Oceania Cruises · Sirena
A Private Ephesus Day for Oceania Sirena Guests
For guests sailing on Oceania Sirena, a private Ephesus shore excursion means your own licensed guide and vehicle from the Kuşadası berth, in the green months our guides would choose for themselves.
Oceania Sirena calls at Kuşadası this season, and her published 2027 calendar brings her back in mid-May, the month our own guides call the site’s best. This page is the private version of her shore day, written for the green months.
Sirena at the Port of Rhodes, photo by Pjotr Mahhonin via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped and optimized for web use.
Why cruise passengers choose us
Five reasons guests book a private day with us instead of the excursion sold on board.
Award-winning, not just experienced
Eight TripAdvisor awards since 2013, from Certificate of Excellence to Travelers’ Choice, voted by real guests rather than marketing teams.
Exclusively your group
Your party only, from two guests to a group of forty. We do not match parties, so the only people with you are the ones you arrived with.
We work around your ship, not the other way
We build the day backwards from your all-aboard time and keep a comfortable buffer, so the return to the ship stays calm rather than a race.
Skip-the-line entry
Your guide carries QR-coded tickets for every site in your programme, bought before you arrive, so you walk straight through the gate. What that means at an Ephesus gate, and what it does not.
Your language, your pace
Guided in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Russian or Japanese by a licensed expert, never a memorised script.
Recognised by travellers
Eight TripAdvisor awards across a decade.
Certificate of Excellence six times between 2013 and 2019, then Travelers’ Choice in 2021 and 2023. Voted by real guests, not marketing teams.
Certificate of Excellence2013 to 2019May is the month the guides would choose
Ask our guides when they would visit Ephesus for themselves and the answer is nearly unanimous: the green months. Wildflowers in the ruins, storks busy on the Artemis column, marble warm without the weight of summer, and light that flatters every photograph. Her first 2027 call, on 18 May, lands in exactly that window.
A small ship day, kept small
Sirena’s guests come ashore in comfortable numbers, and the private day keeps that feeling: one Ministry-licensed guide, your party alone, and a route that bends to your interests rather than a coach timetable. The Terrace Houses fold in where time allows, and in spring they are gloriously quiet.
Your private route through Ephesus
Where it suits your group, we enter at the Upper Gate and walk gently downhill to the Lower Gate, so the walking is easy and there is no climbing back. A longer call fits the House of the Virgin Mary or a sit-down lunch in Selçuk without hurry.
Planning your day around the ship
We build the day backwards from your ship’s hours in Kuşadası and keep a comfortable buffer before all-aboard. Port times change by sailing, so we confirm yours rather than assume it. Tell us your date, this season or from her 2027 calls, and we confirm it and shape the day around it. In 2026 we ran the Ephesus Morning for Oceania Sirena guests on 25 August; every 2027 Oceania call, with the day that fits its hours, is on our Oceania Cruises shore excursions page.
The private experience
- Private licensed guideYour own licensed local guide, never a coach group.
- Private vehicle, matched to your partyA private, air-conditioned vehicle sized to your group.
- Senior-friendly pacingA gentle pace with rests whenever your group needs them.
- Ship-aware return planningThe day is timed to your ship, with a comfortable buffer before all-aboard.
- No forced shoppingNo carpet or jewellery stops. Your hours ashore stay at Ephesus.
- All listed admissions includedClear, transparent pricing with the listed entries covered.
Private Ephesus tours to pair with your call
Common questions
Wildflowers in the ruins, storks on the column: the guides’ month.
Tours of Ephesus is an independent local operator and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of Oceania.