Ephesus tour- time?

We will be doing a Med. cruise this summer and I'm starting the excursion planning phase. Neither DH nor I have ever been to any of the places on the cruise and we are super excited! I had a timing question about a tour of Ephesus.

 

We will be docked in Ephesus between 7:00am and 2:00pm. I'm looking at a tour through EKOL travel (based on the recommendations from this board!) and want to do the semi-private tour of Ephesus, the House of the Virgin Mary, and the Temple of Artemis. The tour runs 4-4.5 hours.

 

Based on past experiences, will we have time do this?

We will be docked in Ephesus

 

I meant Kusadasi. That's what I get for trying to quickly finish typing as dinner was finishing cooking. :)

we managed all 3 a few years ago when docked in Izmir which is further away from Kusadasi

 

You will have enough time as long as you don't allow yourselves to be sidetracked into a rug factory or leather shop

 

make this clear to the tour company beforehand and repeat on the day

Yes, you will have time. The Temple of Artemis only has one poor pillar remaining standing, and you just go to an overlook and with the guide talking, you can cover it easily in 10 minutes.

 

Be sure to tell both EKOL by email in advance and your guide at the outset that you are doing NO SHOPPING.

Be sure to tell both EKOL by email in advance and your guide at the outset that you are doing NO SHOPPING.

 

You will have enough time as long as you don't allow yourselves to be sidetracked into a rug factory or leather shop make this clear to the tour company beforehand and repeat on the day

 

I will definitely be doing this- although, on a semi-private tour, I'm not confident that I'll be successful. :D

 

Thanks for your help!!

I will definitely be doing this- although, on a semi-private tour, I'm not confident that I'll be successful.

You are right to be cautious. If you are just joining a pre-packaged tour along with a bunch of strangers, you really have no control over the itinerary and timing. So if the company typically includes a shopping stop (look for specific, recent reviews of your tour on-line), you will just have to put up with it. Just hope that no one else in your group actually wants to make a major purchase, because some guides will not hesitate to keep the entire group there for as long as it takes to close the sale, at the expense of your sightseeing time at other stops.

 

That said, I don't think you need to worry about the overall length of the tour. If the company offers the tour for your port day, they know that it is doable within your time frame. No reputable tour company wants you posting on the internet about how they caused you to miss the ship, so they will bring you back in plenty of time. Of course there are no guarantees in life, I'm only saying that it's just as important to them as it is to you that you get back on board safely, so I personally wouldn't worry about that at all.