We just returned from Ephesus in February. Ertunga ecir. He is your man. Loved him lots of great reviews on tripadvisor and cruise forums. He is knowledgeable flexible and enhanced our trip so much! Email him he is busy. In fact he was hired by opra Winfrey !! And not expensive. Big surprise

http://privatetours.wordpress.com/
Contact info

Well I looked up private operators b4 our stop there last Oct. and found good reviews for a co. called "Hello Ephesus" and booked them. There was no prepayment and email responses were timely and polite. We were met on the dock on time and promised and had a delightful time so i would recommend them. In fact we may be going there again this fall and will use them again w/o a doubt. If you choose them as for the guide Oya Oran. She is very polite, speaks English very well and is well versed in the history of Ephesus.

You will be fine with them. Larry

See trip advisors reports about them.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298005-d1854161-r124767016-Hello_Ephesus-Ephesus_Izmir_Province_Turkish_Aegean_Coast.html#REVIEWS

last September we stayed i selcuk for 5 nights & toured with Ertunga.We were 11 people in the group & everyone found him to be very knowledgeable,courteous,good communication skill in english.we toured in a comfortable van & driver with him to ehpesus,aphrodiasis,pammukale,didyme.miletus,priene
I have no reservation in recommending him & will definitely use him again if travelling in that region.You can reach him at ertunga at ertungaecir dot com.

Have been there twice..once as the guest of the Turkish Air Force..two officers who had lived in Istanbul or Kayseri all their lives and had never visited Ephesus. I had done some prelim reading in a guide book (forgot which one) and off we went....it was more than sufficient. Did pretty much the same thing many years later, using Rough Guide this time, and my wife and I strolled on through. If you're a quick study, you can do the same sans guide. If you need to know the history of every rock in town, then it's a guide for you. I don't personally know of any.

Here's a scant scanned preview of Efes, Pamukkale, Priene, etc etc. You don't want to miss Efes..so you're going to have to decide. Safest bet, use the cruise-provided guide and worry no more, IMO.


https://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/ScenesOfTurkey#

While tour companies are all different so their services also vary, finding a independent operator should not be difficult. Be sure they are TURSAB certified as only tour companies with license are eligable to conduct tours of any kind! Checking different sources and recommendations help. A good private tour for two would cost roughly about 130-150 Euro range per person for a full day tour including admissions and lunch at local restaurant.
Have a great time and enjoy your time in Turkey.
Murat

We were on a cruise last year and I made arrangements with Ephesus Shuttle. They were great. Picked us up at the boat, great tour of Ephesus, went to Sirince, saw the limited sites(mosque and a church), had a fabulous lunch(included in the price) and back to the boat. Reasonably priced. No complaints.

Have you joined the roll call for your cruise on cruisecritic.com? You might be able to find others who already have a tour lined up and are looking for people to join them to create a small group.

Hello Ephesus was great for us also. I booked the tour and 2 other couples from the cruise (Oceania) joined DH and I. Check the roll call board on Cruise Critic for your ship and maybe others will be looking too. Ships cruises tend to be too big and overpriced...

Ephesus, really fascinating ancient site. For those travellers that coming by cruiseships; from port of İzmir or Kusadasi, must not miss it. Of course the travel choise may change upon the budget; tour operators have different rates according to their type of services and of course quality. But generally with a good guide-lecturer, a comfortable sedan car, a local food ( prefferable ) at a good local restaurant, not a piece of meat or chicken but vary of vegetables served, entrance fees and highway tolls is apprx. Eur 110-120 or Usd 150-160 Per Person; If you do not want to loose in a mass tourism .. Enjoy Kusadasi, Selcuk and Ephesus.. Have a great day..

Just returned last night, we were in Ephesus a few days ago. A young man approached us when we arrived in the afternoon and we hired him there. He was a qualified guide and for the two of us gave a deal of 100Lira he said normal price was 150Lira (around $57 for 100 lira) I dont know his email but his name was Dervish, probably no help to you however.

I highly reccommend a private guide. There were so many tour groups all speaking different languages, loud, and the place was busy. Having a guide on our own meant we could go to the side where we could hear him and spend more or less time at certain areas. He spent just under 2 hours with us.

We then went back and into the terrace houses on our own which is an extra fee but worth it

You many not have the option if you are on a cruise, but we went later in the day and by the time we left at 630PM we were pretty much the only ones there and had some great photos with no one in them.

It was an amazing place though, although we enjoyed all the sites of Roman ruins that we saw in Turkey.