Kuşadası, whose name means ‘Bird Island’, is a sun-soaked Aegean resort town built around a marina filled with sleek yachts and white-hulled cruise ships. From its busy waterfront you can stroll out along the causeway to the Byzantine fortress on Pigeon Island, browse leather and carpet shops in the old town, and slip into beach clubs that line the bay all the way to Ladies Beach. Just inland lies one of the world’s greatest archaeological treasures — the city of Ephesus — along with the House of the Virgin Mary, the Temple of Artemis at Selcuk and the protected wetlands of Dilek Peninsula National Park, making Kuşadası an ideal coastal base.
