Ephesus And House Of Mary Tour From Izmir With Tickets Option

Our tour guide Pinar was excellent. She was knowledgeable and organized. She made the day very memorable.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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

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

Wonderful tour! Isik was a great guide! She was very knowledgeable, which really added to the experience. Highly recommended!

The tour itinerary and our guide was excellent, she wouldn't mind if you call her "D". Very well organised tour and she knows the history of efes very well. She took care of everything including lunch and skip the line tickets.

The guide was very nice and informative. I enjoyed the lunch very much and the sightseeing. Highly recommended tour.

The history of Ephesus and the house of the Virgin Mary, as described by our very knowledgeable guide, was very educational.

(Review en Español tras la de Inglés) I booked a tour to Ephesus, the house of the Virgin Mary, and Sirince on July, 6th, 2023. I booked the tour in Spanish for my family, that were visiting Izmir for my wedding. There were several things wrong, that should make you reconsider if booking with this company is worth it: 1- We didn't go to Sirince. It seemed like the tour guide was in a rush, and "forgot" about it, although I specifically asked for the visit during the tour. 2- In Ephesus, we skipped the theatre. This is a major attraction, as in the words of the tour guide, "it is closed because of some renovation work". This was not the case, and I told my family to go and take a quick look and visit if they wanted. 3- We spent an enormous amount of time in shopping outside Selçuk. I then understood immediately the rush on the important parts. 4- The Spanish level was far from good. The tour guide (Rabia) had probably a B1 level. 5- A couple of members of my family could not join. Even though we talked about paying ONLY for the people present on the tour, they made us pay these 2 extra. 6- The tour guide was rude and not very knowledgeable. When asked about these situations, from the central office they told us they were going to reimburse 52€ for not going to Sirince. The tour was 37€ p.p. We were 18 (with the 2 missing). Overall, I will not recommend this tour. It is much more worth it to check other options, or even get into Ephesus yourself. You can always hire a tour guide simply in the ancient city, and it will take you for some hours there. We were only there for 1 hour and a half... ------- Reservé un tour a Éfeso, la casa de la Virgen María y Sirince el 6 de julio de 2023. Reservé el tour en español para mi familia, que estaba de visita en Izmir para mi boda. Había varias cosas mal, que deberían hacerte reconsiderar si vale la pena reservar con esta compañía: 1- No fuimos a Sirince. Parecía que el guía turístico tenía prisa y se le "olvidó", aunque pregunté específicamente sobre esta parte durante el recorrido. 2- En Éfeso, nos saltamos el teatro. Esta es la mayor atracción, ya que en palabras del guía turístico, "está cerrado por unas obras de reforma". Este no era el caso, y le dije a mi familia que fueran y echaran un vistazo rápido y lo visitaran si querían. 3- Pasamos un tiempo enorme en unas tiendas a las afueras de Selçuk. Entonces comprendí inmediatamente la prisa por las partes importantes. 4- El nivel de español estaba lejos de ser bueno. El guía turístico (Rabia) probablemente tenía un nivel B1. 5- Un par de miembros de mi familia no pudieron unirse. A pesar de que hablamos de pagar SOLO por las personas presentes en el recorrido, nos hicieron pagar estos 2 extra. 6- El guía turístico era un poco grosera y no estaba muy informada. Al preguntar por estas situaciones, desde la oficina central nos dijeron que nos iban a devolver 52€ por no ir a Sirince. El tour costaba 37€ p.p. Éramos 18 (faltaban los 2). En general, no recomiendo este tour. Vale mucho más la pena comprobar otras opciones, o incluso entrar en Éfeso uno mismo. Siempre puedes contratar un guía turístico simplemente en la ciudad antigua, y te llevará algunas horas allí. Solo estuvimos 1 hora y media...

Excellent guide Riza, and driver, Erdogan. I would highly recommend. The tour was very informative, and the food was excellent, too. Felt very safe throughout, with my spouse and two children. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to see this part of Turkey.

Tours can vary drastically in quality from guide to guide. Most guides simply leave you with nothing much to complain about, having walked you through the popular destinations with some amount of explanation, often incomplete. I'm pleased to write that Efe is much better. We spent two days with him, touring Hierapolis and Ephesus, and he was really a delightful guide to have when touring such historically rich sites. He told a rich historical narrative about these areas, letting us understand what life was like for the people living there, and he knew all sorts of interesting tidbits about life in Roman times. Additionally, Efe was really well spoken and easy to talk to; he has a lot of worldly knowledge and common sense, making conversation effortless and fun. He isn't just a local expert on these ruins, he has a lot of knowledge about history in general. Really, the whole tour was just a seamless experience. I can't recommend Efe (and the city of Ephesus) enough.

My husband and I took a private day tour to Aphrodisias and Pamukkale with Yavuz as our guide and Sharif as our driver. They were both excellent in knowledge of the area and extremely helpful. Aphrodisias is a must see (which we understand many tourists miss) and of course Pamukkale/Hieropolis was amazing and so much larger and expansive than we expected. But for Yavuz we two seniors would have walked uphill and tired ourselves out in the hot sun - he told us about the golf carts which we engaged and were very thankful we did. Having a guide is the only way to see these areas!

Our guide Emre was very flexible. We were able to plan out the trip based on our interests given that it was a private tour. Learned a lot from him. Would recommend for anyone going on a day trip to Ephesus.

We had an amazing day trip from Izmir to ancient Ephesus and Pamukkale with Arzu. Arzu provided many insights and interesting facts about the rich history of this area and was a pleasure to deal with. We really enjoyed our experience.

I would like to say thank you to Kerem on helping us in our tour in Ephesus, House of Mary, Pamukkale and Red tour in Cappdocia..This agency respond on our queries very fast. I would like to say thank you also Funda our tour guide and Orcan our driver for our tour . If you will decide to have a great vacation in Turkey I recommend Tour Altinkum travel agency🥰🥰🥰

We had opportunity to take this tour with tour guide Emre as our guide. The tour was awsome. Emre was informing us about the monuments and show us the best places we can see in the region. He really knew what he was talking about. He has big expetience on his job, the tour was worth for every penny. Will use same service when we back Turkey in future. Highly recommended.

We toured with Emere and Okan, they were very funny friendly and professional. They were knowledgeable with regards to the history of this country. We had a great lunch and they were very accommodating. I would highly recommend them and their company.

Our tour guide Riza and driver Okan provided an excellent experience! My family and I were greeted at the airport and were taken care of throughout the day, hitting all the highlights of Izmir and Ephesus comfortably with 2 small children. Highly recommended for a one day all inclusive trip to Ephesus!

Tour was brilliant. emre our guide was a pleasure to the spend the day with. Very knowledgable and informative. Very funny and made the day enjoyable. Thank you