Ephesus and St. Mary's House Day Trip from Izmir

Izmir, Turkey

No trip to Turkey is complete without exploring the ancient ruins of Ephesus - the best-preserved classical city in the eastern Mediterranean. You will also visit the final resting place of the Virgin Mary on this day trip from Izmir.

On your way to Ephesus, you will stop at St Johns Basilica atop Ayasuluk Hill built in honor of the Saint who wrote his gospel on this very hill. See the 4th-century tomb where his remains are said to be housed.

The ancient city of Ephesus was an important center for early Christianity. In the book of Revelation, Ephesus was one of the seven churches addressed by Christ in a vision. It is here that you will find the Temple of Artemis, considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Your guide will also show you the Great Theatre, the Library of Celsus and many temples.

After enjoying some authentic Turkish cuisine at lunch, you will visit the House of the Virgin Mary, where she spent the last days of her life. Authenticated by Pope Paul VI in 1967, the cottage is a place of pilgrimage for many believers.

USD $71.25

Traveler Reviews

Review by: Fabio D	March 2012
A great Day Trip, a great experience to see this very important City of antiquity! Thanks to my Guide Murat Y. he make the excursion to a special Day, with many interesting Information`s about the City! It was very exciting for me!

Review by: Yat Ho L	December 2011
I enjoyed imensly with the leader of Danizel(i forgot her name). She is very professional and she is willing to share any conversation on anything, very friendly. At the same time very knowledgable on the places we go. Group size is small(3 of us) and we were very well looked after and we enjoyed each others company and she showed me around tell us lot about other Turkey famous places. I would do it again when i go back to Turkey,

Review by: Sana K	December 2011
Excellent! The place is wonderful and the guide was very knowleadgable. He not only made sure we had a good time, but filles us in on a lot of history and info and even clicked our pictures at amazing spots. St. Mary's House is a unique experience and a must go.

Review by: Donald P	December 2011
Great Tour. My guide was very informative. She was very polite, pleasant and a sweet person. She and the driver both made it a great day, a great experience and well worth the money. Ephesus and the virgin Mary's house were sites to see. Incredible ruins at Ephesus and a moving experience at Mary's house.

Review by: Brian K	November 2011
I didn't know we were part of a big group. We were late leaving the port, we were late coming back (we were last to board the ship). I honestly wouldn't recommend this tour to anybody. I would have rather spent time in the market in Izmir than go on the tour. We didn't even get an opportunity to shop because of the time constraints.

Review by: Leif S	November 2011
Excellent guide, fascinating place.

Review by: sol	October 2011
This trip was memorable, that takes you back in hisory.

Review by: Priscilla F	September 2011
The guide was nice and fun. Lunch was simple but delicious and in a very cozy place. Needed an extra 20/30 minutes in Maria's house. Fun day and I would definitely recommend.

Review by: Suresh E	September 2011
It was worth the money. The guide was very knowledgeable.Suresh, Cockermouth,UK

Review by: Mayra v P	June 2011
Truly lovely day at Ephesus and St Mary's. Tour guide was excellent and informative, really enjoyed the time there. The lunch provided was fresh and authentic of the area. Loved it!

Review by: Steven L	June 2011
Good tour, quality of tour declined as day proceeded, possibly due to guide fatigue. Guide was dropped off before me, and driver turned off air conditioning as soon as guide left.

Review by: Mahmoud S	June 2011
The entire tour was good.

Review by: Shannon	May 2011
My family and I were really impressed with this tour. Our tour guide was amazing and I'm so mad at myself that I cannot remember his name!! I think tour guides really make a tour and he was the best of the best. We learned so much from our tour guide and it made the tour spectacular.

Review by: Douglas H	May 2011
Highly recommended (with one small caveat). Small group with an excellent guide. Plenty of time spent at Ephesus, which was one of the most amazing places I've ever been. The St. Mary's house was much less interesting.

Review by: Charles B	April 2011
A great tour and very interesting. The guide was excellent and doing the tour in a private car made it all that much better.

