Best things to do in Ephesus?

[dltaeg]

We are visiting in Aug and having looked at the RC excursions I'd rather stay on the ship. 

 

All (but one) of the RC excursions are guided tours and include things like carpet weaving and mosaic making workshops which really isn't something we are remotely interested in.  Can anyone recommend anything different do the RC excursions or a guided tour. 

[cruiselvr04]

This will get moved.  But to answer your question, visit the terrace houses and tour Ephesus.  Almost all tours will include a stop at a rug shop.  
 

The terrace houses are a absolutely fabulous restoration in progress of life there some 2000 or more years ago.  Not to be missed.  You may need to do an independent excursion.  Do not miss!  Over 40 cruises and this is my top port.  (Of course I do love history.). I liked this port even more then going to Pompeii.

[wolfcathorse]

We asked our Head Waiter from Turkey this very question when we were on Equinox a few weeks ago. He said go see Mary's house and the ruins in Ephesus.

[Sam Ting]

2 minutes ago, wolfcathorse said:

We asked our Head Waiter from Turkey this very question when we were on Equinox a few weeks ago. He said go see Mary's house and the ruins in Ephesus.

We did that tour and it was really nice.  Don’t worry about the carpet weaving tour, that was optional and very close to the ship so if you did not want to go to that part you did not have to.

[Sun-Cruisers]

We put together a private excursion for 5-6 couples. I would recommend this over a ships tour. Included were a splendid tour of Ephesus, the Terrace Houses and Mary's House. A stop by the ruins of the Church of St. John the Apostle was also included.

 

Our private guide, licensed by the government, was great. The guide setup a private lunch, on our own, at a local restaurant. We had the option of stopping at a rug factory. it was a no pressure enjoyable stop.

[loupana]

Ephesus is a must.

 

Be aware vendors at the terminal are extremely aggressive. One crew member told us the key is to walk through wearing earbuds or headphones that are visible, some will just ignore you thinking you cannot hear them.

The biggest issue was being escorted off the bus after Ephesus tour and told we will have tea and cookies, they brought us into a carpet store and we were stuck there for 30-45 minutes while being highly pressured into purchasing their hand made carpets. They did served us the tea and cookies, were harmless but some older people were very uncomfortable because there was only one door in and out and they were blocking it until they were done.

[Bizzie07]

If you end up in a carpet store don't show any interest in the carpets, don't even say they're nice or they think you want to buy one! (Same goes for jewellery stores!)

 

Ephesus is amazing and well worth a visit.

[iancal]

We did private tours.  Four of us only.  One huge benefit...the guide got us to the terrace houses before the buses arrived.   We did not stop at any of the usual clip joints.  Excellent tour.  Turned out to be less than the cost of 4 ship tour tickets. We had a van, a driver, and a tour guide to ourselves.

 

One in our party wanted to go to Mary's House so we went.  Our impression was/is that it is nothing but a tourist trap.  Not much to see or do.  For us, a waste of time.  Even to the person in our group that wanted to go there felt that it was more than a bit of a tourist trap.

 

I would not take a ships tour unless you relish stopping at a carpet store or a leather shop, or a trinket and trash shop....all typically described in attractive  'local craft' words.    Read between the lines!

 

For certain we would never remain on the ship for the day.

Edited April 22, 2022 by iancal

[bennybear]

This has been discussed a lot recently,  there is a thread with recommendations. 

[Hlitner]

We have visited Kusadasi 5 times,,used a cruise ship excursion the first time (never again), did 3 other visits on our own (once with a rental car) and the last time we arranged for a private tour ( just the two of us):which was a very good experience.  I understand the concerns of the OP and suggest they simply book their own private tour and make it clear that there will,be no faux rug factories, jewelry factories, etc.  Visiting Ephesus (including the  Terrace Houses) should be a must for any first time visitor.  Adding the so-called Virgin Mary House is also a decent option although the truth is that there is really no solid evidence that Mary lived at that exact location.  It is likely she did live in that area so it is nice to believe.  Exploring the parts of Kusadasi, within walking distance of the port, is fun to do on your own if there is time after your tour.  Browsing and shopping is fun when not being brow beaten by a tour company who has their own agenda and gets a cut of the sales action.

