Reviews

Joe B
Washington DC

“Personal, professional, and detail oriented. We loved it!” After months of talking about it, my girlfriend and I booked tickets to visit Turkey. We were nervous because we were visiting in January but we were enthusiastic about our trip, during which we would be in Istanbul (where my uncle lives).

We decided fairly last minute that we wanted to spend a night or two somewhere else and settled on visiting Izmir and seeing Ephesus. I was overwhelmed with planning another 12-day international trip I was staffing before, so it was up to her to take care of all the details. She reached out to several groups and Best of Ephesus got back to us right away and were exceptionally professional and prompt in their communications. The cost of a 5-6 hour tour, door-to-door, with a car, driver, and personal tour guide?? - $150 for both of us! We booked it right away and were very excited.

Michael A
Minnesota

“Best tour of our trip” We were doing a Norwegian cruise to Olympus, Athens, Ephesus, Istanbul, and Naples. Having done a number of excursions through cruise lines I realized that for a family of four we could do private tours for about the same or lower cost. As it turned out we found the private tours to be much more flexible, informative, and pleasant than the large group ones booked through the cruise lines.

This particular tour was the most enjoyable because our guide, Ender, had just the right balance of information, suggestions, and personality. The guides in Turkey have to be licensed by the government and are very well educated. They know their history. In each of our tours we asked the guides to pick a local non-tourist place for us to try the local cuisine and Ender pick a very nice place with dishes we've recreated at home. Besides the ruins at Ephesus we also visited the village of Sirince and the Ephesus Archaeological Museum, both were very interesting and enjoyable.

Garben K
Iowa

“Awesome Tour Guide” Our guide, Deniz Taskin, was great. He was very knowledgeable of the history and had a nice pace so we could spend our time at the most amazing parts. We selected the Best of Ephesus & Shopping tour and feel we saw the best. In addition to the main highlights, he took us to a pottery place where a family has been making pottery for generations and also took us to lunch at a place where Turkish women own their business and cook authentic food. It was our favorite food on the trip (I wish I knew the name, but it's to the west of the Temple of Artemis and in the same parking area as Yuksel Carpet). We also visited Yuksel Carpet and saw women weaving the rugs. It is pretty intense! Deniz also took us to a local shop to buy some Turkish Delight. The salesperson was very entertaining! Overall, this was the favorite stop on our trip.

Steven SM
Melbourne, Australia

“Excellent private tour-a highlight of out Turkey trip” We decided to do a private tour as it was only slightly more expensive than a 15 plus people group. Glad we did. Hakan met us at the hotel and went through the tour. We had Zeynep who had a excellent command of English. We did the Ancient city of Ephesus and also being a private tour we requested to visit a Turkish rug making factory and they have a restaurant with traditional Turkish food which was one of the best we tasted! After that as we had time we went to a leather factory where high end European leather labels are made and bought some items at 75% off the retail prices. Highly recommended and will use again.

BianchiSkier
Wisconsin

“Excellent tour! Great guide and driver!” A great day! We took the ‘Best of Ephesus Tour” from our cruise docked in Kuşidasi. The high point of the tour was clearly Ephesus, an ancient Roman city recently excavated. Consequently, the mosaics and frescoes are colorful and statuary is in good shape. A large archaeological site.

Our tour guide Işiķ (pronounced “Ish-ick”) spoke excellent American English and all were able to clearly understood her. We had excellent directions and met her just outside the cruise terminal. Işiķ was knowledgeable about the places we visited and pointed out particular points of interest. She and our driver let us spend as much time as we wanted, and even took us on an unplanned stop.

Rachel F
Washington DC

“Winter Adventures in Ephesus” Prior to even traveling to Turkey, I was super impressed with Elif's quick response to my email trying to schedule a tour of Ephesus for my boyfriend and my upcoming vacation. I had contacted another company prior and heard nothing, so was a little late in making arrangements, but Elif helped me get everything coordinated via email in only a few hours.

We flew from Istanbul to Izmir and our tour guide Hakan and our driver (who didn't speak much English, but was the absolute best, opened the door for me at every stop and let me borrow an me an umbrella) met us right at arrivals with a sign and took us on the hour drive to the House of Virgin Mary. Hakan made us feel comfortable right away, told us about the area we were driving through and answered all of our questions. In all of our stops - the House of Virgin Mary, Ephesus City, the Terrace Houses (which are the best and worth the extra 10/15 lira in admission) and Temple Artemis - Hakan was extremely knowledgeable about the history and details of the place. He showed us the coolest small things we never would have noticed on our own, and let us have ample time to wander around, and pointed out the best spots for pictures (he knew the best views down to which tree we should stand next to so we could get the whole amphitheater in view).

Jeanne T
Pretoria, South Africa

“Day trip to Kusadasi” Our day in Kusadasi was amazing! Elif gave us good advice in planning our day and was very efficient with his constant feedback and finalising our booking. Our guide Dilek was very friendly, knowledgable and it was very clear that she loves her work. We felt like royalty in the cool air conditioned minibus which we could send wherever we wanted explore. I can't remember the name of the driver but he was also warm and friendly even though he couldnt speak English. One of the things we wanted to do was to have lunch with locals outside the typical tourist areas. Dilek took us to a small mountain village where nobody could understand us and we enjoyed lunch with her experiencing their typical cuisine, and translating for us. Thank you for an unforgettable day in your beautiful country. I recommend them most highly!

Nicole W
Fort Collins, Colorado

“Best of Ephesus with Naz” We highly recommend this company! Elif facilitated our booking via email and was very prompt and helpful with our questions. We had a great time touring with Naz. He was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and funny. We booked a small group tour with some people we met on our cruise. We saw all the major sites, and afterward, Naz let us choose what else we wanted to see on our tour. He took us to a ceramic store and a Turkish rug store. I wish we would have had time to see more! It was a great day. I would recommend the Best of Ephesus tour with Naz. It was one of our favorite tours during our two weeks in Europe. -Rene and Nicole, Colorado

Dawn G
Dallas, Texas

“Ancient Ephesus is a must see!!” Best of Ephesus Tours came highly recommended by experienced cruise travelers so we had no hesitation booking a tour. Our experience was wonderful. We were 2 couples traveling together on an anniversary cruise aboard Royal Caribbean and were met by Isik, our fantastic private tour guide as we got off the ship. Our tour included the House of Mary, Ancient Ephesus, a Turkish meal, etc. You'll need your camera to take lots of photos at Ephesus. Seeing Ephesus firsthand was quite memorable knowing that one of our favorite authors, the Apostle Paul, was once there and an early Christian church was started there as well. Isik made the experience very personal and loved having her share the history of it all. Going off-season was very nice as it was not overcrowded. Our weather was excellent in November however it was a little warmer than usual for the season. If interested, a carpet demo and leather store stops are available.