Our driver and our guide were wonderful people. Very kind and friendly and cared a lot for our experience on a very hot day in Western Turkey. You get to see all the sights and our guide (Bushra) explained each taking care to answer our questions. The driver made sure we had plenty of water on board our air conditioned coach and it was a pleasure to driver from location to location. The lunch at the carpet making place was fabulous. I will agree with others that the only bad point is the owner of the carpet place (Aussie guy) gave a real pressure sell trying to get us to buy a rug. (Thousands of pounds!). It was definitely a hard sell as he said the money goes to the ladies who hand knit the rugs. As much as that may be true it’s a guilt trip! Having said that like someone else pointed out you CAN refuse which is what we did. I think if there was a way this tour could include the lunch but avoid the hard sell then it would be perfect. I would still recommend the tour as the overall experience was great.

What an amazing day. My husband and I were picked up promptly at 4:30 am, was met by Mehmet our guide w/driver after our 1 hour flight to Izmir. Spent the majority of our day at Ephesus. Ended the tour with a carpet making demonstration (no pressure to buy) a leather shop (treated to a private fashion show) and then a gourmet spot for saffron, special oils and Turkish delights. Lunch was excellent. Spent some quality time with our guide, extremely passionate about his work as a licensed guide in the area. Had no idea a guide has to attend a 4 year University program in Turkey w/mentorship in order to guide these tours. These guides are like walking Wikipedia’s. Great story telling, relaxed pace but packed with lots of memories and history. Some of the entrance fees were not included, but I knew that when I booked the tour. Great communication with the tour company on WhatsApp. Don’t hesitate, just book it!

We enjoyed our day out. Ephesus was all we had hoped for, the museum was an unexpected bonus. The virgin Mary’s house and st John’s basilica were interesting to see also. We had a delicious lunch. It was fascinating learning how rugs were made. We also went to Turkish delight (and more) store which was good. Our guide was very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. Our driver did a fantastic job. A big cost for the day considering all sights are paid for on top of original fee (which we were aware of).

I booked this tour for my 70 year old mum and I. We were the only two tht booked that day so we had a private tour. Our driver and guide were excellent. The guide was very informative and the driver treated us to a tea by the petrol station made over a fire. What a beautiful day. Would have gone on another tour if it was guaranteed to be with both of them.

We planned this trip as a couple and we had Phyllis as a tour guide and she was absolutely wonderful! She was so knowledgeable about the areas we went to, she answered every question we asked her and she took us to extra places around the area as we had extra time, she took us to a leather and fur showroom where we got to take part in a cat walk, we went to see pottery being made and we also got to see how traditional Turkish carpets were made! We would do this again in a heart beat, but you need more than 1 day to do this!

We really appreciated how well the tour took care of us. They did a great job of communicating. All of our transit was in great time, and they did a good job reorganizing when our plane was delayed. Ephesus and the Basilica of st John were amazing. We came in August, so it was over 100° F and our tour guide seemed in a little more of a hurry to get out of the sun than we would have liked, but so worth a visit.