 

We also have enjoyed visiting Didyma, Miletus and Priene although it is not reasonable to do these sites on the same day as Ephesus because of their far flung locations.

[lynncarol]

My husband and I had a private tour with Ephesus Shuttle and really enjoyed it.  Our guide was waiting for us on the dock and since the two of us zipped off the ship immediately, we got there minutes before the ruins opened and were amongst the first folks admitted.  I agree that the Terrace Houses are well worth a visit.  Our guide asked if we wanted to see a rug factory, and after telling him we had no interest in it at all, he never mentioned it again.  Later, on our own, we walked through the bazaar at the port. Yes, the vendors would love to have you stop, but a polite but firm decline served us well. And we got a kick out of some of their 'come-ons: "Tell me how I can help you spend your money", "Guaranteed fake watches sold here", etc.

[WESTEAST]

We enjoyed our tour of Ephesus and the Terrace Houses. Like other posters have mentioned, the tour included a stop at a carpet factory - at the beginning of the tour we informed our guide that we would forgo this part of tour as it was close the port and happily spent the remainder of the day browsing Kusadasi. 

[zqvol]

I highly recommend EKOL travel. They will provide you the things you want and in a private car. The cost is less than the cruise line tours. The carpet factory is interesting and only take 30 minutes or so.

[Markanddonna]

On 5/14/2022 at 11:30 AM, zqvol said:

I highly recommend EKOL travel. They will provide you the things you want and in a private car. The cost is less than the cruise line tours. The carpet factory is interesting and only take 30 minutes or so.

Did EKOL tours require a tour of the carpet factory?  

[Markanddonna]

As IANCAL stated, Mary's House is a site that you might want to skip. Perhaps Roman Catholics who believe in a nun in Germany who had a vision about a location she had never seen might enjoy stopping there. I would not recommend anyone else to visit Mary's House. All the rest of Ephesus is intense and amazing archaeology.  

 

Know ahead of time that the exit out of the Terrace Houses is very steep and a person who has walking issues would feel very insecure. I suppose you could walk back to the entrance if you had a physical problem. Otherwise, it is a wonderful experience. 

 

The area of St. John's Basilica is also worthwhile. The temple of Artemis is nothing more than an empty field with one lone pillar left amidst some rocks. Previous generations carried off the stones from the temple for other buildings. I suppose it is important to find a drawing of what it probably looked like to do a now and then comparison.

[zqvol]

3 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

Did EKOL tours require a tour of the carpet factory?  

They offered it but did not require it. You are at liberty to set up the tour as you want.

[RazaB]

On 5/14/2022 at 11:30 AM, zqvol said:

I highly recommend EKOL travel. They will provide you the things you want and in a private car. The cost is less than the cruise line tours. The carpet factory is interesting and only take 30 minutes or so.

Sorry to bump this, but it is the most recent post I could find about EKOL.

For those who have used them, how did you contact them?

 

I filled out their Web site form, and no response after several days.

I then emailed directly to the email address on their Web site; again, no response.

 

Any tips would be appreciated.

[CMWITTS@GMAIL.COM]

On 4/22/2022 at 6:06 PM, iancal said:

We did private tours.  Four of us only.  One huge benefit...the guide got us to the terrace houses before the buses arrived.   We did not stop at any of the usual clip joints.  Excellent tour.  Turned out to be less than the cost of 4 ship tour tickets. We had a van, a driver, and a tour guide to ourselves.

 

One in our party wanted to go to Mary's House so we went.  Our impression was/is that it is nothing but a tourist trap.  Not much to see or do.  For us, a waste of time.  Even to the person in our group that wanted to go there felt that it was more than a bit of a tourist trap.

 

I would not take a ships tour unless you relish stopping at a carpet store or a leather shop, or a trinket and trash shop....all typically described in attractive  'local craft' words.    Read between the lines!

 

For certain we would never remain on the ship for the day.

