I will be traveling as a group of 4 women this September, flying into Istanbul and out of Athens for 2 weeks. We plan to spend a few days, probably 4 in Istanbul. Would it be best to go to Ephesus from Istanbul, (if so, how? fly?) or better to go back from the islands of Santorini or Mykonos? Would we be able to fly fron one of the islands? Or ferry, which I assume would take too long. Thanks so much!
Posted by
Camarillo, California
3149 posts
Since you'll already be in Turkey it would be a waste of time and money to go into Greece just to backtrack to Turkey to see Ephesus. From Istanbul you can either fly or take a bus to Izmir, and from Izmir take a bus to Selcuk where Ephesus is located. After Ephesus you can then easily get to Kusadasi by bus or taxi for the twice-daily ferry ride to the Greek island of Samos, and once you're on Samos figure out the best way to get to Santorini. It will probably mean a ferry to Mykonos and might require you staying overnight, then another ferry from Mykonos to Paros in the morning around 10 AM in time to catch the Blue Star ferry that stops on Paros at Noon on the way to Santorini. It's also possible that there will be another ferry added into the mix by then that will take you directly from Samos to either Paros or Naxos (bypassing Mykonos), where again you can catch the Blue Star or another ferry the rest of the way to Santorini. One more option: there's a highspeed catamaran ferry from Mykonos to Santorini that leaves Mykonos later in the day, around 3 PM, arriving at Santorini around 5:30 PM. From Santorini you can either fly back to Athens or take one of the various ferries going in that direction. In September it's not necessary to book ferry tickets in advance, so you can do it as you go, which allows you to be flexible in case of last-minute ferry schedule changes.
Ferry schedules for next September are not available until sometime in the summer, but when they're finalized you can find them at:
http://www.openseas.gr/OPENSEAS/index_en.vm
Select "Piraeus" for Athens.
You can also use the calendar function on this website to backtrack to last September to see what was offered then as an idea for what to expect this year, but keep in mind that 'things change.'
Posted by
Camarillo, California
3149 posts
I should also add that both Olympic and Aegean Airlines fly from Samos to Athens, and Sky Express has offered direct Samos>Santorini flights in the past. They all have websites for e-ticketing.
www.skyexpress.gr is a small Cretan airlines using smaller twin engine turbo-prop planes, and their baggage allowances are smaller than normal and VERY strict. Be sure to read the fine print. You may have to wait until May or June to see their schedules for next September.
Posted by
Columbia, SC, USA
25 posts
We will be staying in Istanbul for a week next month and wanted to take a day trip to Ephesus. We booked tickets on Turkish Airlines for pretty cheap. We then arranged pick up from the Izmir airport and drop off there after a tour with Celsus Travel. I think our flight leaves Istanbul at 8 am and we get back that night around 9 pm. It was really easy to arrange.
Posted by
OP
Little Rock, AR, USA
6 posts
Shelby,
Thanks for much for your response. Do you recall how much your plane tickets were to Ephesus and back? Also, how did you arrange transportation from the airport to Ephesus? I would love to hear back from you after you return. I'll be interested to hear if a day trip to Ephesus was the right thing to do, or would it have been better for you to spend a night close by. I love the idea of doing it in a day trip so I'm hoping that works out well for you. I am assuming that a few hours at the site will be plenty. But if you would, please write again when you get home. Where else are you going? We are still in the planning stage.
Robin
Posted by
Columbia, SC, USA
25 posts
Hi, Robin:
I think we paid maybe $250 total for our tickets (there are two of us), which I thought wasn't too bad for a round trip in one day. Plus, we waited until just a few weeks ago to book them. If you go on Turkish Airlines' website, you'll see they have different fare rates for each flight. The cheap seats sell out more quickly, obviously. Since we were later buying ours, they cost a bit more. You could probably fly for much cheaper since you are several months out. If you can get the really cheap seats there and back, it might only cost you $50. Of course, a lot of that also depends on the exchange rate, which is quite favorable right now.
We only have a week in Istanbul, which itself could take years to discover from what I have been told, so I didn't want to spend the night at Ephesus and lose time in Istanbul. So the day trip sounded like the best option for us. I will definitely post after we get back.
As for transfers, we arranged a private transfer from our hotel to the IST airport and from the IST airport to our hotel later that night. THere is a shuttle that does either private transfers or they do regularly scheduled non-private ones. I think our private transfer is 20 euros total each way. We would have done the public one, since it was only 7 euros, but the times didn't work out for our flights. I will try to find the link to the airport transfer (we are using them for transfers to and from the airport when we initially reach Istanbul and when we leave to come home) and post it.
Celsus Travel is going to pick us up at the airport in Izmir and transfer us to Ephesus. We will have a private tour with a guide and private transfers. Our tour includes Ephesus, Mary's House, St. John's Basilica, and the Ephesus Museum. Then they drop us back off at the Izmir airport for our flight back to Istanbul.
Hope this helps. There are companies that specialize in day trips to Ephesus, but it was cheaper to do it on our own.