Private Ephesus Tour: Explore Ancient City of Ephesus, House of Virgin Mary and Basilica of St. John

Discover the wonders of the ancient city of Ephesus, the House of Virgin Mary, and the Basilica of St. John on this private tour. Depart from Istanbul, Kusadasi, Selcuk, or Bodrum and enjoy a flexible daily trip. Book now!

Duration: 15 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights

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    - We will pick you up from your hotel in Istanbul and then transfer to Istanbul airport for your flight to Izmir. Upon arrival Izmir airport, your private driver will meet you at the exit gate of arrival terminal and then drive to Selcuk town. Afterward, you will meet with your private tour guide and you will start your full day tour. **…
What's Included
  • Transportation in a fully air-conditioned, non-smoking vehicle
  • Lunch included
  • Expert guidance by a licensed professional tour guide
  • Skip the lines with guaranteed priority access
  • Includes one-way flight ticket from Istanbul to Izmir (Istanbul to Kusadasi option)
  • Round trip flights between Istanbul and Izmir included (Istanbul to Istanbul option)
  • Convenient hotel or airport pick-up and drop-off
What's Not Included
  • Drinks
  • Entrance Fees (Your guide will have pre-paid tickets to skip the line.)
Additional Information

This private Ephesus tour is available for departures from your hotel in Istanbul or Kusadasi or Selcuk or Bodrum. You can create your own Turkey travel plan with this flexible daily trip. The highlights of this private tour are UNESCO-listed ancient city of Ephesus, House of Virgin Mary, St.John church where St John lived with the Virgin Mary after…

Location
İstanbul
Cancellation Policy

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

Customer Ratings
4.6
(16 Ratings)
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D9534bdlisas
May 14, 2024
ONE TO CHECK OFF YOUR BUCKET LIST - Great long day but worth every minute. Guide Mehmet was excellent, relaxed and just flat-out knowledgeable. We started at 4:30 am and back at our ARBNB by 10:00(would have been home earlier but we waited on our transportation from the airport). Regardless of the long day, we were able to fit in quite a bit of sites. Also went to a Turkish carpet making (no pressure to buy), a leather/fashion show and gourmet shop for goods. We paid our entrance fees, but I knew that going into the tour. Also, got some great pictures from our guide. Just book it!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lisa_l
May 13, 2024
GREAT FULL DAY OF CHECKING THINGS OFF OUR BUCKET LIST - What an amazing day. My husband and I were picked up promptly at 4:30 am, was met by Mehmet our guide w/driver after our 1 hour flight to Izmir. Spent the majority of our day at Ephesus. Ended the tour with a carpet making demonstration (no pressure to buy) a leather shop (treated to a private fashion show) and then a gourmet spot for saffron, special oils and Turkish delights. Lunch was excellent. Spent some quality time with our guide, extremely passionate about his work as a licensed guide in the area. Had no idea a guide has to attend a 4 year University program in Turkey w/mentorship in order to guide these tours. These guides are like walking Wikipedia’s. Great story telling, relaxed pace but packed with lots of memories and history. Some of the entrance fees were not included, but I knew that when I booked the tour. Great communication with the tour company on WhatsApp. Don’t hesitate, just book it!
Review provided by Viator
Beverley_a
Sep 11, 2023
A great trip with an excellent guide - Our trip was great but your website is not user friendly. When the chat line couldn't expedite the booking in Australia, I had to call your Sydney office. To book a Turkish Bath in Bodrum I gave up when I couldn't pay & went elsewhere. There is a problem when u use 'other' in the pickup location, then the booking won't progress to payment.
Review provided by Viator
Danielle_m
Sep 2, 2023
Beautiful informative and a must sea in a smaller group - I booked this tour for my 70 year old mum and I. We were the only two tht booked that day so we had a private tour. Our driver and guide were excellent. The guide was very informative and the driver treated us to a tea by the petrol station made over a fire. What a beautiful day. Would have gone on another tour if it was guaranteed to be with both of them.
Review provided by Viator
Kelci_c
Aug 22, 2023
Fantastic - We planned this trip as a couple and we had Phyllis as a tour guide and she was absolutely wonderful! She was so knowledgeable about the areas we went to, she answered every question we asked her and she took us to extra places around the area as we had extra time, she took us to a leather and fur showroom where we got to take part in a cat walk, we went to see pottery being made and we also got to see how traditional Turkish carpets were made! We would do this again in a heart beat, but you need more than 1 day to do this!
Review provided by Viator
Kris_s
Aug 14, 2023
Excellent tour of Ephesus - Rose did an amazing job as our tour guide! We had a long drive from our hotel but she made it interesting and when we were on-site she was great at maneuvering the crowds and sharing pertinent information. The rug cooperative stop and lunch was delicious and the optional leather warehouse stop were great.
Review provided by Viator
Christian_d
Jul 15, 2023
Great tour - Long drive but our guide was excellent and was concerned for us and helped on the hottest day this year 43C
Review provided by Viator
Thaer_n
Jul 12, 2024
Great experience. - Our driver and our guide were wonderful people. Very kind and friendly and cared a lot for our experience on a very hot day in Western Turkey. You get to see all the sights and our guide (Bushra) explained each taking care to answer our questions. The driver made sure we had plenty of water on board our air conditioned coach and it was a pleasure to driver from location to location. The lunch at the carpet making place was fabulous. I will agree with others that the only bad point is the owner of the carpet place (Aussie guy) gave a real pressure sell trying to get us to buy a rug. (Thousands of pounds!). It was definitely a hard sell as he said the money goes to the ladies who hand knit the rugs. As much as that may be true it’s a guilt trip! Having said that like someone else pointed out you CAN refuse which is what we did. I think if there was a way this tour could include the lunch but avoid the hard sell then it would be perfect. I would still recommend the tour as the overall experience was great.
Review provided by Viator
Katrina_g
May 7, 2024
Enjoyable day out, fantastic views, lovely lunch, great guide. - We enjoyed our day out. Ephesus was all we had hoped for, the museum was an unexpected bonus. The virgin Mary’s house and st John’s basilica were interesting to see also. We had a delicious lunch. It was fascinating learning how rugs were made. We also went to Turkish delight (and more) store which was good. Our guide was very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. Our driver did a fantastic job. A big cost for the day considering all sights are paid for on top of original fee (which we were aware of).
Review provided by Viator
Catherine_f
Aug 22, 2023
Great organization; amazing sights - We really appreciated how well the tour took care of us. They did a great job of communicating. All of our transit was in great time, and they did a good job reorganizing when our plane was delayed. Ephesus and the Basilica of st John were amazing. We came in August, so it was over 100° F and our tour guide seemed in a little more of a hurry to get out of the sun than we would have liked, but so worth a visit.
Review provided by Viator
From $18
up to 15 guests
2 Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).