Customer reviews page:53

We made our reservation ahead of time and everything turned out as promised. Our tour guide Ceyla Ergon was there at the dock to meet us. She was very knowledgeable, honest, spoke good English, and displayed a sense of humor. The vehicle we rode in was comfortable and the driver courteous and professional. It was a pleasure...our experience was very positive which reflects great credit on About Ephesus. It also gave us warm feelings towards Turkish people.

We decided to treat ourselves to an excursion to Ephesus (after hearing numerous rave reviews from friends and family) just two days before our family trip to Istanbul. After a quick review of tour companies on TripAdvisor, we sent a quote request in to a handful of them. About Ephesus' response was fast, a bit cheaper than most of the others, and clearly committed to making our last minute, impulse itinerary addition a success. When I indicated that we weren't too interested in seeing the House of the Virgin Mary, but were very eager to spend extra time in the Terrace Houses (AMAZING btw!), they dropped the price initially quoted by $42 USD -despite the total duration of the tour staying the same, AND me not having asked about a reduction.Our guide, Arzu, was very friendly and efficient. She was waiting at the airport to greet us with a smile, made a point of engaging my 2 kids (9 and 13) throughout the tour, and navigated us around the many large groups at the site, taking us to quieter, shaded areas to deliver some of the longer or more involved historic info.I had a bit of trepidation about seeing a "lecture" on rug making, having read in guide books that it can be a really hard sell -but I have to say that it was very enjoyable, informative and pressure-free. It was really interesting to see the whole process -right from the harvesting of the silk from the silk worms! My daughter actually said it was her favorite part of the day! (no doubt helped by having just had a great lunch, being made extremely comfortable, and the very personable delivery by the rug company rep).We were delivered back to the airport right on schedule, and given a very thoughtful gift bag -which seems like it was tailored to our group, with something very age-appropriate (and rather gender-specific) for each of my kids, and a book on the region for my wife and I. An extremely nice, and unexpected touch!All in all, it was a fantastic day and About Ephesus took all of the stress out of it and allowed us to enjoy this incredible site / experience.

We received a fabulous tour from Selda, our professional tourist guide, of the Ephesus ruins. She was very friendly, courteous, professional, personable and extremely knowledgeable! We would not hestitate to recommend Selda to anyone interested in learning about the ancient ruins, Turkish culture and the city/surrounding areas. Greg, Paulette, Jerry & Pat

We were a party of six from Canada and were given a tour of Ephesus and the surrounding area. We were picked up early and we were able to beat the crowds at the House of the Virgin Mary. Our guide, Gonca (Rosie), was extremely knowledgeable and informative. She made our day a very enjoyable experience. The tour was well paced and very comfortable in a air conditioned van. We especially enjoyed the Terrace Houses at Ephesus and recommend that visitors should not be intimidated by the number of stairs. Most of the morning was spent at the ruins of Ephesus. This was followed by a lovely Turkish lunch and a tour of a carpet factory/school. We fully recommend Osman Tourism to anyone looking for an affordable and comprehensive tour of Ephesus. They were very efficient and professional in all dealings and communications we had with them.

We were in Ephesus on October 5th, 2012. Ali was very professional from the start and had a smile on his face the entire day. The day started with a problem from Private Ephesus Tours that Ali handled extremely well. He timed our trip to minimize the crowds and did an excellent job at moving us through the ruins and the Terrace Houses which were incredible. We really enjoyed talking with him about the culture of Turkey in modern day: he was very insightful into the economy, religion, education, and people of Turkey. The trip to the carpet factory was fine, we ate lunch there which was fantastic and it was very easy to just say no to buying a carpet and leave it at that. The actual demonstration about how they hand-make everything was actually really cool so overall worth going to see the factory.

My sister and I chose a private tour in French. Our guide Our Ephesus Tour Guide allowed us to spend a memorable day. We have the taste to go back there. What a wonderful country.

We could not have been more happy with the tour of Ephesus we were given by Osman Tourism. They delivered everything that they promised. Our guide Hulya was professional, knowledgeable, spoke good English and if I do say so was easy on the eyes. Such a pleasant surprise since we didn't know who we would get. She was waiting for us at the dock with a smile. The tour included a driver who took us for our tour in a nice clean new mini van to all the sites listed in the Ephesus tour description. She let us take as much time as we wanted to take in the sites and never made us feel rushed. She even let us go off on our own for a few minutes but made sure that we didn't get lost. Sometimes it's nice to take in the scenery without being shadowed by your guide. They even included some gifts for us when we left. The only thing that I would recommend is asking to go to a different place for lunch even if you have to pay for it separately. The "restaurant" was at a rug factory/outlet and after our lunch, which was delicious, we were eventually taken to a room where someone tried to sell us hand made rugs that were for sale. He first showed us how their rugs were made and some interesting facts on how silk is obtained/farmed. He was never really pushy but we had no intention of buying any rugs and could have skipped the 30 min presentation of their beautiful rugs. They offered us water, beer or Turkish coffee while the presentation was going on. We chose coffee. Kind of like a time share sales lunch, ha. Hulya picked us up at 730 and dropped us off at the port around 2pm as promised. We paid $80 US a piece which I thought was a lot at first but our tour was private. We didn't have to share it with a group and get shuttled along. That included the admission to both of the sites. Make sure you use the bathrooms when offered since there are NONE in the excavation areas. I would recommend taking this tour. Make sure you ask for Hulya! You won't be disappointed.

