Hello Ephesus Tour Company

[Marie-Claude]

Hi smileon,

 

We were in Kusadasi in November and did a tour with Hello Ephesus. Since I was travelling with my mother (80), I also had concerns similar to yours.

 

We opted for a private tour with Hello Ephesus for just the two of us, that way we could go at our own rhythm. We were gone for 5 hours on a tour that included Mary's House, Ephesus and the terrace house and a stop at the Artemis Temple.

 

Our guide has really good at finding places in the shade, where Mom could sit and rest a bit etc. He was very considerate. As for the Terrace Houses, when we entered and my Mom saw all the stairs, she didn't want to go ... but I convinced her to do a bit, and if she wanted we could come back. She ended up doing the whole visit, and was glad she did! It's an amazing visit. There are a lot of stairs, all going up. But we did it step by step and our guide would stop at each level to tell us stories... it was great. Once you reach the top, you exit and have to go down a path with some stairs going back down to the street level, but there was a ramp.

 

This was one of our best tour, and I was very happy that I booked just for us as I didn't feel the pressure to follow other people. We were back in town by 4 pm and Mom still had energy to go for some shopping!!!

[smileon]

Marie - Claude

 

Thank you for your reassurance - it sounds like we should be OK

[sunshine nana]

I am trying to find a private tour that picks up in Ismir. We are on NCL Gem May 1 and there is no activity on our roll call, so I'm trying to do this ourselves. Hope someone can help. Thanks.

[samavarcruiser]

Hi smileon,

 

We were in Kusadasi in November and did a tour with Hello Ephesus. Since I was travelling with my mother (80), I also had concerns similar to yours.

 

We opted for a private tour with Hello Ephesus for just the two of us, that way we could go at our own rhythm. We were gone for 5 hours on a tour that included Mary's House, Ephesus and the terrace house and a stop at the Artemis Temple.

 

Our guide has really good at finding places in the shade, where Mom could sit and rest a bit etc. He was very considerate. As for the Terrace Houses, when we entered and my Mom saw all the stairs, she didn't want to go ... but I convinced her to do a bit, and if she wanted we could come back. She ended up doing the whole visit, and was glad she did! It's an amazing visit. There are a lot of stairs, all going up. But we did it step by step and our guide would stop at each level to tell us stories... it was great. Once you reach the top, you exit and have to go down a path with some stairs going back down to the street level, but there was a ramp.

 

This was one of our best tour, and I was very happy that I booked just for us as I didn't feel the pressure to follow other people. We were back in town by 4 pm and Mom still had energy to go for some shopping!!!

 

Thanks for sharing :D

[ROCruiser]

I am trying to find a private tour that picks up in Ismir. We are on NCL Gem May 1 and there is no activity on our roll call, so I'm trying to do this ourselves. Hope someone can help. Thanks.

 

Helloephesus does pick up at Izmir. They have emailed me and gave me a quote which is really reasonable. It stated that it's an hour drive from Izmir to Ephesus.

[sunshine nana]

I too heard from both Ekol and Hello Ephesus. We are having to pay more for the tours since we are docking at Izmir. Haven't decided which one to go with.

[bmerj]

Hi MC,

 

We're ( 6 of us ages 53 - 69) taking a Med cruise on May 6th ( RCL - NOCS) and read your thread. I am arranging for our private tour and Hello Ephesus has given me a quote - may I ask you as to how much you paid for a private tour for just you and your mom ? She quoted me $60.00 per person but I am not sure if that is private .

 

Thank you for your info .

 

Regards,

Mercy

 

Hi smileon,

 

We were in Kusadasi in November and did a tour with Hello Ephesus. Since I was travelling with my mother (80), I also had concerns similar to yours.

 

We opted for a private tour with Hello Ephesus for just the two of us, that way we could go at our own rhythm. We were gone for 5 hours on a tour that included Mary's House, Ephesus and the terrace house and a stop at the Artemis Temple.

