Customer reviews page:60

Like most of the other reviewers my wife and I stopped in Ephesus as part of a cruise (RC Navigator of the Seas). We greatly enjoyed our half day with our tour guide Aysun Demir. She was waiting for us at the exit of the cruise terminal and had a van with driver to transport us to the Virgin Mary's house and the ruins of Ephesus. Both were amazing. Yes, we had the obligatory lunch at the carpet factory but unlike some of the other reviewers we enjoyed it. Lunch was great and we enjoyed seeing how the carpets are made. Sure, they're trying to sell product but we didn't find it at all high pressure. Would definitley recommend the About Ephesus tour and Aysun.

We arranged a private tour with Ephesus Tours based on TripAdvisor reviews and were very glad we did. We arrived on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas to easily find Senem waiting for us with a sign bearing our name. She was very friendly, knowledgable, and easy going. Her English was excellent and the fact that she studied both world and art history made her a great guide. We also very much appreciated the nice air-conditioned comfortable car, especially considering how hot the day was. We started the day by visiting Ephesus and went into the back entrance, which was incredibly smart because it meant we were going against the crowds and that we had the wonderful amphitheater mostly to ourselves. Our price included all entrance fees, including into the Terrace Houses, which were definitely a highlight of the day. After leaving Ephesus we visited a carpet demonstration/store. While this was a sales pitch, the people were incredibly friendly and we found the visit really interesting. We also did not feel pressure to buy. After learning about the process and watching women weave, we were shown many beautiful rugs (we were actually tempted to buy and felt the price to be very fair, especially after we learned about the process) and ate lunch after our decision not to purchase. Senem joined us for lunch and we enjoyed chatting with her. After lunch we went to the House of the Virgin Mary and Temple of Artemis before heading back to Kusadasi.We enjoyed our day, learned a lot, and felt the price to be very fair. Many on our cruise ship simply took Royal Caribbean's shore excursion and missed out on several of the things we saw (biggest miss was the Terrace Houses) and certainly did not have a private guide. We would definitely recommend Ephesus Tours and Ceyla!

My husband and I had arranged the tour in advance of our arrival by cruise ship. We made the arrangements via e-mail and all of our questions were responded to quickly and professionally. We were at the cruise terminal 15 minutes before our agreed upon time and Ilknur, our guide was already there. Because we were early we went directly to the House of the Virgin Mary and were the first ones there, avoiding any lines. From there we visited Ancient Ephesus and the Terrace Houses. Then to St. John's Basilica and the Temple of Artemis.Ilknur really made our trip memorable. We enjoyed getting to know her and she was a lot of fun to be around. She was very knowledgeable about all of the sites and did a great job of relaying a lot of information to us in a way that we found interesting. The day we were there was fairly hot and I thought she customized our tour to suit our interests while avoiding lines or being out in the hot sun for long periods of time. She and our driver Erhan worked well together as we were dropped off and picked up at the various stops. Erhan was always there with his extremely comfortable van to pick us. His service was also excellent.We enjoyed our lunch and were happy that Ilknur joined us. We were glad to have the chance to sample the local cuisine. Included in the tour were stops at the ceramics factory, handmade rug factory and leather store. We were asked if we wanted to go to the ceramics factory and leather shop before we stopped so didn't feel like we were forced to go there to look. We found those stops to be interesting as well. The lunch was served at the rug factory but there again, there really was no pressure to buy and it was amazing to see how the rugs were handmade.We generally book tours through the cruise line but are so glad we make the choice to do this private tour. We were back to the port with 2 hours to spare so there was no need to be nervous we would miss the ship. We cannot recommend this tour enough. The transportation was top of the line and our guide and driver were outstanding. We thought it was an excellent value as well.Thanks Ilknur & Erhan.

Our guide, Feliz, was friendly and knowledgeable. The van was very nice (huge for 4 passengers). Having a separate driver seemed like overkill. Our scheduled itinerary: The Temple of Artemis – The Ancient City of Ephesus – Terrace Houses - The House of Virgin Mary – Traditional LunchWhen we arrived, I emphasized to our guide that we wanted a GREAT Turkish lunch. She reassured us that we would. I was disappointed to find that our lunch as at a RUG FACTORY! The first unscheduled stop at a tourist trap. After that was the second unscheduled stop, at a ceramics shop. We had to sit through high pressure demonstrations and sales pitches at both places. Complete waste of time. Very frustrating.