Review by: Takae S	April 2011
Booking was easy and I recieved a confirmation mail right after my booking._br/_ my criteria for guiding_br/_ * deep knowledge about the sites and thinhgs related to Turkey. Not excellent but not bad nothing new info or more info than my guide book._br/_ * narrative skill as a guide -is did not stimulate my interest nor satisfiedmy curiosity._br/_ * hospitality Did he? _br/_ I can learn that it is very important to keep learning about sites and have wide knowledge about overseas tourists . I was little bit disappointedthat he did not know about relationship between Japan and Turkey which I often heard from many Turkish peopel on the street. I don't think not all Turkish guides are like him.A guide I met at Troy was excellent! He always tried to update his knowledge,his storytelling skill was great, moreover he showed a warm hospitality to each of us.)addition to hat we did not visit the museum instead we were asked to visit a carpet shop and a seramic shop,so only one good thing was he gave me ride to my hotel in Balcova, a little far from th city center._br/_ Overall I rated this tour two out of five.

Review by: Helene C	November 2010
We had a great guide who was knowledgeable and willing to accommodate his clients. Enjoyed Ephesus immensely - wonderful sights and history.

Review by: Carol S W	October 2010
Great guide in the person of Omer who was very accommodating as there were only 4 of us. He also knew his stuff. What's not to like about Ephesus?! Even enjoyed the carpet demonstration-with-lunch!

Review by: B.I.	September 2010
I emailed the main tour provider in Turkey to confirm the tours I bought. The response was prompt and positive. The pickup in Ismir was on time; however, the driver didn’t speak any English. I was picked up alone (just me) by the driver in a minivan and driven by the driver for an hour to the neighboring Ephesus. I was a bit concerned, as it looked strange there was no tour bus with other people, and for a second I was wondering, whether I was being kidnapped. Suggestion: provide a bit more explanation, as to why I was being picked up alone without any other tourists and driven for an hour in a minivan somewhere else. Then the tour guide joined our minivan closer to Ephesus and thank God she spoke English. She explained that I was the only one who booked that tour on that day, so I got a private guide and driver all to myself for a whole day, which was great. Her English was very good and overall knowledge seemed deep. However, for being young, she seemed a bit tired and disinterested in the whole guiding process. So I am not sure I got my monies worth information-wise. The lunch was great, several-course meal, quite delicious and much better than what other tours have been feeding me in Turkey. In the afternoon I was given a choice to visit the local museum vs the St Johns Basilica, which was in my itinerary that I booked. The guide said that St Johns Basilica was not worth visiting and convinced me to go the museum, the museum was not that impressive and I would suggest sticking to the itinerary without trying to sway the customers to do something else. I wish I saw the St Johns Basilica instead. Around 2.30 pm the fun began, even though, the tour description says it’s a whole-day tour, it’s not. After 2.30 they took me to the carper cooperative where two sales men tried very hard to sell me carpets. Since I was the only one in the group, I felt very pressured and besides I was not expecting any carpet shopping. From what I can assume, the guide gets a cut from selling those carpets, so she tried very hard to convince me to buy a carpet, even after we left the cooperative. Not succeeding with carpets, she offered to take me to the leather cooperative, which I agreed to. There another round of hassling began, I managed to walk out without any leather coats, which was quite a heroic effort on my behalf. I could see the guide was quite disappointed with me. Then she said I would get a bonus and be able to see the city of Kusadasi, it only turned out to be that we were dropping her off there, since she lived there. So after wasting my time for three hours, we finally made it to Ismir by 6.00 pm. Suggestion: make it a half-day tour and cut out all these cooperative sales pitches, but rather include historical sites. After all, that’s what I paid for.

Review by: Maneesh M, India	July 2010
1

Review by: HERODOTOS M	July 2010
very interesting archaeological place

Review by: Carol S	July 2010
Wonderful time. Our tour guide was outstanding! Having someone as knowledgeable as Filiz was our good fortune.

Review by: David H, Australia	June 2010
There was a bit of a delay at pick up from Izmir airport due to difficulty locating another tour participant otherwise we had an excellent day which I would recommend to anyone. It was one of the highlights of my holiday.

Review by: Anonymous, United Kingdom	June 2010
Trip was okay. Ephesus definitely is worth seeing. Guide however was pushing us through it quite fast. We spent maybe 3 minutes near what's what left of the Temple of Artemis. Not much description from the guide. Carpet selling attempt in the restaurant destroyed the good impression about the food.

