Turkey · SHORE EXCURSIONS
15 reviewed
In high season the well-run shore excursions tours are gone weeks before you arrive. Below are the 15 best, with what you pay, what you get and which suits a first visit.
See Istanbul’s top sights in one day, with an English guide, comfortable transport, and smart timing for cruise returns.
“This tour could have been more enjoyable, if the tour guide was more attentive.”
A private Istanbul shore excursion that hits Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque area, Grand Bazaar, and Basilica Cistern with practical time-saving skip-the-line ticketing.
“Istanbul is beautiful ! Our tour guide Sercan was. helpful and knowledgeable of the history of the mosques and tall the places we visited . Realky very informative!”
Port pickup and a guided Ephesus day with lunch, Mary’s House, and St. John’s Basilica, ending back at Kuşadası.
“Excellent guide . Well versed in the area history . Glad we wore good walking shoes. Went to a rug factory , and had a good meal included. learned a lot about rug making . Not pushed into buying .We really enjoyed the tour , lot of exercise that the guide at a slower pace to allow for the age of some of the people in the tour.”
Cruise-only private Ephesus tour from Kusadasi with pickup, licensed guide, skip-the-line tickets, Mary’s House, and free Artemis.
“We had a tour with Burak and he was AMAZING! He was super knowledgeable, relaxed and just an all around interesting person. He created the perfect itinerary for our group of 4 and we learned so much! I can't imagine doing Ephesus by ourselves, there is so much history. Burak made it such a special day!”
Private Ephesus shore excursion from Kusadasi with a guide, minivan, Library of Celsus, Great Theatre, Artemis, and fruit wine in Sirince.
“Amazing!!! Picked up on the dock by Metin sorry if I miss spelled. Wonderful man. Extremely knowledgeable and fun! We drove through Kusadasi first to get an overview of the city and onto Ephesus. Truely amazing! So hard to believe the building that was done so long ago. Stunning. It was our favorite ruin. Just in awe the entire time. It started pouring, I mean pouring rain so we waited until it stopped and continued. No hurry, which was very nice. Metin was very easy going and fun to tour with. He took us to a leather factory, my niece bought a jacket, beautiful. Went to the Temple of Artemis,…”
Private Ephesus shore excursion with lunch from Kusadasi, skip-the-line entry, and stops at Mary’s House and Celsus.
“This was a horrible experience. You have to pay for each entry and it is $200.00 the merchant was horrible. Viator was horrible. Do not purchase”
Private Ephesus shore excursion from Kusadasi Port with a private guide, Ephesus and Mary’s House stops, lunch, Artemis ruins.
“Fantastic private guided tour by Mr. Ercument. We identified quickly in the port and took us everywhere in a impeccable comfortable new van. We visited Ephesus and Virgin Mary sites plus bonus shopping areas. We were back in to the cruise port on time. I highly recommended to book via this team: SmartTurkeyTours.com”
Private shore tour from Kusadasi to Ephesus, Meryemana, and Artemis, with a guided day, lunch, and easy port transport.
“Amazing tour, I highly recommend! Our guide Elif was very knowledgeable and and hospitable! This is a great tour to pack a lot in a little amount of time!”
A comfortable, easy-paced Kusadasi shore excursion to Ephesus and the Temple of Artemis, led by a licensed English-speaking guide.
“Adem Arslan a great tourist guide. High educated, flexible, patient and his knowledge seems to be endless (-: We learned a lot, we highly recommend him and the tour. Thank you once again!”
Private Ephesus shore tour from Kuşadası Port with pickup and English guide. Skip cruise crowds, see ruins and Virgin Mary’s House.
“We really enjoyed the whole experience. We especially loved the personal touch to everything we asked for. We loved seeing Ephesus and its ruins and learning about it. Our driver was very knowledgeable and personable! We asked about buying Turkish rugs and he asked the driver to take us to a store where we got to see how the rugs were made; ending in us buying one! A very special day!!”
Private 6-hour Bodrum boat shore excursion with lunch and snorkeling, cruising 3-4 bays and a Karaada hot-water stop.
“We had a wonderful experience! The bays we stopped at were incredible and the boat was very clean and nice. We also had two young kids, 5 and 6 and the crew was so patient and kind to them, even considering them for the meal. We would definitely go with them again in future.”
Private Ephesus shore excursion from Kuşadası with pickup, air-conditioned transport, expert guide, lunch, and stops at Artemis and Mary’s House.
“We had a wonderful tour around the Kusadasi area with our guide, Gul. She was incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, and clearly passionate about sharing the rich history of her hometown. Visiting the House of the Virgin Mary was a deeply moving experience, and walking through ancient Ephesus with Gul’s insightful commentary made the ruins come alive. She took us to a fantastic local spot for lunch—authentic, delicious, and far from the usual tourist traps. Her personal stories and deep understanding of both ancient and modern Turkey added so much depth to the tour. I would highly recommend Gul to anyone looking for a meaningful and memorable experience in the area.”
Private guided Ephesus shore excursion from Kusadasi cruise port with ticket option, priority entry help, and time for Artemis, St John, Mary.
“We were there for about 5 hours with a guide cruise trip from Kusadasi. Incredible place well worth a visit especially for historians. Be warned though you need good footwear as it is very uneven and some of the marble stones are extremely slippery with several of our group falling on them. You also need plenty of water as in 45 degree heat it is a bit like visiting Pompeii - no shelter, a large site and apart from the entrance and exit nowhere to buy drinks. It is a must visit though and enjoyed it.”
Private Pamukkale day trip from Kusadasi Port with guided Hierapolis sites, museum time, and 3 hours at the thermal terraces.
“We joined our group tour with adam as guide for pamukkale. It was so lovely to see the nice terraces of calsium and the good preserved theatre there. 2,5 hours driving but was worth to see it. Thanks adam to be our guide and inform us. If you book the trip ask for him”
Half-day private Istanbul shore excursion by tram. See Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cistern, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, Grand Bazaar.
“Furkan was extremely knowledgeable, very friendly and flexible for what we wanted to do. He adjusted our tour to add breaks because we had two elderly people with us. He took us to a great restaurant and it was an awesome overview of the city, considering we only had one day in Istanbul.”
