Kusadasi Ephesus Excursion Reviews

The tour of Ephesus was exceptional and the guide, Ayshin, spoke perfect English and was extremely warm and engaging. The highlight of the trip was a visit to a wonderful bed and breakfast in Sirince for a private lunch of the traditional Turkish cuisine.

Provider: Windstar Cruises

Good experience at Ephesus. Kusadasi looked like a shopping mall.

Provider: Independent Operator

We loved exploring the ruins in Ephesus and the tour guide was very well informed. We were amazed a the size of the site and the mixture of cultures that had left their marks on the area. We also went to the small town of Siringe for arts and crafts market and lunch. This was also fun but I would have liked more time to explore that area. I would have skipped the mandatory tour of the carpet weaving studio since I already knew how that is done. And the carpets were very expensive.

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

We took a trip including Ephesus, Miletus, and Didyma - all excellent sites to visit. Great to visit in November as Ephesus was not too busy (we went in July before and it was unbearably crowded). Wonderful ruins and lots to see. In Miletus there were hardly any tourists and it has a fabulous amphitheatre.

Provider: Oceania Cruises

Great site, poor tour, so-so local guide

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

This was my forth time to Kusadasi. I love Ephesus so much and this time I got to see the Terrace Houses. Ephesus Shuttle was excellent and they didn't force us to shop at a carpet store which made me happy. The vendors around Ephesus are obnoxious and I had to tell one guy to leave me alone because he kept saying he was Brad Bitt and I was Angela Jolie. Ick! Be firm and bargain hard if you want to shop in Turkey, especially for carpets. They love people who have no idea how to bargain. Get some idea online and get them down at least 70 percent or you're getting ripped off.

Provider: Independent Operator

Again another wasted bus tour with the Ephesus museum being closed and looking at Ephesus from a distance. Hardly worth the trouble.

Provider: Princess Cruises

DO NOT MISS!

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

This was the same tour with Irene, but Ephesus is incredible. Definitely be careful on slippery rocks. Lots of beautiful ruins, especially the Celsus Library. For someone who wasn't impressed the Roman Forum, this was much more worthwhile, and I think having a guide telling us about what we were seeing was a big part of it.

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

Remarkable! We learned so much from our excellent guide and enjoyed traipsing through the ruins. As Americans, coming from a young country on a relatively "young" continent, these ancient ruins put things in perspective.

Provider: Independent Operator

We did not climb up to the theater but got a great view while exiting the ruins. It's massive!

Provider: Independent Operator

A fantastic day of sightseeing Ephesus...picked up on time..spent day seeing the many sights of the area. Saw carpet weaving and leather good store. No pressure. A great day.

Provider: Independent Operator

Excellent tour. Very informative. Ephesus was much bigger then I had imagined and what has been excavated so far is only a fraction of the whole thing. Well worth the cost of the tour.

Provider: Royal Caribbean International

The excavations at Ephesus were unbelievable and there is so much more to un- earth that it is amazing. The high point were the Terrace Houses. These excavations literally bring you inside the houses to see the frescoes on the walls and the mosaics on the floors. Just beautiful.

Provider: Independent Operator

Ephasus was amazing. Enjoyed it very much but there was nothing I would eat in the restaurant that was included. Wife liked the fish.This tour was a surprise provided by our cruise travel agent and run by Vacation Vignettes. We also stopped at Rhodes and Mikonos, where we could walk on our own from the ship without a booked tour, and we felt that was sufficient. In 14 days we stopped at 11 ports!

Provider: Independent Operator

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT TAKE EPHESUS IF YOU HAVE ANY DIFFICULTY WALKING. We were misled by description that said it's a gentle downsloping walk. Well, it's not. Large uneven stones filled with potholes make walking downright dangerous and if it's raining, stay on the bus! Passengers who were not in shape returned to bus huffing & puffing! Actually, Ephesus had better ruins than Pompeii, but if you've seen Pompeii, be happy and skip Ephesus. Even our tourguide admitted that she has seen some pretty bad falls.

Provider: Princess Cruises

Reasonable value for money - would recommend you shop around if possible, but be prepared to be pestered by shop keepers and other vendors - if you are bothered then it may be worth paying to go with the cruise ship. Ephesus not to be missed!

