Such a historic site with the marble slab walkways and ancient ruins still standing. Close your…read moreeyes and you can imagine this beautiful place filled with the hustle and bustle of people walking down the streets. Ephesus is considered one of the greatest cities of the Western world and one of the 7 churches mentioned in the Holy Bible, thus an important part of Christian history. Highlights include the Theater carved into a hill, the Temple of Hadrian, The Gates of Hercules, The house of Mary and the impressive Library of Celsus. Our private guide walked us downhill which was a more impressive route than walking uphill like others were doing. The walkways can be slick in wet conditions, so take a walking stick to help. I don't think a trip to Turkey can be considered complete unless you come here to witness this amazing city formed back in 1000bc.

Ephesus is a historic landmark in Turkiye, founded around 600 BCE. Originally an ancient Greek…read morecity, it became under Roman rule in 129 BCE. Ephesus remained the most important city of the Byzantine Empire in Asia after Constantinople in the 5th and 6th centuries. Ephesus commanded the west end of a trade route to Asia so it was an important port city in its heyday. It boasted a Temple to Artemis, a Temple to Hadrian, a Library of Celsus, the massive Oedon Theatre, the last known home of the Virgin Mary, and some of the earliest Christian churches. Mark Antony was welcomed by Ephesus when he was proconsul and in 33 BC with Cleopatra when he gathered his fleet of 800 ships before the battle of Actium with Octavius. Ephesus is an ancient city with much historical significance. When we visited with our tour group, we were given a quick overview, entered the state-of-the-art museum, and explored the grounds. The site is massive. The ancient ruins are in fairly good condition considering and it is still an active archeological site. When you visit, marvel at the expansive stone lined streets of the agora, peer up at the arches, and wonder at how far humankind has come over the centuries.

The mission of ''Ephesus Tours by Locals'' is dedicated to the highest quality of Customer Service…read moredelivered with a sense of Warmth, Friendliness, Individual Pride, and Excellence. Service is what we offer. Our knowledge and ability to perform accurately, timely, professionally and courteously is what we promise to all our clients. Our commitment to great service is what drives our success. Our core values of integrity, client satisfaction, innovation and intellect differentiate us from our competitors. Our focus on developing and maintaining a measurable client satisfaction program has created a company culture where each of our associates delivers world class service every day. When you choose to travel with Ephesus Tours by Locals you are partnering with a company who cares. We are continually focused on finding ways to support our community and we participate in several philanthropic activities throughout the year. Our attitude toward great service and helping others makes our culture inviting and fun. We are always looking for the brightest and most talented people around to join us in servicing our clients and community! -Special tailored tours and discounts for you! -Freedom to decide when to start your tour! -Insured coach and professional tour guide with you all day long! -Sites explained by licensed tour guide! -No big group of people to wait! -Your very own pictures during the tour! -Private tours costing less than big bus tours of the cruise companies! -Chance to taste the best local Turkish dishes! -Complete local experience with a local guide! -You do not have to deal with pre-payment! -Chance to interact with your tour guide face to face!

This small theater served two functions in ancient Ephesus. First, it served as the "Bouleuterion"…read morefor the meetings of the Boulea or the Senate. Secondly, as the "Odeion" it was a concert hall for stage performances. Constructed in the 2nd century, it could hold up to 1500 spectators. There were two councils which administrated ancient Ephesus, which was the capital city of the Roman Empire in Asia Minor for many years. The Demos, or the parliament, was open to the public. Their meetings occurred in the great theatre. The Bouleia, or senate, convened privately in this smaller and more intimate theater. Its members were chosen from the aristocracy to make important decisions regarding government matters. The term the Bull Market comes from this council, according to our tour guide, Daria, from Latitude Tourism Agency.

Our guide insisted Ephesus would be the highlight of our trip, and truly, it's quite the impressive…read morebeauty spot. Since the history of Ephesus may be read anywhere, I'll concentrate more on personal experience. It gets pretty crowded, especially with everyone wanting to see the communal toilets and the Celsus Library (someone carved "Metallica" into one of the library's columns). Seriously, way more people were shoving to see the commode than anything else. Back in the day a stream used to run beneath them, but more than that with how the holes are all positioned beside one another with no privacy, it's believed the public toilets were a place where people socialized while doing their business. At Ephesus, there are cats EVERYWHERE, and they don't mind all the attention from the tourists. They just nap all over the ruins, and strut about on the mosaic floors roped off from anyone else walking on them. Occasionally you'll find a pile of kibble left on a column stump with some kitties munching at it happily. Not far from the Celsus Library is a re-enactment of sorts, which our guide insisted was just for tourists. From what I gathered it was pretty much an exhibition of gladiatorial fighting for a couple who were meant to be Julius Caesar and Cleopatra whilst music from "Ben Hur" and the theme song for the Olympics was played. While this was pretty cheesy, Spartacus, himself, was from Thrace, which encompassed part of Turkey. After that our guide pointed to a building in the hills saying it was where St. Paul had been imprisoned. Getting to walk in the ruins was pretty wonderful, and with all the tourists it gives the appearance that the city is full of life again.

