Ephesus Tour: Explore Ancient Wonders and Virgin Mary House

Embark on a small-group tour from Istanbul to Ancient Ephesus, the best-preserved classical city in the Eastern Mediterranean. Explore the Temple of Artemis and the House of Virgin Mary for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Duration: 14 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Istanbul - Upon early pick up from your hotel drive to Istanbul Airport for your 1 hour 30 min domestic flight to Izmir.
What's Included
  • Lunch in a local restaurant
  • Domestic flight tickets from/to Istanbul (2 tickets)
  • Transfers from/to Airports (4 transfers)
  • Professional licensed Tour Guide
  • Baggage allowance 15kg + 8kg hand luggage for domestic flights
What's Not Included
  • Drinks at Lunch
  • Personal Expenses
  • Admission fees to historical sites
Additional Information

Enjoy a tailor-made full-day excursion in a small group, led by a knowledgeable local guide. Explore Ancient Ephesus, the Eastern Mediterranean’s most intact classical city, the Temple of Artemis - one of the Ancient World’s Seven Wonders, and the House of Virgin Mary, her final residence. Inclusion of airport transfers, economy class domestic air…

Location
Istanbul
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.8
(34 Ratings)
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Lilliam_s
May 3, 2024
Best of the Best 5 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Our Tour Guide, was professional and well knowledge. with College Education, Local from area he is showing you the site he was raise, Barborous Halil Toparkak is the guide everybody dream to have, he anwer every question that is being ask politely to him. Patience, reliable and well knowlege is our personal description of his tour. I think the price is worth for what you will get back form his Tour . Transportation includes 3 different drivers that you will achieve from starting point to your trip to your way back to your Hotel. Entances fees were $60.00 per person extra for Ephesus and Virgin Mary House where the Assumption is said took place. We love it and is one expirience we will take to the rest of our lives.
Review provided by Viator
Carlotta_h
Oct 22, 2023
Amazing rain in Ephesus - Ata was a fabulous guide for our trip to Ephesus. He was personable and extremely knowledgeable. We had a great lunch and a side shopping trip. Would highly recommend Ata and our excellent driver.
Review provided by Viator
Tan
May 9, 2023
Highly Recommend! - Highly recommend this tour if you are in Ephesus for a day! Thank you Riza and Erdogan for their kind hospitality. The group of 4 of us enjoyed the trip very much!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Barbaranu3961ey
Apr 28, 2023
Wonderful full day tour - Excellent tour and a wonderful guide, Gorki. Very friendly and knowledgeable. Definitely would do another tour. Local knowledge was extremely helpful to make the most of our trip
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lonniel146
Apr 24, 2023
Once in a lifetime tour - Another incredible tour and made perfect by our tour guide Efe. Highly recommend taking this. You won’t regret it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Olivermary
Apr 15, 2023
An unforgettable and great experience - We would recommend this trip without hesitation. It is expensive but worth it. You have to pay that bit extra for quality. I think the key to this is two-fold: 1. Kerem the manager at Tour Altinkum. He promptly answered every question I asked by WhatsApp in the days before our trip and at the end when we arrived back in Istanbul Airport and our driver was delayed owing to traffic congestion he was monitoring closely and did not rest until soon afterwards everything was sorted. 2. Barboros or Barb for short, our local tour guide in Ephesus who picked us up with the driver Salim in Izmir Airport and who was just brilliant with his knowledge and attention to our specific interests. We had a very early start 4.30 am pick up from hotel. The driver was there at 4.20 am and was very friendly and spoke good English. From Izmir whisked to Ephesus . Pleasantly surprised it was just my wife and myself. So this was as private and as personal as you get. Barb has excellent English and an encyclopediac knowledge of Ephesus and the region's culture. He got it just right curating the sites and giving us private time to absorb it all. Highlights the vastness of the thoroughfare of this incredible ancient metropolis and the House of the Virgin Mary. Also, Barb arranged an incredibly tasty genuinely local lunch which was a pleaant surprise. And we welcomed his offer to visit a family run ceramic craft shop which showcased beautiful works of local art and we were plased to buy a couple of things we will treasure. Also we took up the offer to visit an elite leather shop where my wife bought a lovely jacket. We did not feel under any pressure to visit those places but they were authentic representations of the local economy and we were pleased to have the opportunity to see and avail. All in all a quality day out. A very long day. With traffic congestion not back in hotel until around 9.15 pm to catch a late dinner. But very much worth every minute. And I must say arrangements at both Istanbul and Izmir airports were very smooth. No problem carrying 150 ml. sunscreen in my bag that would not be allowed at home in UK or Ireland. A final word. A beautiful sunny mid April day, not too hot. The perfect time of the year to absorb the wonder of the world that is Ephesus. Thank you especially Karem and Barb.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Quangdinh_26
Mar 18, 2023
Must-do - Our tourguide Mitten was awesome! It was only 3 people so it was pretty intimate and doesn’t feel passive. We took our time going through the sights
Review provided by Tripadvisor
840akshitm
Mar 4, 2023
Wonderful experience! - There wasn’t much to see in house of Virgin Mary. In my opinion that could have been skipped. Ephesus is a must visit for anyone visiting Turkey. Overall we had a wonderful experience. Our guide: Metin was friendly and highly knowledgeable.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Gergema
Mar 2, 2023
Wow-Ephesus! - This was an amazing day for us. Hotel pickup, transfers and drop off were all on time and very easy. Our guide, Riza, was so knowledgeable about the area, agriculture, local products. He had lots of stories about ancient Ephesus and made the tour very interesting. We learned about the local culture and people who live here. The lunch was huge and very good. Our driver, Okan, was very careful and had a sense of humor. We stopped at two local businesses and requested a third stop so we could buy some local olive oil and pomegranate sauce. It was a long day but so worth it to see this truly fascinating site. Thanks Riza and Okan!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ravi_k
Jan 7, 2024
Not worth it! - We were very excited about this experience to begin. However, it did not turn out the way we had imagined. We were flying from Istanbul to Izmir on the day of our tour. Our flight was at 7 in the morning and we reached airport at 5am. Our flight was canceled due to weather and we were put on 10 am flight. We called the tour operator and said that we could not do the full tour and they said we had to choose between the touring the ancient city OR the House of Virgin Mary and Temple of Artemis, which seemed reasonable. We chose House of Virgin Mary and temple of Artemis. We even asked if we could do the pit stop at Ephesus for a few minutes and the tour operator said it was not possible as it was far. We landed in Izmir at 11 and a driver picked us up and drove for an hour to the House of Virgin Mary. We were only there for 30 min. On the way a tour guide joined us who explained some things about this place. As we returned from the Virgin Mary house we saw that the ancient city was indeed on the way and we could have stopped for some time to walk around. But instead, they tour operator said there wasn't time and we drove to Temple of Artmeis which had nothing to see except a pillar, only spending about 15 minutes over there. We were then picked by the transfer bus which dropped us at the airport at 2:30. What was frustrating was that our flight was at 6:30 PM and we spent 4 hours at the airport when we could have also explored the ancient city easily. Overall, we spent only about an hour on the tour sites and spent 4+ hours at the airport. They didn't provide lunch and the tour guide provided was simply filling in for someone and didn't explain much. We also did not get back any credit for our money, whatsoever. Obviously they can't control the flight cancelation but they could have easily adapted the tour to our timeframe. You will end up spending a large part of your day at the airport regardless of the time you get there. Overall, not a good experience.
Review provided by Viator
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up to 12 guests
1 Adult
November 2024
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