Provider: Holland America Line

Lovely place, seeing the library was an oh my god moment. Cruise line needs to say there is a carpet making demo as we had seen one the day before and didnt want to waste the little time we had here watching another one. Tour guide at Istanbul said the shopping was better in Kusadasi and it was a little more relaxed being a smaller place

Provider: Princess Cruises

The tour was fabulous as was Ephesus itself. This tour was half the cost of the ship's and returned in plenty of time. Last time (6 years ago) we took the ship's tour with 45 of our closest friends but this time with a small bus and only 8 other people we saw so much more and the guide was a real professional. SO MUCH BETTER. Pretty little town too and very safe.

Provider: Independent Operator

Wonerful experience not to bemissed! A true step back in time. Amazing.

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

The tour here was quite good... expensive but good! Our guide was a plus. Ephesus was quite interesting and well worth the visit.

Provider: Princess Cruises

Awe-inspiring

Provider: Independent Operator

Interesting tour. Hot day. Great food. The Turkish vendors very much believe in the hard sell.

Provider: Independent Operator

Great experience with so much to see.

Provider: Independent Operator

Tour took place on the day that Ephesus was observing the last day of Ramadan. This meant that the ruins at Ephesus were not open until 1.30pm, despite our tour being booked for 10.30am. Our guide, Melissa, was terrific and helped us to juggle the day with an added visit to the House of the Virgin Mary. She was very knowledgeable and informative through the trip to Ephesus.

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

We got together with another family from cruise critic and went with Ekol Tours. We took the Ephesus Tour with the Terrace Houses. Because Ephesus did not open until 1pm that day, our guide tacked on a visit to Sirince Village for free. We loved our guide and strongly suggest that you get your own. She really made the trip for us. The place was hot and crowded in August, though. If you decide not to do an excursion, there appears to be a nice beach in town.

Provider: Independent Operator

Our guide Ahmed was one of the best we have ever had, he was informative, knowledgeable and funny. The sight was amazing even though it was about 40% and very busy. The scale of the ruins are breathtaking and I was so glad that I finally got to see Ephesus. On the way back to the ship he was willing to take us to a great carpet shop, thankfully there were no takers, although he did do his best to talk us into it. God loves a tryer. After lunch we returned to the bazaar in Kusadasi, for an enjoyable couple of hours of haggling, if you have the right attitude, it can be fun, but also very tiring. We had a drink at a bar near to the harbour and were amazed at the changes to the town, which we had last visited about 20 years previously, much more upmarket now, but a little less interesting

Provider: Thomson Cruises

I chose to stay on the ship as they said there was a lot of walking and my bruised buttock was still sore , but my Husband went on the tour which he said was quite good. He said the ruins were not in the best shape but the tour was fairly interesting.

Provider: Holland America Line

Very good guide - knew his stuff. Half day tour just long enough for what we wanted to do on (what turned out to be) a very hot day (100 degrees F ++)

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

We had headsets that were used during our visit to Ancient Ephesus which is a remarkable place to see and near the end we were treated to a fabulous performance by a local theatre group. Our tour-guide was really good and did a great job. We really enjoyed our visit here and had a great experience.

Provider: Royal Caribbean International

Took the Ephesian Modus Vivandi tour. Included in our tour was the terrace houses. If you have to pay the extra money to see this, DO IT. Unbelievable what they have uncovered and the restoration going on. The mosaics are amazing.

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

Fantastic tour - great tour guide (Khan)the ships crew provided midway through the ruins tour cold drinks & frozen towels. Very crowded also very hot time of year to do this - might be better in spring time. Was impossible to browse the town of Kusadasi without being pestered to buy something though.

Provider: Azamara Club Cruises

As soon as we entered Ancient Ephesus, we saw the Baths of the "State Agora". Then we passed by "The Bouleuterion" which housed the meetings of the Council as well as musical performances and contests built around 100 A.D. The Market Basilica was a 160-m long arcade, also built in the 1st century. We continued to walk in the heat and finally arrived at Terrace Houses. Our guide gave us the ticket to enter the site and it was amazing. The extra cost of $10 was so worth it. It was great to see the 5-minute live presentation next to the Great Theatre.

Provider: Independent Operator

'Highlights of Ephesus tour 4 hours. Fab archeological site walking tour in Ephesus. Then ended in Kusadasi at carpet shop with good info session, good shopping, and just few minutes walk back to ship.

Provider: Royal Caribbean International

Did know what to expect in Turkey so it was a pleasant surprise to see all that the area had to offer.

