Kuşadası is a resort town in the province of Aydın on the Aegean coast of Turkey, 90 km (56 mi) south of İzmir, and 71 km (44 mi) from the inland provincial capital of Aydın.

Kuşadası is the ancient city of Ephesus and to other places of interest including Miletos, Didim and Pamukkale, and a short distance across from Kuşadası lies the island of Samos.

The city stands on a bay in the Aegean with the peninsula of Guvercin Ada sticking out into the sea at one end, and the mountain of Kaz Dağı behind.

Kuşadası has a residential population of 50,000 rising to over half a million during the summer when the large resort fills with tourists (from Turkey itself, northern Europe and the Balkans), plus the hotel staff, bar staff, construction workers, and drivers who are needed for work in the restaurants, the holiday villages, aquaparks, rock bars beach clubs and big hotels servicing all these visitors. An addition to the visitors from overseas there is a substantial community of foreigners resident in the area.

Kuşadası caters to tourists, arriving by land, and as the port for cruise ship passengers heading to Ephesus. In a controversial deal in 2003 the previously public-owned port was leased to a private company and renovated to attract luxury cruise liners. These range from the huge Grand Princess to smallers tours.

Real estate agents sell holiday flats and villas. Among all the ice-cream, carpets, leather, and software, there are bookshops selling books in English, German, Russian and other languages.

Old houses near the seafront, some of them converted to bars and cafes, are the remnants of old Kuşadası, which has become a modern-European looking town. The hills behind are built up with big hotels and blocks of holiday flats. The building boom in the late 80s and onwards has been continued into the hinterland of Kuşadası.

Source: Wikipedia