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Private Ephesus Tour: Explore Ancient City of Ephesus, House of Virgin Mary and Basilica of St. John
4.6
21 Ratings
İstanbul
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!
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
-
stanbul - 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. **…
-
stanbul - 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. ** This service is valid for bookings to options of “Istanbul to Istanbul” or “Istanbul to Kusadasi”.
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
- 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.)
- 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…
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 being cast out of Jerusalem in 37 to 42 AD. The lunch is including in a traditional local restaurant.
- Infant meals not included.
- Child rate applies only when sharing with 2 paying adults.
- Tour Durations (Approximately) : from Kusadasi to Kusadasi 7 hours // from Istanbul to Istanbul 15 hours // from Istanbul to Kusadasi 12 hours // from Bodrum to Bodrum 11 hours.
- Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required.
- Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking.
- A minimum of 2 people per booking is required.
- Your guide will have pre-paid tickets of the museums/ruins/churches etc. before your tour, so you will be skipped the long ticket lines. You can pay the cost of entrance fees to tour guide on tour date. This payment could be cash or by the credit card.
Location
İstanbul
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.6
(21 Ratings)
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Mary_r
Mar 18, 2025
Great day out! - We had the most amazing day out. Gee was an unbelievable tour guide. His enthusiasm was infectious. We learned so much. He gave us so much context for what we were seeing.
Review provided by Viator
Regino_c
Mar 18, 2025
The trip was excellent... - The trip was excellent from pick up from airport to the whole visit to the food to all the experience till sending us back to airport
Review provided by Viator
Maryann_z
Jan 3, 2025
Very organized... - Very organized experience. Exceeded our expectation - definitely recommend this trip! The guide was knowledgeable and accommodating to our needs!
Review provided by Viator
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
Kelvin_t
Mar 14, 2025
Good tour guide, inconvenient sales tactics - The tour guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. They do entice you with buying carpets and high end jackets while on tour though after the lunch and school tour and 5 minute fashion show. It was an interesting experience seeing how it was made but we didn’t appreciate the pushy sales tactics afterwards. I would be okay with one sales motion but two was a bit too much for my mom, she got a headache. The tour itself was very good though and we covered a lot of ground.
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