Provider: Independent Operator

Rushed tour. Supposed to be all day, but we were done with over an hour to spare. Ephesus is incredible - here is a link to some pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/110446672587444099861/VeniceCruiseEphesus?locked=true

Provider: Independent Operator

Tour of ancient Ephesus with stop at turkish carpet merchant

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

Did not really explore the town, but the area right by the port is modern and has many familiar stores including Lacoste and Starbucks. It was actually a nice place to hang out.

Provider: Independent Operator

Knowledgeable guide and coach visit around the ruins which were extensive and very interesting. Also visited a small museum and ended up at a Turkish carpet factory (sales room). The latter is an expensive trap for the unwary but if you can say no with conviction its worth it for the free beer!

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

Picked up a tour in the port shopping center. 25 euros each (4 hour tour-had to pay for entrance to Ephasus 10 euro extra). Enjoyed this immensely. Lots of walking and slippery marble slopes.

Provider: Independent Operator

We left Greek territory for our next day and stopped at Kusadasi in Turkey. From here we had booked a private tour to Ephesus through CC contacts, with 6 of us paying 52 euros each. That gave us a minibus tour to Ephesus with tour guide, included lunch and entry to the Ephesus site itself. The tour we'd booked was a gentle paced half day trip, taking some medical issues into account, but we didn't feel short-changed at all. The place is amazing and although hilly and with steps was manageable; to be honest the whole site is so impressive you'd have to really have access problems to not want to visit there. Here in the UK sites like Stonehenge charge a fortune to visit and then you're allowed nowhere near the artefacts, but at Ephesus we were just able to wander right into the heart of everything. We didn't go into the Terraced Houses that a lot of people say are a must, but I certainly don't feel we missed out as there is still so much to see. The tour did also include the trip to a carpet place where the background is interesting but we really didn't appreciate the blatant hard sell they do. It's a shame but seems that must tours put this in; if you can arrange a trip that promises not to do this, go for it! At the end of the trip we had time to spare so decided to wander round the bazaars in Kusadasi before going back to the ship. Unfortunately we were totally put off by the shop keepers' quite aggressive approach to visitors and it's impossible to browse, despite the 'no hassle' signs. Maybe that's all part of the local culture but it wasn't an aspect we wanted to embrace at the end of a long hot day.

Provider: Independent Operator

A must do. The ruins of a whole city is so unbelievable. So much of it still stands and it's all made of marble. It's a tour for those with lots of energy and without physical imparements as it's a long tour but well worth it. Bring your camera. It was so easy to imagine in my mind what it was like there thousands of years ago. When we got back from our cruise we stopped in the town which was by the Port to have lunch ... it was wonderful.

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

Wonderful place, yet very crowded.

Provider: Regent Seven Seas Cruises

What can you say but awesome...can't wait to see when they excavate more and what they discover

Provider: Princess Cruises

We booked a private tour of the Ephesus ruins and enjoyed it very much. Our guide was wonderful, spoke perfect English (among 5 other languages) and included some other local stops not specified in our tour. We spent a little time at the bazaar before boarding the ship, as we only had half a day here. A full day would have been great.

Provider: Independent Operator

All of the ruin of Ephesus are a "must do" when visiting Kusadasi. Enjoyed every moment of the tour.

Provider: Independent Operator

we took a tour to this ancient place to see Ephesus, the Mediterranean's best-preserved classical city. The ruins of this city and the enormous theatre offers up superb views over the city. Our guide was brilliant and very funny. Make sure you have a good pair of walking shoes! Marble stones are slippery. annoying thing is that Turkish photographer wants to take your pic all the time but you learn to ignore them...

Provider: Thomson Cruises

This was the most amazing place and we had the perfect guide to tell us all of the wonderful history. We actually were more in awe of this ancient city than we were of Pompeii. The scenery on the bus trip here was spectacular too, which made it a very enjoyable trip all up. So So glad we came here. We finished up with a trip to the bazaar that had lots of good quality leather at good prices and beautiful scarves that I wish I'd bought many more of for gifts at home.

Provider: Princess Cruises

Only seen from a distance at the end of our walk. Impressive.This was on a windy day and the site is big so there is quite a bit of walking involved.

Provider: Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Outstanding visit to Ephesus! The guide was more than informed, he was entertaining as well. An absolute must see.

Provider: Royal Caribbean International

An outstanding guide made our visit to Ephesus come alive.

Provider: Regent Seven Seas Cruises

The highlight was a visit to Ephesus, an ancient city whose ruins . We organized our own tour through Ephesus tours which was excellent . We was also treated to a carpet demonstration, pottery display & finally a fashion show at a leather shop

Provider: Independent Operator