Ephesus Travel Forum

Hi!! im coming all the way from California to Turkey for a short holiday ,in this time i would like to visit Ephesus i have always had an interest to see it! I would like to know if having a private guide would be possible, being that my time in Turkey is not long and i would like to spend some time in Ephesus. Also how much would the tour be! thanks so much!!!

Ephesus is a popular place to visit, and there are many day (or even overnight)tours available from many places.

But where exactly in Turkey will you be based? That does make a difference to what is available and at what cost. Turkey is a big country.

hi! i will be staying in kusadasi is that close to ephesus? thanks for the help!

Yes, it's very close.......the nearest town to Ephesus is Selcuk, about 35km away.

I'm sure you won't need a private driver/guide. There will be loads of local daytours going to the ruins (and other places of interest). Kusadasi is a popular tourist destintaion for visitors from the UK and other parts of Europe: many of them want to go to Ephesus.

You can find examples of tours if you google 'kusadasi ephesus day tour' but, to be honest, it is often cheaper to organise this yoursel whilst you are on holiday.Your hotel will certainly be able to help, and there are usually plenty of tour agencies dotted around.

welcome to vt. kusadasi is about 20 km from the ephesus site and has the best selection of decent hotels, restaurants, and shopping. selcuk is perhaps 2km from the site.
tourism would seem to be the major industry here and your hotel will be able to provide you with a group tour or a private guide. also, in the main shopping area there are storefront outfits which provide guides.
a private guide is more costly but offers several advantages - they will take the time to allow you to visit the hillside houses ( separate entrance fee ) which are quite interesting which the group tours absolutely will not. they will make sure they get you to the ephesus museum as well, often bypassed by the tour busses claiming shortage of time. they would rather have you make the trip up to sirince to shop for cheap wine and souvenirs with the guide getting a kickback from all the purchases. tours and private guides will both go the House of Mary, the Temple of Artemis, etc. lastly, you will have a far better lunch with a private guide, not mass produced.

Well come from sunny California to the land of Sun God.you will have a wonderfull time in Turkey.
Kusadasi is a modern big town.(visit my kusadasi page) On the other hand Selcuk is more smaller then Kusadasi. Selcuk is more alla turca. In Selcuk dont forget to visit church and grave of St. John. There are nice little pensions in Selcuk. It is also touristic place. Selcuk is only 8 kms away from Efesus.

Hi
Our students group visited Ephesus in March. It was part of out big turkish tour. We had a nice, knowledgeable English speaking guide who also took us to Sirince (old greek village close to Ephesus) for traditional turkish lunch in the house of one of the villagers, and it was great experience. That village is famous for wine tasting, too. We all liked the Virgin Mary house so much! The same guide took us to ancient towns of Priene, Miletos and Didima.
I don`t know what was the tour price because we all shared the costs (10 persons; 20$ each) and our group leader arranged that price with the guide. I don`t know what was the first price he gave, but at the end, 22$ per person really sounded reasonable (more than reasonable, that guide really knows his job!). His name was Erti, and he has a web site (www.ertungaecir.com). If you need his mobile number, i can get it from our group leader. I hope this was helpful.