As part of my cruise I booked the "Full Day" Ephesus Tour. The transaction was simple and fast. But that's pretty much the only positive thing I can say about that. The tour was advertised from 8: 30-16 clock. Enough time, I thought, to come comfortably back to my ship. I thought! It started with the fact that at the given time in Kusadasi no one showed up. I called the agency and was promised to take care of it. A few minutes later came a guide who spoke German with me, even though I had booked an English-speaking guide. He informed me that he would hand me over to the Artemis temple of the English-speaking group. First of all, we drove a full hour from different hotels in Kusadasi. When we arrived at the Temple of Artemis my English-speaking group had been there for some time. Anyway, I and another couple from England in quick procedure (1-2 minutes) explained the system. Then we had to get on the bus. No time to look at the excavations. Instead, we were carted to the first of two promotional events. A pottery with completely exaggerated prices. Then it went to Ephesus. Our guide did not go out of his way, made a bored impression, and gave us plenty of free time to smoke with his buddies. After visiting Ephesus, for which I would have liked to have more time, because it was really interesting and I had picked up many interesting details from other guides, it was lunch time. What can I say. I felt like my grandma was on coffee ride. The food was "served" in a big hot tent. Our guide had probably crumbled before and met in the open with his other buddies. The food is not worth mentioning. I hardly ate any of it, because it did not look delicious, nor did it taste good. After dinner we continued to the "House of Virgin Mary". It was the first time that I felt queasy and the assumption arose that our travel guide had no intention of returning to Kusadasi at 4 pm. I spoke to him. At first he did not listen to me at all, then, after realizing the seriousness of the situation, told me why I had not told him earlier, and then he phoned sternly to finally announce to me that we probably could not do that until to the departure of my ship. So I had no choice but to take a taxi to the port at my own expense (for 35 USD). The only advantage: I missed the second advertising event, a Teppichknüpferei.Ich had the expectation that it is a small group in the tour. But in my opinion, 26 people and a rather listless leader are not fit to walk through the crowded Ephesus. I would recommend anyone to take a taxi to Ephesus for a guide or audioguide. Is much more effective. Ephesus itself is totally worth it! At the exit is a very nice small but fine Museeumshop. Unfortunately, I had no time. By no means do I recommend this tour crusaders!

I booked this tour because no cruise ship tour would cover all venues we wanted to visit. I worked w Mr. Teleri for over 6 months, he was very informative and helpful putting together the tour. Our tour guide, Gonca Kizilhan, met us as planned, and we proceded to have thebest tour of our trip. Her English was perfect, and her knowledge of history and religion wasawesome. She was charming, and we saw the Virgin Mary house, Ephesus, the Terrace Houses, the Museum, the Basilica, and the Temple of Artemis, and a wonderful lunch and carpet weaving demo. All this without any rush on our part, and plenty of time at all places. Oh, the great part was the cost. Quite a bit less expensive that the cruise line tours that didn't cover all these places. All 6 of us agreed it was a fantastic day, and the ladies still had time for a good bit of shopping, browsing the shops in Kusadasi. Gonca was so proud of her Country and it'sheritage, and it showed. She will not be forgotten by us

We had a wonderful time on our private tour of Ephesus and the surrounding area. Our guide, Selcuk Getin, was so nice and very knowledgeable of the area. His English was very good and understandable. He was standing exactly where we were told to meet him in Kusadasi. We started our tour early which was a very good thing. We were among the first to arrive at the House of the Virgin Mary and had the area almost to ourselves. Selcuk was waiting with Turkish tea when we were finished with the small area. The we visited Ephesus. He was so knowledgeable and gave us lots of interesting "fun facts" to remember as well as the important information. We especially loved the Terrace Houses (extra fee is worth it)! A private tour is so wonderful because you can spend as little and as much time as you want and Selcuk also took our photos at several places. Ephesus gets really, really crowded when the tour buses arrive and we beat the big crowds, even though we had already been to another site. We saw The Temple or Artemis also (not a lot to see). We also visited a pottery demonstration complete with apple tea which was interesting and they were not at all pushy about buying something. We did see the carpet demonstration which was really very interesting and again felt like the pressure to buy was minimal. Lunch was wonderful. Very authentic Turkish cuisine and lots of it. Selcuk told us that the food was very much like his mother makes. We also enjoyed trying a Turkish beer with lunch. During lunch (and at other times), Selcuk was happy to answer our questions about life in Turkey from arranged marriages to National Service in the military. He told us about his family as well.Our overall impressions of Turkey were very good and our tour was just wonderful, so worth the money. I'm not sure that it was much more than the ship's tours and included much more (Terrace Houses and lunch). All we paid for was our beer at lunch. We highly recommend Ephesus Tours and would contact them if we are lucky enough to go back.