My wife and I visited Mary's house in 2017, three days after visiting the Vatican. as a cradle catholic i couldn't wait to visit the Vatican. It was beautiful and the art and Museum were breathtaking... However... Not even knowing the history of Mary's house when I walked in I had as close to a religious experience as I could ever imagine. Please know I'm not a bible thumping religious zealot, I'm just relaying my experience. So I don't consider it a "tourist trap", but to each his own.

[mevs904]

On 4/22/2022 at 2:30 PM, dltaeg said:

We are visiting in Aug and having looked at the RC excursions I'd rather stay on the ship. 

 

All (but one) of the RC excursions are guided tours and include things like carpet weaving and mosaic making workshops which really isn't something we are remotely interested in.  Can anyone recommend anything different do the RC excursions or a guided tour. 
 

Yes,  we used Ephesus Shuttle to take a tour of Ephesus and then stopped at the Temple of Artemis.  There were a total of 7 people from the ship on the tour, two separate couples and an older couple with their granddaughter.  The cost of the tour was much less than the Princess tour and we rode in a comfortable, modern minivan.  Our guide was excellent and Ephesus was an amazing archeological site.  On the way back to the ship we had the option of stopping at a government run facility where young women were taught to make Turkish carpets.  The women live there for about 6 months and then the government gives them their own modern loom and sends them back home to make carpets.  The process was very interesting.  No one was interested in purchasing a carpet so we then left.  Yes, we did get tea and cookies there.  That seems to be SOP.

     We were very pleased with Ephesus Shuttle and would definitely use them again.  Their email communication was very prompt and informative.  They also did not require payment until after the tour.  
     Please don’t consider staying on the ship.  There’s so much to see at this interesting port.  We actually liked it much better than Athens.

 

[sea-explorer]

.

Edited September 2, 2023 by sea-explorer
Duplicate post

[sea-explorer]

On 8/25/2023 at 8:21 PM, RazaB said:

Sorry to bump this, but it is the most recent post I could find about EKOL.

For those who have used them, how did you contact them?

 

I filled out their Web site form, and no response after several days.

I then emailed directly to the email address on their Web site; again, no response.

 

Any tips would be appreciated.

I have booked Ekol travel for this October and last heard from them a few days ago. Try valentina@ekoltravel.com. Communication has been excellent.

[RazaB]

7 hours ago, sea-explorer said:

I have booked Ekol travel for this October and last heard from them a few days ago. Try valentina@ekoltravel.com. Communication has been excellent.

Thank you! I will give that address a shot. Thanks again.

[Hlitner]

You can also contact them through their web site Ekoltravel.com   (click on the "Contact Us" at the upper right.  There general e-mail address is info@ekoltravel.com.  The reason we have long recommended this tour company is that we had our own wonderful experience with them, a few years ago.  If you have any special requests, let them know!  We booked a private guide, and also got a new van with driver (who also spoke English).  All that for less money than a comparable cruise line excursion.  The bonus was that we did not need to waste part of our day locked away at a "jewelry factory, pottery factory or leather factory" which is typical of cruise line excursions.  

 

When visiting Ephesus, going into the Terrace Houses is a MUST!  Unfortunately, guides cannot take you through that part of the ruins, but there are excellent written narratives throughout that facility.  Folks should be aware that Ephesus does involve a lot of walking and the Terrace Houses also involve a significant amount of stairs (up and down).

 

Hank

 

 

[RazaB]

38 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

You can also contact them through their web site Ekoltravel.com   (click on the "Contact Us" at the upper right.  There general e-mail address is info@ekoltravel.com.

Yes, thank you. As I mentioned, I did try their Contact Us form on their site, as well as following up a few days later with a direct email to Info, but no responses. Hopefully I will hear back using that email for Valentina.

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, RazaB said:

Yes, thank you. As I mentioned, I did try their Contact Us form on their site, as well as following up a few days later with a direct email to Info, but no responses. Hopefully I will hear back using that email for Valentina.

Hmm.  That would cause me some concern.  I get nervous when folks don't get back to me.  At one time they had a customer service person called Ner who quickly responded to any communication.  COVID changed so many things...and not much for the better