 

Our guide has really good at finding places in the shade, where Mom could sit and rest a bit etc. He was very considerate. As for the Terrace Houses, when we entered and my Mom saw all the stairs, she didn't want to go ... but I convinced her to do a bit, and if she wanted we could come back. She ended up doing the whole visit, and was glad she did! It's an amazing visit. There are a lot of stairs, all going up. But we did it step by step and our guide would stop at each level to tell us stories... it was great. Once you reach the top, you exit and have to go down a path with some stairs going back down to the street level, but there was a ramp.

 

This was one of our best tour, and I was very happy that I booked just for us as I didn't feel the pressure to follow other people. We were back in town by 4 pm and Mom still had energy to go for some shopping!!!

[Marie-Claude]

Hi MC,

 

We're ( 6 of us ages 53 - 69) taking a Med cruise on May 6th ( RCL - NOCS) and read your thread. I am arranging for our private tour and Hello Ephesus has given me a quote - may I ask you as to how much you paid for a private tour for just you and your mom ? She quoted me $60.00 per person but I am not sure if that is private .

Hi Mercy!

 

Prices depend on what tour you have booked - some tours were longer than ours and many included lunch. We were gone for 5 hours, and had no lunch. We visited Virgin's Mary House, Ephesus including the Terrace Houses and the Temple of Artemis.

We also benefitted from the 2008 prices as we booked prior to May 2009. We paid 130$US (so, 65$ per person) for the two of us.

 

Regardless of whether the price is better than the cruiseline or not, I would definitely go with Hello Ephesus again, just so that you don't get mixed with hundreds of people from the ship buses... We managed to get to all places way before the buses... I hope this helps!!

 

MC

[hubofhockey]

Hi MC,

 

We're ( 6 of us ages 53 - 69) taking a Med cruise on May 6th ( RCL - NOCS) and read your thread. I am arranging for our private tour and Hello Ephesus has given me a quote - may I ask you as to how much you paid for a private tour for just you and your mom ? She quoted me $60.00 per person but I am not sure if that is private .

 

Thank you for your info .

 

Regards,

Mercy

 

Sounds private to me. Mine was $63 per person (different company) plus another $12 for Terrace Houses tour. There were two of us. We added another couple. But it would have been in the $60 range. Maybe it's just less expensive doing tours in Turkey.

[evilkimmy]

Does Hello Ephesus (or Ekol) accept credit cards for payment?

Thanks :)

[maryann ns]

I found that all the companies in Italy, Turkey and Egypt preferred cash. It makes it much easier for them. Hello Ephesus was excellent in all ways. I organized the tour but each person or couple paid the guide individually at the end. All were very satisfied.

[easy22]

we also are booked to use them. Once I found out they also go from Izmir. it's a longer drive from Izmir than Kusadasi so will have less time at Ephesus, but I think it will be fine. There are so many posts praising this company that I feel secure using them.

[easy22]

great coupon! too bad I'm leaving on Norwegian Gem on 5/29

[bmerj]

Thanks, MC . I have booked with them and Nilay was very prompt in responding to my email so hopefully, we will find them on May 10th !!

The terrace House is not included in the itinerary but hopefully, we can ask to stop by the Terrace House as I have heard it should be a must to see !

 

Mercy

 

Hi Mercy!

 

Prices depend on what tour you have booked - some tours were longer than ours and many included lunch. We were gone for 5 hours, and had no lunch. We visited Virgin's Mary House, Ephesus including the Terrace Houses and the Temple of Artemis.

We also benefitted from the 2008 prices as we booked prior to May 2009. We paid 130$US (so, 65$ per person) for the two of us.

 

Regardless of whether the price is better than the cruiseline or not, I would definitely go with Hello Ephesus again, just so that you don't get mixed with hundreds of people from the ship buses... We managed to get to all places way before the buses... I hope this helps!!

 

MC

[maryann ns]

If you want to see the Terrace Houses, you should tell them now. They will tailor the tour to what you want. However there is an extra charge for the Terrace Houses.

[Marie-Claude]

Hi Mercy!

 

As maryanns said, you should contact Nilay and tell her that you want to include the Terrace House, and it IS a must... it is well worth the visit. But they need to buy tickets in advance.

