Quick review and an unpleasant experience with this company! Made a reservation online a couple of…read moredays ago, got an email confirmation with the pickup address at the airport and detailed complete home address for the drop off. One day before received a WhatsApp message that the rate has more than doubled! Everything was on the reservation in detail and even had followed up with an email! Totally unprofessional and not a dependable company!

Great tour to Ephesus, Erman Uslu is fantastic at explaining all the details, and is patient with…read morequestions. Ephesus is a fantastic visit. He was very accommodating with us, and we appreciate it so much. Thank you Erman!

We were VERY impressed with our Biblical Highlights tour of Ephesus. It far surpassed our…read moreexpectations. Our driver and tour guide were amazing. We were given little headsets so we could hear the tour guide easily when we visited the different spots on the tour. It was easy to find our bus and we appreciated the air conditioning. They also supplied us with bottled water and a "goody bag" that contained a bookmark, hand wipes and a container to collect some of the natural spring water from Mother Mary's house. Our first stop was Mary's house. We got to go inside, but aren't allowed to take photos inside. We then attended a service and were given some time to explore the grounds. They also have vendors, shops and at least one restaurant on the grounds. Our next stop was the ancient city of Ephesus. It was so cool to walk down the streets where Paul had preached. The city is rather large now, but only 20% is available to us currently, with about 80% of it still to be discovered. We were given a thorough tour here and given some time to explore on our own. My kids went to see a play that was being put on while I went to explore the large amphitheater. We enjoyed seeing the ancient ruins, merchants, legislature, library, etc. There's also a section towards the end of the tour with vendors and we got to experience authentic Turkish Dondurma (ice cream). Next was lunch, and it was a FEAST! I wasn't expecting much with it being a meal provided by the tour, but it was incredible! We also visit the final resting place of John the Apostle, and that was remarkable as well. Finally, we were treated to a Turkish carpet weaving demonstration complete with apple tea--a Turkish tradition. I purchased a carpet for our home while we were there. I will never forget this experience and I'm beyond grateful to have had the opportunity to visit these sites!

Cruise Ship Shore Excursions can be like a Box of Chocolates - You're never quite sure what you're…read moregoing to get. Gayle and I were on the Norwegian Jade with her Sister and Hubby (Erin and Jim) and from the Port of Izmir, we signed up for "Ephesus and House of the Virgin Mary" Tour. What we got was a highly knowledgeable Tour Guide, who was also quite efficient in getting to where we needed to go, at the right time, and through the tourist site in a comprehensive, yet relatively quick manner. She called us her "Royal Family" and although she probably called every Tour that, we happily followed her multi-coloured umbrella through the tourist hordes. The bus driver was pretty cool too. Of course there were the sales connections, as she recommended which bazaar stall to visit at the end of the Ephesus walk (#3) and talked up the Turkmen Carpet sales demonstration. However, she was a lot more low key than a similar situation in Athens the day before. And the recommendations were actually pretty good. The bus picked us up from the Port of Izmir, and we quickly knew we were in good hands, as the bus traveled through the City of Izmir, through farm land country side, and onward through Selcuk and to the House of the Virgin Mary (HVM) and Ephesus. She got us to HVM first and early to avoid the crowds, and then took us down the hill to Ephesus. The later was crowded, but she got us through with aplomb. Then there was the tourist bazaar, Lunch at Aqua Fantasy, the Turkmen demonstration, and back to the Port. She also pointed out a grocery store across the street, so I could stock up on some beer for the cruise ship room. Now that's full service! Please note that separate (and well deserved) tips are recommended for the driver and the tour guide. Tura Turizm also handed out a nice little welcome goodie bag that included an "evil eye" pin and a container to fill up with some HVM Holy Water. I would gladly travel again with this tour company.

Beware the visa office when you come into Turkey. Most…read morepeople will have to buy visas when you enter, however keep the following warnings in mind. 1. They only accept cash. There is no ATM or credit card facilities so make sure you are have cash 2. Use Euro if possible (even though this is not the official currency). Any other currency and they will rip you off big time for the exchange rate (e.g. 15 euro does not equal 14 pounds which is what they were charging) 3. Have exact money if possible. They will not give change if they are feeling narky 4. Non EU people are charged more even though they don't have signs up showing costs. 5. Don't expect an explanation as to why you are charged a certain rate - even though they speak English 6. Don't question them or they may not give you a visa. Shocking place. I expected government officials to be helpful in achieving a common goal, however this is not the case. Beware

There was no one in line when I went to buy my Turkish visa. I could've done the e-visa online for…read more$20, which I would've done had I known it would be $30 or €25 if you bought it here on arrival. I paid the latter. After that passport control was easy. Funnily enough, the lady didn't seem to want to take Turkish lira, which I had.

Main airport for Izmir and it is an international airport…read more We arrived at this airport from Germany and since it was a small airport, line at immigration moved fast. Taxi is readily available and it was about 200TRY (30 minutes) to downtown Izmir from the airport. They recommend arriving 2-3 hours early but since we checked online and no check in luggage, we had more than enough time to wait. No lounge available with priority card. They have a restaurant with airport price. We were dropped off at the international terminal by our taxi driver (due to lack of my language skill), it was easy to walk over to the domestic terminal. Wi-Fi is available if you register with them. I couldn't figure out how to use the Wi-Fi.

This is the main Izmir airport. The large terminal has domestic flights on one side and…read moreinternational flights on the opposite flights. It wasn't busy at all on my arrival or departure. There are quite a few shops and restaurants. The Primeclass lounge was a great place to grab a bite to eat and a beer before my flight.