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Kusadasi to Ephesus Shore Excursion
Name-sign pickup at the gangway, Ephesus before the bus crowds, and our never-miss-your-ship guarantee. The port day, done properly.
The easiest great decision in Izmir
Izmir to Ephesus Private Tour
One hour south of Izmir's seafront lies one of the best-preserved Roman cities in the Mediterranean. We pick you up, and the day takes care of the rest.
- From €44 per person (groups of 8+) · private tour
- Private · your group only
- Lunch + skip-the-line included
- TÜRSAB No. 15746
- No prepayment
- Skip-the-line included
Tour overview
What makes this tour special
Staying in Izmir — for business, a conference, a cruise call or simply because you love a city with a five-kilometer waterfront promenade? You are one easy hour from Ephesus, and we have turned that hour into the smoothest day trip on the coast.
Your guide collects you anywhere in Izmir: hotel lobby, the Alsancak cruise terminal, or straight from arrivals at Adnan Menderes Airport — we are particularly fond of guests who land in the morning and let us hand them two thousand years of history before their hotel check-in. The drive south runs the modern motorway through tangerine country, and your guide uses it well: by the time you reach the upper gate, you will know your Artemis from your Arsinoe.
The core of the day is the complete, unhurried Ephesus circuit, and the frame around it is yours to shape — the House of Virgin Mary, the Temple of Artemis, the superb Ephesus Museum, the Terrace Houses, or a long lunch among local artisans. By evening you are in Izmir again, pleasantly tired and full of stories your colleagues at dinner will have to endure. Every route from Izmir, the train included, is in how to get to Ephesus.
Highlights
- Pickup anywhere in Izmir — hotel, cruise terminal or airport arrivals
- Comfortable motorway transfer in a private vehicle: about an hour from central Izmir, 40 to 50 minutes from the airport
- The complete Ephesus walk with a licensed, born-here guide
- Optional add-ons: Virgin Mary's House, Temple of Artemis, museum, Sirince village
- Lunch and local artisan visit — whatever is local and fresh, cooked by local chefs
- In Izmir by evening — or Kusadasi/Selcuk if you prefer
Price, pickup & practical details
Everything you need to decide
From €44 per person for groups of 8 or more. Private tour; smaller groups are priced privately.
Lunch and skip-the-line priority entrance are included. Entrance tickets are paid separately at the Ministry’s gate price — we buy them for you, with no mark-up. No prepayment is needed to reserve, and there is no cancellation fee.
- Start time
- Your choice: the pickup time is agreed when you book. Early starts beat the heat and the crowds; cruise guests start the moment they are ashore, and the day is planned around the all-aboard time
- Pickup / meeting
- Your Izmir hotel, the Izmir cruise port or Adnan Menderes Airport
- Group size
- Any size: 1 to 52 per coach (more coaches for larger groups). Private, your group only.
- Languages
- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian, Italian, German
- Walking
- Moderate, mostly downhill — comfortable shoes, hat and water in summer
- Tickets
- Bought for you in advance at the official gate price — see current entrance fees
- Cancellation
- No prepayment, so no cancellation fee — read the policy
Step by step
Your day, stop by stop
Izmir pickup
Your guide and driver meet you at your hotel, the port or the airport — whichever suits your day. Departure time is yours; an early start beats both traffic and heat.
The drive south
About an hour on the motorway from central Izmir, 40 to 50 minutes from the airport, with the guide's introduction en route — by arrival, the ruins will already have a cast of characters.
Ephesus in full
Upper-gate entry, then the whole marble spine: Odeon, Curetes Street, Temple of Hadrian, Library of Celsus, Great Theater — at private-tour pace, which means your pace.
Lunch, local artisans & your chosen extras
Lunch among local artisans — whatever is local and fresh, cooked by local chefs — then the House of Virgin Mary, Temple of Artemis, Ephesus Museum or Sirince village; we advise honestly based on your energy and interests.
Izmir by evening
The coast road if timing allows a sunset, the fast way if your evening calls. Door-to-door, no logistics ever touching your side of the day.
Priority access
Skip the line at every gate
Book with us and you do not queue. As a licensed Turkish travel agency, Gezginol holds priority passes and buys your tickets before you arrive — so you walk past the ticket line and straight into the site.
On a summer morning at Ephesus the queue at the gate can run to an hour. Independent visitors join it; cruise groups join it; our guests do not. Your guide has the tickets in hand before your vehicle stops, which is the difference between starting your visit straight away and starting it an hour later.
- Skip-the-line entry — tickets bought in advance, never at the gate with you standing in it
- Fast pass at busy sites — the priority lane where the site operates one
- Priority entrance across Turkey — not only Ephesus: Istanbul, Cappadocia, Pamukkale, Pergamon and every other region we guide
- No mark-up on the tickets — we add nothing to the fast-pass tickets. You pay exactly the same price the Ministry of Culture and Tourism charges at the entrance gate; we simply buy them for you in advance so you never stand in the queue
To be precise about what this is: we skip the ticket queue, not the security check, and no agency can override a site's daily capacity. But the ticket line is the one that actually costs you your morning.
It is one of the quiet advantages of booking a licensed agency rather than turning up alone.
No surprises
What's included
Included
- Skip-the-line priority entrance at every site on the itineraryWhat priority entrance covers
- Lunch included — whatever is local and fresh, cooked by local chefs, at a local artisan center
- Private licensed tour guide (English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian, Italian or German)
- Private air-conditioned vehicle with professional driver
- Hotel, cruise port or airport pickup and drop-off
- Parking fees and fuel
- All taxes, official expenses and required insurance
Not included
- The cost of the entrance tickets — we buy them for you at exactly the gate price set by the Ministry, with no mark-up (see our entrance fees page)
- Personal drinks
- Personal expenses and souvenirs
- Gratuities (optional, always appreciated)
Arriving by sea?
We serve all of these cruise lines
Whichever ship brings you to Kusadasi or Izmir, our guides know its pier, its schedule and exactly how much time you really have ashore.
Guaranteed pick-up and drop-back on time — for every one of these cruise lines.
Good to know
Frequently Asked Questions
How far is Ephesus from Izmir?
About 80 km from the city center — roughly an hour by motorway. From Adnan Menderes Airport it is closer to 60 km, 40 to 50 minutes by road.
Can you collect us straight from a flight?
Happily — it is one of our most common requests. We track your flight, meet you at arrivals, store the luggage in the vehicle, and deliver you to your hotel (in Izmir, Selcuk or Kusadasi) at day's end.
Is this doable during a long layover?
With a long layover, yes — the airport sits conveniently on the Ephesus side of the city. We have run many layover tours; tell us your flight times and we will give you an honest yes or no.
Do you charge extra for the skip-the-line tickets?
No. We add nothing to the fast-pass tickets — you pay exactly the same price the Ministry of Culture and Tourism charges at the entrance gate. The only difference is that we buy them for you in advance, so you walk past the ticket queue instead of standing in it.
Ready for the Izmir to Ephesus Private Tour?
Every tour is private and tailored to your pace. Send us your date — a local expert replies within 24 hours.
- TÜRSAB No. 15746
- No prepayment
- Skip-the-line included
- Reply within 24 h
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