sea in the distance, where the ancient harbour once lay. There is a small museum with photographs of the papal visits, and a statue of Mary at the entrance.
Tips for your visit
Allow about 45 minutes. The route is short, on a gentle slope, with steps down to the spring.
- This is a shrine: dress modestly, keep silent inside the chapel and don’t take photos inside.
- On 15 August and on Sundays there are more pilgrims; early on a weekday it is almost empty.
- Under the current rules, the entrance ticket can only be paid by card.
- It pairs naturally with Ephesus, a fifteen-minute drive down the hill.
Tickets and prices
At the time of writing (2026 rates), the entrance ticket costs 700 Turkish lira, about €13 at an exchange rate of 56.2 lira to the euro, and it can only be paid by card. On my tours the ticket is either included or the guide takes care of it.
Where it is and how to get there
The house stands on Mount Bülbül, seven kilometres from the upper entrance of Ephesus and about nine from Selçuk, up a mountain road. There is no public transport: you get there by taxi, by car or on a tour. From Kuşadası it takes about 35 minutes.
How I include it in my tours
It is the first stop on the Ephesus and House of the Virgin Mary day tour from Kuşadası, and part of the Ephesus day on the Biblical and Spiritual Türkiye tour. To follow John’s trail further, the Basilica of St John in Selçuk pairs well with it. For the ancient city itself, read Ephesus: history, ruins and a complete visitor’s guide.
If you are organising a pilgrimage or a trip with a religious focus, tell me about it through the tailor-made trip form.