Ephesus Full-Day Tour with Lunch from Bodrum

This tour was fantastic. From start to finish our tour guide Emma was such a strong ray of sunshine that made the sunny day even warmer for us all in Ephesus and all the lovely stops we made to and from. She brought the history to life and made it so interesting. Thank you Emma for such a lovely day. 🙏🕯️❤️

Worth it, the guide was good keeping us connected to the tour throught the travel. It was 2 and half trip from Bodrum city to Ephesus.

The guide meant well and put a lot of effort into the day, however, one of the guides interpreting was quite rude. If we’re honest it felt like you were picked up in the morning and held onto until the 12 hours were up with strategically planned stops that were very clearly designed for sales. Ephesus was amazing couldn’t recommend more and our guide was very knowledgeable. However being made to go somewhere for breakfast we had to pay for, an olive farm, a jewelry sales factory, lunch, a Turkish delight factory and forced to go to the nearest town while the rest of the group went to a new addition to the tour (Mary’s house) wasn’t what we imagined. We were advised we would only go to Mary’s house if the majority were in favour. Even though just four people out of around 20 wanted to, we went while the rest had to wait in a nearby town. It was very much pushed on us and obvious that we were going regardless (as it’s an extra 25 euro per person to go). The lunch was pretty poor. Every stop as listed previously included a detailed sales pitch to the group and the jewelry store sold jewelry for thousands of euros. It was quite uncomfortable to be pushed into and wait around in such an expensive store. While €50 per person for the bus to Ephesus and back with lunch was good value, we would have much preferred to just go to Ephesus and straight back. It’s a long enough day (2.5 hours one way) without all the additional stops we didn’t sign up for. Hotel pick up was handy but again without the excessive stop offs, we wouldn’t have to be picked up at 6am!! Would recommend if you’re looking for a good value return trip and knowledgeable guide of Ephesus but be warned that it’s a very long day, Mary’s house will be included (otherwise you’re waiting in a nearby town which wouldn’t have much on unless a Saturday with the Bazaar) and lots of sales pitch stops.

Our tour guide was great when she joined the tour. The first tour guide on the bus didn’t speak English and therefore there was not a lot of information provided. We made numerous stops after pick up to collect additional passengers but this was it apparent as we sat on the bus for long periods without knowing what was going on. However when the English speaking tour guide boarded she was very informative. Our first stop was for breakfast and this was terrific- the place also made olive oil which was exceptional and we bought some bottles to take home with us. The second stop was Gallata a jewellery factory, was interesting but not somewhere we would visit again. Getting out of the shop entailed walking through several vendor stores who were keen to sell their wares and very pushy. The time spent at Ephesus was wonderful and our tour guide was very knowledgeable and informative. The digital museum at the end is a must visit. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there. Last stop was Turkish delight factory again not something that I would bother with in future.

Tour was very insightful and historically detailed, the lady spoke good English and had a nice sense of humour. Ephusis itself is a place of special heritage and blows your mind!!! Food was great. The Gold shop stop was pointless and very few seemed interested!! House of Mary is treated like a theme park rather than a sacred shrine and pilgrimage site, you are given little time to meditate on its significance. Its also pushed by Native Turks who are Muslim "as virgin Marys house" despite the Catholic Church never dogmatising this, it not being in Biblical scripture and earliest records from church Fathers alluding this are post 4th century. This isn't mentioned in the infancy gospel proevangelium of James and her dormition was supposedly in Israel. Explain how its 100% authentic please? Anyway, the views on mountain are worth the 25 Euros. Turkish people are milking this cow dry and if I'm honest 90% of Protestants wouldn't even bother!!!! If its sacred!! Treat it like its sacred!!! Not a Theme park!!!

I have been before and wanted to show my family. We thoroughly enjoyed it. However, there were a couple of points we didn’t enjoy. 1) my husband is very knowledgable about Ephesus and some of the information given by the tour guide was incorrect. Also, it says on the booking information that you would go to the Virgin Mary site if the majority want to go. Around 10 people on the bus wanted to go. I counted 22 of us that didn’t and we ended up getting dumped in a town where there was nothing to do other than sit in a cafe and wait for them to come back over an hour later. We did not enjoy that at all and we was not happy considering the majority didn’t want to do that part. Then on the way home the English guide left early and said about how we were going to get a transfer to our hotel and not to worry. We ended up getting off the bus into taxis/taxi bus’s to our hotel. However, this was confusing and when people were getting off we was panicking about whether we should be getting off or not. The French couple next to us were the same. The other spots along the way was a stop at the gold factory and Turkish delight factory, which was fine. They wasn’t long stops. We enjoyed the lunch that was included. Other than that the tour guide was lovely, friendly and ooked after us during the visit. Ephesus is amazing and well worth the visit. I had never been to the museum there and that was amazing, we thoroughly enjoyed that.

It’s been a total knowledgeable experience our tour guide Miriam was brilliant I enjoyed everything the breakfast the lunch the Gold factory and the Turkish delight factory the house of the virgin Mary it was a great day from start to finish don’t let the length of the day put you off because the time flies highly recommend it

The basis of it was good with a very good driver and an excellent guide but stopping at a gold warehouse was a waste of time and the lunch was a disgrace and a health hazard. The food had been sitting around for hours, maybe even days, unfriendly service and a disgrace. The breakfast stop was good too with very good service provided there. The best part was our wonderful English speaking guide and she should be looked after well.

The tour guides we were with spoke German and Polish, very little English The only place I wanted to go to onthis tour, they did not take us and that was the House of the blessed virgin Mary. Before I booked this tour , I spoke to someone to make sure they take us to this place and they said yes but you have to pay extra money for entrance fee, which was okay with us, I don't what was said on the bus, but they did not take us there and when I questioned them they said there was not enough participants. They did not even take count on who wanted to go or not. That was part of the tour they should have taken us there. Yet they wasted our time and took us to Gift shops so they can earn commisiion from the stores. We didnt want to go to no gift shops we paid money so we can see the Culture and hostrical sites. They also were supposed to pick us up from our hotel and drop us bck to the hotel.. that did not happen on the way back, they dropped us off about a mile and a half from our hotel whichich was on top of a very steep hill, that we could not climb up to it, so we hired a taxi at our own expense to take us back to our hotel

Excellent tour with a very knowledgeable guide. It was a long day filled with history! I was picked up at my hotel and had a nice breakfast on the way to Ephesus and enjoyed some shopping along the way.