Private Ephesus & Sirince Village Tour
Ephesus · Şirince
- Approx. 5 hours, lunch included
- Private · sized to your party
- Starbucks at Kuşadası cruise plaza
From$118/ person
View tourCruise excursion
Private Ephesus, Temple of Artemis & Sirince Village Tour
A balanced day: the great city, the lost wonder, and the village, with lunch in Selcuk included and a pace that never touches anyone else's schedule.
- Approx. 5.5 hours, lunch included
- Starbucks at Kuşadası cruise plaza
No upfront paymentPay in cash or by card at the end of your tour.Risk-free booking · TÜRSAB #2290
TÜRSAB #2290Pay after your tourTripadvisor 4.7Google 4.9Guaranteed return to shipQR-coded skip-the-line tickets
Why cruise guests choose us
Why Cruise Guests Recommend Us
We are not the cheapest Ephesus tour, we are the calmest and most reliable one. Everything below is standard on every private tour, never an upsell.
- Pay after the tourNo deposit, no prepayment. You settle up at the end, in cash or by card.
- Private tour onlyYour party only, from two guests to a group of 44. We do not match parties, so the only people with you are the ones you arrived with.
- No compulsory shoppingNo carpet or jewellery stops. Your hours ashore stay at Ephesus.
- Licensed local guidesMinistry-licensed guides who live here, not a script read from a card.
- Easy port meeting pointMeet at the Starbucks in the port plaza, a two-minute walk from the gangway.
- Return-to-ship priorityThe day is timed to your ship, with a comfortable buffer before all aboard.
The short answer
This 5.5-hour private shore excursion from Kusadasi Cruise Port combines Ephesus Ancient City, the Temple of Artemis and Sirince village, an old Greek hill village 30 minutes from the port. USD 119 to 164 per person by group size with entrance fees and a sit-down lunch in Selcuk included (2027 rates), one or two dollars more than the Ephesus and Sirince day, with on-time return guaranteed.
Overview
About this tour
Between the two hours you spend walking Ephesus and the easy afternoon hour in Sirince, a pretty old Greek village in the hills 30 minutes from the port, this itinerary slips in the Temple of Artemis, where one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world once stood. Sequence is the quiet advantage here: Ephesus first, through the upper gate and downhill while the site is at its best; then the Temple of Artemis, a short stop that lands well right after the city it made rich; then Sirince, when the morning crowds have thinned and the village is at its most relaxed. A private licensed guide and a separate driver hold it all together.
Who this tour is for
Guests with five to six hours in port who want culture and atmosphere in equal measure. If you would regret skipping a Seven Wonders site but also want time to sit with a glass of village fruit wine before sailing, this is the middle path. It works well for couples and families whose interests pull in different directions: the day gives everyone their chapter.
Itinerary
Step by step
Times depend on your ship's arrival or your preferred start. Tell us in the booking form and we time everything around it.
- 01
Meet at Starbucks, Kuşadası port plaza
Your guide holds a small sign with your name, at the time you choose.
- 02
Ephesus Ancient City, walked downhill
Twenty minutes to the upper gate, then about two hours downhill through the city.
- 03
Temple of Artemis
A 10-minute drive for a 15-20 minute stop that closes the classical morning.
- 04
Sirince village, then lunch in Selcuk
The road climbs into the hills; an hour or more of lanes, shops and wine tastings, with a sit-down lunch at a family-run restaurant in Selçuk included.
- 05
Return to Kuşadası port
Thirty minutes back, with margin to spare.
The handoff, illustrated
How we meet you
Skip the exit-gate scramble. Walk through the shopping plaza, find your guide by name at Starbucks, then step into the private vehicle waiting outside.
Look for the sign with your name
Your guide carries a small printed card with your booking name. No squinting at a wall of signs at the exit gate, no asking strangers. You spot it the moment you arrive.
Fulya Tamer, waiting on the Starbucks terrace at Kuşadası port.
The walk, illustrated
Upper Gate in, Lower Gate out
Your private vehicle drops you at the top of Ephesus Ancient City and collects you at the bottom. About 1.5 kilometres of downhill walking, no climbing back.
Guest photos
Shared with us by our guests.
Photographs our guests sent back after their tours, published with their permission. Un-staged and un-retouched: this is what the day actually looks like.
14 August 2026: our guide İbrahim Pancar with two Silver Nova guests among Şirince’s painted flowerpots, the hill-village end of a private tour. 
18 July 2026: our guide Fulya Tamer with her guests at the Yedi Bilgeler wine house, a stop a private tour can add on request. 
18 July 2026: our guide Ebru Özkan with the private tour group at the Temple of Artemis, the lone column and Ayasuluk Castle behind. 
On the marble plaza, the library and the Gate of Augustus behind. 
Beside a carved sarcophagus and the story cut into it, with a licensed guide. 
Sophia, wisdom, still keeping her niche after eighteen centuries. 
