Ephesus, Kusadasi tour recommendations

[getawaygirl]

Hi there, we will be arriving in Ephesus late May. We're trying to decide on which tour to take. Not really interested in 'Mary's House" but would like to see the other ruins and the "Terrace Houses." We've been looking at Viator tours (much less expensive than RCCL) however, according to reviews, they all seem to end up at a rug factory. Are there any tours that don't end up at the rug factory? Or any recommendations for other tours? Thanks for any info.

[bellaone]

I would suggest contacting Levent Solmaz at levent.slmz@gmail.com. A wonderful and fairly priced tour guide who you can customize with. I've used him twice and have him booked already for next years cruise.

 

PS-Terrace Houses are a must 

[edinburgher]

21 hours ago, getawaygirl said:

Or any recommendations for other tours? Thanks for any info.

There have been many many recommendations for Ehpesus tours in the past, and it might be helpful for you to read at least some of the past threads for ideas and information.

 

Choose from these:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=ephesus&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=149

 

There may also be more under Kusadasi, so choose from these:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=kusadasi&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=149

 

And you could check your Roll Call in case some fellow passengers have already booked a tour and are looking for others like yourself to join the small group.

 

And are you aware that Viator is not a tour operator, but a middleman which books you on to tours run by other companies, so you won't actually know which company you will tour with.

 

 

Edited April 24 by edinburgher

[getawaygirl]

Thanks for the info!

[Milhouse]

We've used Ephesus Shuttle a few times during previous cruises that had a stop in Kusadasi/Ephesus; most recently last year and would recommend them.  Our experience has been that the groups are fairly small with transport in a minibus with lots of room.  IIRC, our most recent tour only had four couples including us.  It's obviously kind of random what kind of guide you get but all of our previous Ephesus Shuttle guides have been pretty friendly, helpful (eg photos) and laid back, not pushy.  My only complaint about our most recent guide was that he was a bit too chatty for my taste.  I find they do ask the group if you want to do any shopping (so you are kind of at the mercy of a group decision) but my experience is also that most of the people doing Ephesus Shuttle tours are pretty independent so everyone typically declines.  So we have never made a shopping/rug stop with Ephesus Shuttle.

[getawaygirl]

Thanks for the recommendation!

[Scubadoobie2]

On 4/23/2024 at 10:29 AM, getawaygirl said:

Hi there, we will be arriving in Ephesus late May. We're trying to decide on which tour to take. Not really interested in 'Mary's House" but would like to see the other ruins and the "Terrace Houses." We've been looking at Viator tours (much less expensive than RCCL) however, according to reviews, they all seem to end up at a rug factory. Are there any tours that don't end up at the rug factory? Or any recommendations for other tours? Thanks for any info.

Hi, getawaygirl.  Late May?  Our cruise on Odyssey of the Seas arrives in Kusadasi on May 29.  Is that your ship, too?  Are we already in touch with each other?  I don't recall.  (Been in touch with a lot of people, almost 500 members in our Facebook group for our cruise).  I've been to Kusadasi twice before, in 2012 with my wife and in 2013 with my wife and our two young adult kids.  We used Ephesus Shuttle both times and we are using them again on this cruise.  What's really cool about our private tour group is that we are skipping the House of Virgin Mary AND we are skipping the rug factory hard sell.  AND, we are including the Terrace Houses in our excursion.  Sounds exactly like what you want. My tour group is maxed out.  So, I cannot invite you into our tour if you are on our ship.  But, you may be able to arrange a similar tour with Ephesus Shuttle.  Here is a link to their website: Private & Small Group Shore Excursions (ephesusshuttle.com) 

 

BTW, are you in Facebook?  If you are, are you also in our May 26 FB group for this cruise?  If you are not in that FB group, and if you don't HATE Facebook, consider joining right away.  

[BETTY2K4]

On 4/23/2024 at 8:29 PM, getawaygirl said:

Hi there, we will be arriving in Ephesus late May. We're trying to decide on which tour to take. Not really interested in 'Mary's House" but would like to see the other ruins and the "Terrace Houses." We've been looking at Viator tours (much less expensive than RCCL) however, according to reviews, they all seem to end up at a rug factory. Are there any tours that don't end up at the rug factory? Or any recommendations for other tours? Thanks for any info.

If you are looking for a local guided private tour, consider Best Ephesus Tours