Review by: Patricia A, Australia	May 2010
Ephesus was extremely interesting and we were pleased to see that excavation and recovery of the ancient buildings is an on-going process. This is a 'must do' for people visiting Turkey.

Review by: Anonymous, Canada	April 2010
Our guide was fantastic, as was our driver. This day trip was the highlight of our entire Turkey vacation.

Review by: Raymond G, Philippines	December 2009
This is one of the highlights of my trip to Turkey! I am a devout Christian and seeing the well-preserved ancient city, made me beam with pride. To have walked the very same streets the Apostles Paul and John have stepped on is something that any Christian should not miss. The guide was very knowledgeable of the history of Ephesus and the story behind the house of Mary in the hills. The scenery from Izmir to Ephesus was breathtaking. We were treated to a Turkish meal at the end of the trip. It was awesome!

Review by: Terry W, United States of America	November 2009
Our guide was wonderful, courteous, and entertaining. He made everything go smoothly. He was informative and answered all of our questions. He walked at a leisurely which we appreciated. Our driver drove safely and was very courteous too.

Review by: Alan M, United Kingdom	October 2009
Too much time wasted visiting retail outfits which we did not ask to do. Time would have been better spent at the Ephesus museum. Also finishing time was not as advertised and I lost a lot of money having to reschedule my connecting flights and booking taxis for transfers instead of using the original planned method.

Review by: Carolina P G, United States of America	October 2009
Lack of communication with agency. We were told we would be picked up an hour earlier. We also had problems with a flat tire and wasted an hour on the road. The tour guide and driver were nice.

Review by: Carolina	October 2009
Lack of communication with agency. We were told we would be picked up an hour earlier. We also had problems with a flat tire and wasted an hour on the road. The tour guide and driver were nice.

Review by: Raeburn E, United States of America	September 2009
Beyond belief, pictures of Ephesus while impressive, don't begin to show how wonderful and outstanding this truly is.

Review by: Keith P, United Kingdom	September 2009
A very enjoyable tour. The pick up from the hotel in Izmir was on time and the drive to Karkadasi gave an opportunity to take in some varied scenery. The guide was extremely knowledgable and steered us through the crowds that were present at all the sites visited, giving an excellent commentary. Lunch was basic but acceptable. The tour was never rushed and we were given the opportunity to take in other sites and shopping stops if we wished.

Review by: FAHIM F, United States of America	December 2008
The Ephesus and St. Mary's House Day Trip from Izmir was a marvelous and memorable one. My friend and I were picked up at our hotel in Izmir right on time and were actually the only ones in a luxury van for the whole day. Our tour guide was an excellent and very knowledgeable tour guide. He's very well versed in English and is a very experienced person. His knowledge of history and archeology of the region is superb. He went into great details about the history of Ephesus and St. Mary's House. He is a very courteous, patient and a friendly warm person. We visited a museum in Ephesus, went by St. John's church, and visited a local ceramic factory where they make nice art of ceramic plates and vases. We had a traditional delicious Turkish-style lunch at a carpet outlet. We were given a good history about Turkish carpets and how they are made. Overall, it was a very enriching, educational and cultural tour that we highly recommend to all tourists visiting Turkey. The money that we paid was minimal compared to the value of the whole tour. Thumbs up, Viator!

Review by: Paula C, United States of America	November 2007
This was an outstanding value...most enjoyable. The guide was delightful. I learned a great deal. Tesekkur ederim.

Review by: Frank B, United States of America	October 2007
My wife and I were the only people on the tour with an air conditioned van, guide, and driver. Lunch was at a rug-factory and was not particularly good, we had to sit outside with flies and cats to annoy us. But we were not pressured to buy.

Review by: Robert Y, United States of America	September 2006
This tour was the best. Definitely recommended.

Review by: Karen M, United States of America	August 2006
Ephesus was amazing. The history, the art, and walking in the paths of the great philosophers. Highly recommended.

Review by: Anonymous	August 2006
Ephesus was amazing. The history, the art, and walking in the paths of the great philosophers. Highly recommended.