For Cruisers: Ancient Ephesus & House of Virgin Mary Tour From Ephesus Port

Incredible value. Oscar was a superior guide. Incredibly knowledgeable about all things Turkish. He was very patient and respectful of our needs. We are better prepared for trivia night, warning to the competition! The driver was very skilled and his vehicle was extremely luxurious and well air conditioned. Highly recommend! Thanks gentlemen.

Super organized. I got off the cruise boat and my name was posted on a sign. The tour operator led us to a waiting van and guide.

Such a great day with Mehmet! He showed us all the key places in Ephesus that you would need to see to say that you were here. His English was great and his patience explaining things was commendable. We booked a private tour for the4 of us and were able to see all the sights without the crowds because they chose when to go to the different spots at less busy times. The cost was super reasonable for the time and it included a wonderful lunch. We would highly recommend this tour!!!

This was a good tour. The itinerary was the House of the Virgin, Old Ephesus, A ceramics shop, Temple of Artemis (a single ancient column in a field), plain Turkish lunch (included), and ending with a rug shop. If you love ancient history, Ephesus is overwhelming and Taylan really brought it to life. Taylan was a fine guide: clear, knowledgeable, personable, helpful. The only downside to the tour were the hard sell stops of ceramics and rugs. They were explained as a presentation of how they are preserving Turkish culture, but they both ended in hard sell situations. Both the ceramic dishes and rugs were beautiful (and expensive) and the demonstrations of the old techniques was fascinating. However, I personally don't like it when a hard sell is sprung on me. We bought some of the ceramics because they are indeed beautiful, but you should know going in what they're really doing. I think you can request to skip those stops.

Taylan was great. Highly knowledgeable, fluent English, very accommodating. Spent 1.5 hours with us at Ephesus and answered all of our questions. Perfect balance between guiding and giving us freedom to explore alone. Two of our five stops were slightly commercial in nature: one at a ceramics studio, another at an artisan rug company. Both were very welcoming and gave detailed introductions to their craft. Both also included a low-pressure sales pitch, which might make some feel like captive customers. Not us: we bought some small pieces, but the learning experience was well worth it.

Taylan was wonderful. Very, very knowledgeable and engaging - kept us interested and he was flexible. Thank you, Taylan!

This tour was a wonderful experience. Taylan was an excellent guide and was very knowledgeable and accomodating. Would recommend.

An amazing day in Ephesus with the very informative Onur and Yasar who drove us in his beautiful, comfortable limousine.

Our guide Ty was fabulous; very knowledgeable! Provided great information about Turkey, Ephesus, and the Virgin Mary’s home! The company that executed the tour was deceitful in delivering the service. I intentionally booked a trip that did not include food and visits to co-ops/factories but they put them in our itinerary anyway. Provided evidence of that and still had to insist on not visiting a rug factory and restaurant after getting a “tour” of a ceramic company. Our guide was understanding of the situation.

If you only look for a driver to pick and drop you off, this is a right tour for you. This company responded quickly to our answers starting from day 1 after booking. The guide took us to carpet store which was not in the itinerary. We were told that Ephesus wasn’t opened so that’s why we might go to carpet store to kill time before going to Ephesus. The sales didn’t push us to buy anything. We told the guide that Ephesus and House of Virgin Mary were our main itineraries. We had no interest in shopping. We then went to Ephesus for around 1 1/2 hour and House of Virgin Mary for less than an hour. We basically explored on our own. The driver was good in driving. The car was cleaned and comfortable. The money we paid for this tour was worth for providing car / driver.