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Ephesus Tour: Explore Ancient Wonders
4.7
26 Ratings
Konak
Embark on a guided tour of Ephesus and immerse yourself in the ancient wonders of this historic city. Enjoy luxury transportation, skip-the-line tickets, and personalized guiding in your own language.
Embark on a guided tour of Ephesus and immerse yourself in the ancient wonders of this historic city. Enjoy luxury transportation, skip-the-line tickets, and personalized guiding in your own language.
Duration:
7 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Izmir Port - Based on the scheduled pick-up time aligned with your ship’s arrival, meet the guide at the port and embark on the journey to the first destination.
- Meryemana (The Virgin Mary’s House) - Recognized by the church as the final residence where Mary spent her last days. It is also believed that the Assumption occurred here on August…
- Izmir Port - Based on the scheduled pick-up time aligned with your ship’s arrival, meet the guide at the port and embark on the journey to the first destination.
- Meryemana (The Virgin Mary’s House) - Recognized by the church as the final residence where Mary spent her last days. It is also believed that the Assumption occurred here on August 15th.
- Ancient City of Ephesus - An archaeological gem, Ephesus is the best-preserved classical city in the Eastern Mediterranean. In the 1st century AD, Ephesus was the second-largest city globally after Rome, with over 250,000 residents. It served as a central hub between the East and West and is home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Temple of Artemis. Ephesus is so well-preserved that walking through its ancient streets among stunning monuments, such as the third-largest library of the ancient world or the largest Roman theatre on the Asian continent, feels like traveling back in time.
- Selcuk - Enjoy lunch and savor Turkish cuisine at selected family-owned restaurants.
- The Temple of Artemis - Known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Temple of Artemis was dedicated to the goddess of the hunt. Today, only the foundation and one column remain of this once grand temple, which measured 425 feet long and 220 feet wide. Paul’s successful ministry in this city was seen as a threat to this temple. The city reached its Golden Age and became a cultural and artistic model for the ancient world.
- Izmir Port - Conclude the tour with a drive back to your hotel.
What's Included
- Professional licensed tour guide
- Entry tickets (for the “Entry Tickets Included” option)
- Lunch in a family owned local restaurant
- Pick up and drop off from Izmır Port
- All sightseeings mentioned in the itinerary
- Professional licensed tour guide
- Entry tickets (for the “Entry Tickets Included” option)
- Lunch in a family owned local restaurant
- Pick up and drop off from Izmır Port
- All sightseeings mentioned in the itinerary
What's Not Included
- Personal expenses
- Drinks at lunch
- Entry tickets (for the “Entry Tickets Excluded” option)
- Personal expenses
- Drinks at lunch
- Entry tickets (for the “Entry Tickets Excluded” option)
Additional Information
Embark on a journey to uncover ancient marvels with this top-rated Ephesus Tour, crafted specifically for cruise passengers.
Destinations include: Ephesus Ruins, House of the Virgin Mary, and Temple of Artemis.
Benefit from skip-the-line access, luxurious transportation, and convenient pick-up & drop-off from Izmir Port and local hotels.
Discover…
Embark on a journey to uncover ancient marvels with this top-rated Ephesus Tour, crafted specifically for cruise passengers.
Destinations include: Ephesus Ruins, House of the Virgin Mary, and Temple of Artemis.
Benefit from skip-the-line access, luxurious transportation, and convenient pick-up & drop-off from Izmir Port and local hotels.
Discover Ephesus with a knowledgeable local guide, strolling through the historic marble streets once traversed by St. Paul, St. John, and Mother Mary. Marvel at landmarks such as the Great Theater, Celsus Library, Trajan Fountain, and Odeon. Proceed to the House of the Virgin Mary to delve into early Christian and Roman history.
Capture stunning photos at prime viewpoints and explore the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Cruise Assurance: The tour schedule is perfectly aligned with your ship’s itinerary, ensuring a timely return to port before departure.
- The tour offer Group and Private Tour options INCLUDE and EXCLUDE ENTRY TICKETS
- Your tour guide may suggest visiting places with handmade items, but it’s completely optional for the guests.
- We GUARANTEE your timely return to the port
- ✅INCLUDES ENTRY TICKETS OPTIONS: You can pay for your entry tıckets at the tıme of booking with Entry tıckets ınclude optıons. Than means we take care of your tickets and enjoy the privilege of SKIP THE TICKET LINES, where your guide will keep the tickets ready for you without waiting in the ticket queue at the entrance of the ruins.
- ❌EXCLUDE ENTRY TICKETS OPTIONS: you can pay your entrance fees in cash or by credit card on the day of the tour. We would like to point out that, especially for the PRIVATE TOUR option, you do not have to pay the entrance fee for the ruins you do not want to see.
- Group Tour Optıon: The group sizes will be up to 10-12 people maxımum. Groups are formed as passengers of the same ship.
- Private Tour Optıon: The tour wıll be provided only for your party wıth personal tour guıde. Stay ın the sites as much you wish, If there is any other site you want to visit, depending on time availability, it can be added to the program.
- The tour specialy designed for the cruise guests. Pick up and drop off only available from Izmir Port. The tour starting time will adjust according to your cruıse dock and onboard times. We GUARANTEE your timely return to the Port.