 

I don't know if I mentionned it earlier, but Nilay has been great at tailoring itineraries for us but also at reacting quickly when our ship changed schedule in Istanbul - we arrived 6 hours ahead of schedule, so I emailed her the night before our tour to advance our pick-up time, and sure enough, I had an email confirmation and our guide was waiting for us!

 

Have fun!

MC

[munkeeshyn@comcast.net]

Is Hello Ephesus the same company as Go Ephesus? The only website I can find is for goephesustour.com

[Hlitner]

Does Hello Ephesus (or Ekol) accept credit cards for payment?

Thanks :)

 

I can only speak for EKOL who does accept credit cards. When we booked with them last year we faxed our credit card info and paid in advance (got us a 25% discount) with no problems.

 

Hank

[Marie-Claude]

Is Hello Ephesus the same company as Go Ephesus? The only website I can find is for goephesustour.com

This is the website for Hello Ephesus. http://www.helloephesus.com/

You can get in touch with them at info@helloephesus.com

 

MC

[munkeeshyn@comcast.net]

Thanks so much!

[jesse]

I know this will sound bizarre, but our tour with Hello Ephesus was not what we anticipated. We were told by the ship--RCCL, that we'd be taken to a carpet center no matter what we said. When Bulent-Bill- picked us up, (party of 15) he was just not in the best of moods. We arrived at our first stop, and I told him we would not be interested in the carpet tour, especially since we had some children with us and we also had an older woman with us. I did tell him that I had emailed Nilay about that. He told me that I had actually been emailing him. I found that strange, since all my correspondence with Nilay was signed "NILAY" and not Bill or Bulent.

I have been on at least 20 private tours in Europe. We've never had a problem, always had a great experience--until Bill. He derided us, he actually told us we know nothing, when we didn't answer his history quizzes, he would yell 'you are not LISTENING!' meaning we were not allowed to speak in the bus, and of course we ended up at the Carpet Center for more than 2 hours. You have no choice-that's where you are fed your 'free' lunch.

Honestly, I am only posting this because Ephesus was beautiful, yet our experience with Bill was not. We were uncomfortable the entire day. It did not take away from Ephesus, but Bill made us feel like crap the entire day. I am still wondering if Nilay ever got any of my emails or not? And that expression 'there is no free lunch' is so true. And yes, we did tip him.

[Goldygolfer]

I was very, very surprised to read the previous post.

 

It doesn't sound anything like the Bulent (Bill) Orkus that was our guide on a tour to Ephesus in May last year.

 

We found him to be friendly, pleasant and extremely knowledgeable.

 

Yes, we did go the the carpet co-op and found the demonstration very interesting, with no hard sell. However, 2 people on our tour did purchase carpets there. The lunch in the garden was excellent.

 

We had a very pleasant and informative day with Bill and Hello Ephesus.

[jesse]

As I said, it was contrary to the other postings about Bill, and I realize so many people have had great experiences with him. We are a party of 15 who had a bad experience with him. Even at the end of the cruise, every person said they loved every single thing about the cruise and the tours-except Bill. We had wonderful experiences with all the other tours, Private Greece tours, Rome in Limo, Kosagan, Rhodes tours-you name it. And they also liked us, because we were very low maintenance. And yes, Bill is very knowledgeable and loves his country, as well he should-it is a beautiful place. This will be my last post on the matter. Everyone should make his/her own decision as to researching and choosing tour companies. Usually, the results are perfect.

[Deckhandoug]

As I said, it was contrary to the other postings about Bill, and I realize so many people have had great experiences with him. We are a party of 15 who had a bad experience with him. Even at the end of the cruise, every person said they loved every single thing about the cruise and the tours-except Bill. We had wonderful experiences with all the other tours, Private Greece tours, Rome in Limo, Kosagan, Rhodes tours-you name it. And they also liked us, because we were very low maintenance. And yes, Bill is very knowledgeable and loves his country, as well he should-it is a beautiful place. This will be my last post on the matter. Everyone should make his/her own decision as to researching and choosing tour companies. Usually, the results are perfect.

 

Thank you for your post

[maryann ns]

We were told by the ship--RCCL, that we'd be taken to a carpet center no matter what we said.

 

I'm confused. Were you on a private tour or one organized by the ship?