My family and I visited Kusadasi/Ephesus on June 5, 2012 via RCI's Mariner of the Seas. We arranged a private tour via tripadvisor prior to our arrival, and were so pleased with our choice! Filiz was at the cruise terminal waiting on us. She was exceptionally friendly and personable! By far, one of the best tour guides we've ever experienced. She was very knowledgeable in history! Not just the history of what we were visiting, but the history of many topics! She was wonderful!We visited the Virgin Mary's house, Ancient Ephesus, followed by a wonderful lunch and some shopping! After purchasing some gorgeous Turkish rugs, Filiz brought us back to the port and showed us some great shopping areas that were very reasonably priced for souvenirs. She went above and beyond for us! We were most impressed with her and the company! They made our stay in Kusadasi/Ephesus exceptional!

We spent the day in Ephesus with our guide Irem. She was excellent! She went with us in to the sites and explained what we were seeing. Turkey is absolutely beautiful and a place I would love to visit again. We toured the ruins in Ephesus, the House of the Virgin Mary, and the church of St. John. We could have done without the carpet shop and leather factory, but overall the day was perfect. Our lunch was very good and was included in the price of the tour. I would definitely recommend this for those of you with a one day stop in Turkey on a cruise ship.

We were on a cruise and didn't want the typical cruise shore tour. We chose About Ephesus to handle our tour and we're so glad we did. Filiz was our tour guide and she was wonderful. They customized our tour to include everything we wanted to see. Filiz was a wealth of knowledge and a delight to be with. Our favorite stop was the Terrace Houses in Ephesus. She took us to a "local" restaurant for lunch, which was much more interesting than a normal tourist stop restaurant. The only drawback to the tour was a stop at the carpet factory where we felt "trapped" and pressured to purchase a rug (which we did not do). We thoroughly enjoyed our day and Filiz and highly recommend About Ephesus.

We arranged a private half day tour of ancient Ephesus. We were a group of 7 and found that the About Ephesus Tours team was very willing to adjust the tour to suit what we all wanted to see. Our guide, Filiz was knowledgeable and personable. She adjusted the tour to spend more time in the locations we found more interesting, and still managed to keep us on schedule. We had a great tour and lunch. The only thing we would have skipped was the leather outlet. A little too expensive for our taste, and the salespeople were quite insistent. We really felt that this tour was well worth the money, and would highly recommend Filiz as a guide.

"Great is the Artemis [Diana] the Ephesians!" This was what the angry citizens of the great theater chanted in rebellion against the apostle Paul. Ephesus - "Queen of the Bee" could be translated - it had about 200 to 250,000 inhabitants at that time. Ephesus is the largest excavation site in the country - the gateway to Asia. Of Mary, John the Evangelist, Artemis, Heraclitus and many more have left their mark over the millennia; and these traces have been carefully preserved with great idealism. A real "M u ß" for the visitors of the Turkish Aegean Sea. Careful work - wonderful presentation. I've been here 40 years ago - not to compare. I was very satisfied with the work that was done here.

We found this tour company through TripAdvisor and before leaving for Europe they were very accommodating to our fluctuating group number (18 down to 16 and then back up to 18). Upon arriving in the port from our Royal Caribbean cruise, we were greeted by our tour guide with an air conditioned bus with plenty of room for our whole group. Our guide was Selda Akyigit who was wonderful! She was extremely knowledgeable about the sights, spoke great English and really did her best to make sure everyone was able to get the experience they wanted. Selda did a great job of altering the typical order based on the crowds and the heat, so we visited Ephesus first before heading to Mary's House and making several stops to see some sights and then ultimately ending with lunch.Lunch was included in the tour price (as were all of the sights) and consisted of a traditional Turkish meal and was delicious! After lunch we remained on site and were taken for a demonstration of how they make Turkish rugs. It was amazing to see how much work and time went into making these carpets (totally making the price seem more worth it!). The demonstration ended with a sales pitch, however they were understanding when we said we were not making a purchase today. (Although two couples in the group did)The tour began at approximately 7:30 and we were told it would be approximately 6 hours. We did not arrive back to port until after 3:30, so it made for a very long day.Overall, an excellent day! We would not hesitate to recommend this company, and we highly recommend Selda as a guide.