28 July 2026: a private group off Celebrity Infinity at the library, with our guide Serdar Atalan.
Our guides
24 licensed guides, 6 languages
- English 17
- Spanish 8
- Portuguese 3
- Russian 2
- Italian 1
- French 1
- Celal CeylanSpanish · EnglishLicence no. 11794
- Cihan YaşkayaRussianLicence no. 6313
- İbrahim PancarEnglishLicence no. 12874
- Nedret GüngörSpanish · Italian · PortugueseLicence no. 8861
- Mehmet TunalıEnglish · RussianLicence no. 6489
- Hakan CebeciSpanish · EnglishLicence no. 4049
What's included
- Licensed professional tour guide exclusively for your party
- Private air-conditioned vehicle with separate professional driver
- All entrance fees, held as skip-the-line QR-coded tickets
- Traditional lunch at a family-run restaurant in Selçuk
- Parking fees and local taxes
- Guaranteed on-time return to your ship
Not included
- Terrace Houses entrance (optional add-on)
- Tips for guide and driver (optional)
Price by group size
Smaller groups, lower per-person price
Every vehicle below belongs to your group alone. You are never joined by another party, and the per-person rate falls as your own group grows. These are the 2027 rates. Children under 9 free; 9 and over pay the full rate.
| Group size | Per person | Private vehicle |
|---|---|---|
| 2–4 guests | $164 | 6-seat A/C van |
| 5–8 guests | $143 | 12-seat A/C minibus |
| 9–12 guests | $134 | 16-seat A/C minibus |
| 13–20 guests | $126 | 31-seat A/C midibus |
| 21–29 guests | $119 | 35-seat A/C coach |
| 30-44 guests | Special rate on request | |
Touring on or before 31 December 2026? Your day is charged at the 2026 rate: $95 to $131 per person by group size.
Rates are per person and include every entrance fee on the route. Every site in your programme is held by your guide as a skip-the-line QR-coded ticket, bought before you arrive. No hidden costs. What skip-the-line entry actually buys at the gate.
Pay only at the end · Cash or card · No deposit required · Rates reviewed November 2026
Where your hours ashore actually go
What the extra cost actually buys is not a better guide. It is about ninety minutes.
A coach excursion and a private day visit the same ruins. The difference is what happens between the ruins.
| Coach excursion, around 44 guests | Your private day | |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting at the pier for the coach to fill | 15 min | none |
| Comfort stop on the way (there are no toilets inside Ephesus) | 15 to 20 min | about 5 min |
| Head count and regrouping before the gate | 20 min | none |
| Keeping forty walkers together inside the site | 20 to 25 min | none |
| Free time and toilets at the Lower Gate | 20 to 25 min | about 5 min |
| Time spent waiting | 90 to 105 min | about 10 min |
Add the House of the Virgin Mary or the Terrace Houses and the regrouping cycle starts again at each stop, so the gap widens rather than closes.
Two honest notes. A coach day is not all waste: some guests genuinely want the free time at the Lower Gate, and a private tour still stops for coffee and a toilet. And these are our own timings from twenty-five years at this port, not a published study.
The point is simpler than the numbers. On a coach, the waiting is not yours to spend.
Common questions
About this specific tour.
Still unsure? WhatsApp +90 532 324 2489, we usually reply within 10 minutes during port hours.
Why book direct
You are dealing with the operator itself: guide and vehicle confirmed the same day, no deposit taken, no reseller margin, and a direct line to the people responsible if anything about your day changes. Your guide waits with a named sign at Starbucks inside the port shopping plaza, the meeting point we designed around cruise mornings.
Yes. Nothing on this route is more than 30 minutes from the port, the day is planned backwards from your all-aboard time with a safety margin, and on-time return is guaranteed: a commitment we have kept through more than two decades of port operations.
Private licensed guide, air-conditioned vehicle, separate professional driver, parking, local taxes, a sit-down lunch in Selçuk and every entrance fee on the route. Cheaper quotes around the port usually exclude entrance fees or bundle you into a shared group; check both points before comparing.
We think so, and we say it honestly: a single column remains, but with a guide the site becomes the reason Ephesus existed at all. If on the day you would rather bank the time for Sirince, tell your guide; the itinerary is yours to bend.
No. Reservations are confirmed without a deposit and you pay at the end of the tour, in cash (USD, EUR, GBP, TL) or by Visa/Mastercard. If your ship cannot dock, you owe nothing.
Moderate. Ephesus is downhill throughout thanks to the upper-gate entry, the Artemis site is a flat viewing stop, and Sirince's cobbled lanes can be enjoyed from the lower, flatter end. The vehicle is close at every site, and the guide paces the day to your party.
Yes, and it is included in the rate: a traditional lunch at a small family-run restaurant in Selçuk, arranged by your guide on the day. Vegetarian and gluten-free needs are handled with notice.
Yes. We are a fully TÜRSAB-licensed local operator (licence no. 2290), our guides carry official Ministry of Tourism licences, and our vehicles are commercially registered with third-party liability insurance.
Yes. Your guide carries QR-coded tickets for every site in your programme, bought before you arrive, so you walk straight through the gate while the queue is still forming.
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Ready to book Ephesus + Artemis + Şirince?
From $119/person · Approx. 5.5 hours, lunch included · No deposit, pay at the end of the tour.
From$119