- Free entry for kids 8yr and below (take passport for children if any)
Location
Izmir Port
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.7
(26 Ratings)
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Victoria_d
Oct 27, 2025
Ephesus is not to be missed - A thoroughly enjoyable day out. Ephesus is so far beyond what I expected. The line ups were quite long for Mary’s house, but that is unavoidable. Our Turkish lunch was also a lovely treat - plentiful, varied and delicious. Firah (sp?) was an excellent and personable guide. Overall, a wonderful experience.
Review provided by Viator
John_r
Sep 3, 2025
Great Tour - Well organized with our very knowledgeable and friendly tour guide (Ogun). We were provided with ample time at each stop to appreciate the sights. The lunch was plentiful and tasty.
Review provided by Viator
Dawn_r
Jun 5, 2025
Amazing.. well worth the cost. - We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Mary's house, Ephesus, and the delicious lunch at a local restaurant. The trip was well organized, informative and fun. Feliz gave an interesting and informative commentary on all of the sites and answered questions about the sites, history and culture in Türkiye. i would recommend this tour without question.
Review provided by Viator
Bo_z
Jun 2, 2025
An amazing day out in Izmir - Filiz (our tour guide) spoke excellent English for our tour. We were taken to many sites including one of the seven wonders of the world and also to an amazing traditional Turkish restaurant.
Review provided by Viator
Goplaces671835
Feb 25, 2025
From Izmir: Ephesus, House of Mary WITH ENTRY Tickets with Lunch - We were very happy with this tour. This private tour is the most cost effective tour in our trip. All the admission fee and meal are included. And we enjoy a big Mercedes Benz bus for our private 7hr tours. Our personal tour guilder and private car driver come to the port ahead of our booking time since they checked the cruise ship arrival time. It is very easy to meet them at the port exit. We visited Virgin Mary’s house, the ancient city of Ephosus and Temple of Artemis. Since we were the first two groups in those places, we were able to view the Ephosus without crowds. Our personal guilder Lisrk companies us on the tour and gave us very detailed stories about all the places we are visiting. She also made extra effort to accommodate our request to visit Aegean coast.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Erika_p
Feb 13, 2025
Excellent experience! - Ugur was very professional, friendly and knowledgeable! So happy to have booked with him instead of the cruise ship. Highly recommended!! Our driver
Sezai took us safely to our destinations. A++ for both of them!!
Review provided by Viator
Macraeandrew
Jan 30, 2025
Memorable Day - This was my second trip to Turkey and my first outside Istanbul so I was not quite sure what to expect, particularly for a tour covering a fairly long distance on Christmas Day in not very promising weather conditions. As it turned out, we had an extremely articulate, intelligent and charming guide called Ogün, who was able to adapt quickly to exactly what we wanted to do and needed to know, who was informative without trying to lecture, enlightening without being glib, and genuinely interested and enthusiastic about his job without being formulaic or routine. He was also possessed of a good sense of humour which made him very easy to relate to. The tour itself was well organised, prepared and managed even down to the food Ogün chose for us to eat. By the end of the day, we were sorry to say goodbye because our guide had become our friend for some 10 hours and turned the day into one of the most memorable of the year.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Liam
Dec 28, 2024
Great Tour - I appreciate the tour because of the Service and the history of ottoman man and Virgin mother Mary for 2 days and I appreciate about Mr. Ogun of his service and his places
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Liliana_m
Oct 3, 2024
Best ever Ephesus tour - Our tour guide took care of us, from the hotel pick up to our return.
He has so much knowledge and experience that our tour was very enjoyable and we learnt a lot about its history.
He explained every site and related facts of the ancient place.
Thanks so much for sharing with us your knowledge and experience
Review provided by Viator
Kristin_n
Jun 21, 2025
Disappointing Private Tour of Ephesus from Izmir Port - We were really looking forward to our private day tour of Ephesus from our cruise stop in Izmir, especially with multiple ships in port and the crowds we anticipated. Unfortunately, the experience fell short of expectations.
While the historical sites themselves were impressive, especially Ephesus, both that and the Virgin Mary House were extremely crowded, which is understandable in peak season. However, what made the day disappointing was our tour guide’s lack of engagement. While he seemed knowledgeable, he shared very little voluntarily and offered mostly surface-level facts that echoed what we could read on the plaques. It felt like he was going through the motions rather than bringing the sites to life, which is what we had hoped for in a private tour.
The most frustrating part of the day was our lunch stop, which was unexpectedly held at a Turkish carpet cooperative. We had been expecting a nice local restaurant, but instead we were taken to a large facility where multiple tour groups were being funneled through. After lunch, we told our guide we didn’t need or want the carpet factory tour, as we were aware it would end in a high-pressure sales pitch. Despite this, he insisted we would offend the staff if we didn’t go through with it. After that, due to traffic and the time lost, we had to skip the Temple of Artemis, which was disappointing. We understand that crowds and timing are factors outside the tour company’s control, but we booked a private experience specifically to avoid these kinds of pitfalls—and unfortunately, it felt more like a standard group tour with little customization or care.
A bright spot was our transportation: the Mercedes Sprinter van was very spacious and comfortable, and our driver was excellent.
This tour had potential, but ultimately it missed the mark for us.
Review provided by Viator