My friend and I took the train from Izmir to Selcuk ( about an hour and 45 minutes) for about 4.75…read moreTL ( that's $2.40 for about 80km!). In the morning, there are seats galore, so do not worry about not having space ( on the way back though, be prepared to stand up). You pay 25 TL to enter the site. At first I was jealous of all the other foreigners who had tour guides. But really, you can do this yourself if you remember to read up on the site before hand and ask locals down in Selcuk what to do ( we had an amazingly hospitable and kind hearted travel agency person lend us a tour book and give us pointers, no money asked. Even added in tea. Now that's priceless, memorable Turkish care and hospitality). Enter always from the top entrance, and try to come before the sun comes up ( this way you walk downhill, rather than uphill). It gets very hot ( this was in July). And stock up on water before coming here, because water is very hard to find once you're inside ( we essentially took some water from the Austrian archeological water tank, which was actually an old ceramic water jug millenia ago. Kinda cool. Even cooler is how the archeaologists left their books and tools under temporary tarps, so this is legit a current excavation). Wear a hat, long sleeves so you don't roast alive, come with extra batteries, bananas or some other power food, and good walking shoes. WALKING SHOES ( and sunblock). These archeological sites will take a greater portion of your day, so be ready for it. Read the signs up in the top entrance if you want a background, but don't waste your time there. There are greater things to see as you walk down. Don't get fooled by the mini amphitheater you immediately see and think "YES! Photo Session!" It is indeed a great photo spot, but the bigger coliseum comes after Celsus Library. When you walk past the ancient marina, walk on the beaten path to the ruins of the Church of Mary,where the 3rd ecumenical council met. There are a lot of other ruins around this area, but remember, it is a far walk off the normal path. These ruins are in ruin, but the amount of history in this spot alone is mind boggling ( as is with the entire area, of course). After you leave the Celsus Library area and walk toward the large ampitheter/colisuem, don't jog past the short building to the right. Inside the gated off building are artifacts that were once housed in museums ( but I think are being temporarily stored in the current location because of restoration? Funnily enough, it is in an area fenced off for "the visually impaired" but no one can get to it really). For example you will see the Lady of Ephesus, and other artifacts commonly seen in history textbooks. When you exit from the lower entrance/exit, you will see lots of cafes. Of course, its over priced, but this is the last time you'll see food for a bit if you're not in a tour group. Definitely replenish yourself, and then walk out through the parking lot to the lone tree, which serves as a minibus stop. It will take you in the general direction of the Temple of Artemis. If you are in the Aegean Sea region or in neighboring provinces, you must come to Ephesus.It is not hard to get to at all. This will change your life, and your perception of ancient history. I guess it's fitting that Ephesus is visited by a huge variety of tourists. Hearing Russian, Turkish, English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin all in the walkway going towards the Celsus Library on Curetes Street is one of the audible memories that transported me to what Ephesus must have been like during its heyday. It is a memory that I will never forget.

It's amazing how good our tour to the Ephesus ruins was. I feel like I owe these guys a review…read moreafter yesterday. Friendly people. We didn't have any bad experience. The tour, the guide, the food, and everything was just great. Thank you!

From the owner: As a team of Vip Ephesus Tours our main goal is create personal private tours for our valuable…read moreguests. Our team is professional about private tours and have many years experience.

