Levant Solmaz - Excellent Tour Guide for Kusadasi port (Ephesus)

[AtlantaKelly]

We recently returned from a Celebrity Beyond cruise that stopped in Kusadasi. I highly recommend the private tour guide, Levant Solmaz. I posted on our roll call to find 5 other couples to join us. We had a wonderful tour of the Ephesus ruins and Mary's house. He has other options for tours and lunch and can work with your group depending on how much time you have in port. Levant was very responsive in our communications before our trip and was waiting for us when we came off the ship. He had a driver and a brand new Mercedes van, that very comfortably sat the 12 of us. We paid him at the end of the tour. levent.slmz@gmail.com.   https://leventsolmaz.com

[cwistyred]

Glad to see Levant is still giving tours of Ephesus. He was our guide back in 2013 and he was excellent.

We are going back next year on an NCL cruise, however we are only in port from 6AM to 12:30PM.  Not sure if we can get to Ephesus and back in that short amount of time.  Also we would miss the wonderful local restaurant that Levant took us to in Selchuk.  Seems a shame to cut time in this amazing port so short.

[bennybear]

Good to hear, we used him in 2019 and he was excellent.  We did the ancient cities of Priene, Didyma and Miletus as we’d visited Ephesus several times.   

[dotdo]

On 6/8/2023 at 1:44 PM, cwistyred said:

Glad to see Levant is still giving tours of Ephesus. He was our guide back in 2013 and he was excellent.

We are going back next year on an NCL cruise, however we are only in port from 6AM to 12:30PM.  Not sure if we can get to Ephesus and back in that short amount of time.  Also we would miss the wonderful local restaurant that Levant took us to in Selchuk.  Seems a shame to cut time in this amazing port so short.

We are doing that port on that NCL cruise next month, and Levant said he can tour us in that timeframe 🙂 so you should be good !

[cwistyred]

2 hours ago, dotdo said:

We are doing that port on that NCL cruise next month, and Levant said he can tour us in that timeframe 🙂 so you should be good !

That is good news! Thank you for the information.  Still hate to miss that fabulous restaurant for lunch. ☹️

[desertgrl74]

On 6/6/2023 at 1:38 PM, AtlantaKelly said:

We recently returned from a Celebrity Beyond cruise that stopped in Kusadasi. I highly recommend the private tour guide, Levant Solmaz. I posted on our roll call to find 5 other couples to join us. We had a wonderful tour of the Ephesus ruins and Mary's house. He has other options for tours and lunch and can work with your group depending on how much time you have in port. Levant was very responsive in our communications before our trip and was waiting for us when we came off the ship. He had a driver and a brand new Mercedes van, that very comfortably sat the 12 of us. We paid him at the end of the tour. levent.slmz@gmail.com.   https://leventsolmaz.com

I am interested in this tour BUT I am seeking a tour of Ephesus that does NOT include a visit to hear the carpet sales pitches.  Been there, done that.  I would rather get back to Kusadasi (we will be there til 10 PM) and spend some time there.  Is it possible to tour Ephesus without the obligatory carpet sales presentations? thanks.....

[desertgrl74]

On 6/13/2023 at 3:50 PM, dotdo said:

We are doing that port on that NCL cruise next month, and Levant said he can tour us in that timeframe 🙂 so you should be good !

I just visited his website; did you (or are you) doing the all day tour with lunch?  Approximately how much pp for how many people?  Want to advert for a group on my roll call.  THanks....

[dotdo]

49 minutes ago, desertgrl74 said:

I just visited his website; did you (or are you) doing the all day tour with lunch?  Approximately how much pp for how many people?  Want to advert for a group on my roll call.  THanks....

I just contacted him directly via email and asked what kind of tour he could do in our short timeframe since we only have a half day.  It was something like 55 per person for a group of 11 I think? But I'd contact him to get a quote. 

[kismetique]

On 6/8/2023 at 3:01 PM, bennybear said:

Good to hear, we used him in 2019 and he was excellent.  We did the ancient cities of Priene, Didyma and Miletus as we’d visited Ephesus several times.   

Did you do this tour as a private tour with him and how long was this tour? We only have 6 hours there in our upcoming cruise and have been to Ephesus already as well. Thanks!

[bennybear]

6 hours ago, kismetique said:

Did you do this tour as a private tour with him and how long was this tour? We only have 6 hours there in our upcoming cruise and have been to Ephesus already as well. Thanks!

We did it as a private tour.  I can’t remember the exact length but we also had lunch near Didyma.    I think he would be able to arrange something that works for you. Those cities are very impressive.  A few photos  

[kismetique]

53 minutes ago, bennybear said:

Those cities are very impressive

Thank you so much for this info. I keep going back and forth about the time constraints. I would love to see these cities, so I'll contact him and see if he's available and can work with our port schedule.  Appreciate it!

[bennybear]

8 minutes ago, kismetique said:

Thank you so much for this info. I keep going back and forth about the time constraints. I would love to see these cities, so I'll contact him and see if he's available and can work with our port schedule.  Appreciate it!

I’m thinking you should be able to see at least two of the three,  if I recall correctly it’s about a 45 minute drive each way.   Priene is an uphill walk, it’s not really hard unless you have any mobility issues.  But you have any you could drop that stop if necessary.   But I’m sure he will advise you what will work for your schedule,   We found him very responsive.  

[love4trvl]

Do we need to get a visa for Turkey since we are coming on a cruise ship?