I wouldn't typically go through this much trouble to add a business to yelp, but this company gave…read moregreat customer service. Found this company through tripadvisor last minute the night before my cruise ship docked at Kusadasi. By last minute, I mean super last minute, I probably sent in a reservation request in at around midnight for a 9am tour. I half expected them to not even reply like some other private tour companies I had tried to contact. Unfortunately, the internet on the boat was inconsistent so I didn't get the message that the tour guide and driver had been waiting for us in the morning. By the time I emailed them they were back at the office and came back out to the port to pick us up and didn't charge a late fee. My original plan was to take a taxi or bus to Ephesus and try to DIY everything on our own since all the tour books highlighted the Terrace Houses as a "must see" but the cruise tours did not include them in any of their tour options and it has an extra admission fee. Then around 10pm the night before our day at port my brother asked me if it would be safe to travel on our own and I proceeded to spend an hour reading Istanbul taxi horror stories. Around 11pm I scrambled to find last minute tour options. Since we only had 4 people in our group, the price wasn't that much cheaper than the cruise tour BUT it was 100 times better. 1) You get your own private car. We had a large black Mercedes van instead of being packed like sardines in a bus with 50 other people. 2) You get your own private guide. Serkan was incredibly knowledgeable and patient with us. 3) Guide doubles as photographer. As an example of his patience, Serkan helped up take endless pictures for my Asian photo-happy family and suggested good photo spots. 4) You can ask questions. Licensed tour guides require a 4-year university degree and need to pass a license exam so they are incredibly knowledgeable. With a private tour you don't have to stand on your tiptoes or lean your ear over 10 people to hear what is going on nor wait in a line to ask a single question. 5) Tour is catered to you. We chose to see the Temple of Artemis and Ephesus, including the Terrace Houses. Apparently, going a little later was a good move because the place was practically empty. If you go on a large tour they tend to skip over this site since it is difficult to squeeze large groups into this smaller protected area with narrow staircases. It was definitely worth it. After Ephesus and the Temple (or single column plus rocks) of Artemis, our tour guide asked if we'd like to see some local crafts and try turkish coffee. This reminded me of some of the horror stories from the night before where patrons were taken to local vendors before their requested destination and required to buy things before they could continue on.... but someone in our group was interested in seeing a ceramics factory so we went and there was no pressure to buy anything. Our tour guide was present and made sure we did not feel pressured. I think this part is optional, whereas larger tours require you to stop at a rug shop for half an hour. You can pay cash or credit. If you pay credit, you need to stop by the office. They collect payment at the end of the trip. We had a great time. Thanks!

We planned a day trip to Ephesus during our weeklong trip to Istanbul. Ephesus Shuttle made what…read morecould have been a chaotic day relaxing and extremely enjoyable. Our guide Emray was waiting at the airport for us. He walked us out to meet our driver and we all got into a very nice Mercedes van. During the drive out to Ephesus, Emray explained the history of the area. When we arrived at Ephesus, he continued his interesting explanations. There is a lot to see over the 2 mile course of the excavation. He focused our visit on interesting aspects and kept us in the shade as much as possible. He was extremely knowledgable about the ancient history. My husband is a world history teacher who asked him many tricky questions; none of them made him bat an eye. I highly recommend taking a private tour as we were able to see much more than the large tours and spent a lot of time looking at interesting details. Also all three of us fit into small spots of shade that a 40 person group could not have. After we finished at Ephesus, we ate lunch together at an amazing restaurant. The owner cooks 30 or so different home style dishes each day and the restaurant works like a Thanksgiving dinner buffet (with Turkish food). It was one of the best restaurants we ate at our entire trip. Then we opted to head to Sirince village, which was lovely. Emray helped us get some great deals on gifts we wanted to buy and filled us in on the history of the picturesque area. By the time we were dropped back of at the airport, we felt like we had made a new friend. I highly recommend Ephesus Shuttle for anyone wanting to visit Ephesus.

The Temple of Artemis Eh one of those things where it's…read morehistoric, One of the wonders of the Ancient world, in fact. But its just in total ruins. All that remains is one single pillar plastered together from pieces found at the site. Some of the actual pillars can be found at the Ayasofya in Istanbul and other sites around the world. Historic but not awe inspiring. No admission but you get what you pay for.

Ok definitely ignore any ratings you see about this place and just come here to visit, because it…read moreis one of the seven wonders of the world. It is also a 5 minute walk from the city center and a 1 minute walk from the Basilica, so there is no reason to not stop by... ...however, it might leave you a little disappointed. As other reviewers have noted, there's just some rocks in a field + 1 pillar cobbled together from said rocks. When you get home and are looking through your photos, you might forget what this place was and have to rack your brain to figure out what your photo of a field was - ha! But with all that said, it is still an amazingly historic site and worth a visit, regardless of how little remains!

I highly suggest anyone visiting Turkey to seek Atakan as their guide. He has a vast range of…read moreknowledge on Turkish history and recent happenings in the country as well. My family's tours in Ephesus and Pamukkale were memorable as he guided our group in an easy going manner with wit and good spirit. He can show you the best spots to take pictures and gives a great deal of independence to take your time in looking around. Atakan pays a reasonable amount of attention to details without boring you and can make the tour feel like an overall enjoyable experience. He made our trips worthwhile and was very helpful all around. I would definitely seek his guidance again!