Santorini to Samos to Kusadasi

Ferry service to Samos from Santorini means first ferrying to Mykonos, but that service stops on October 9, which means you'll either have to go back to Athens to catch the ferry to Samos or you'll have to change your itinerary. Once on Samos (Vathi is the port you want) you can take another smaller ferry across to Kusadasi then a bus or taxi to Ephesus. http://www.feribot.net/feribot/?lang=en The ferry schedule for October pertaining to Piraeus>Samos has not yet been released but when it is available you can see it here: http://www.gtp.gr Until October 31 you can take a ferry from Santorini to Heraklion, Crete and fly to Samos on www.skyexpress.gr. Or you can take a ferry from Heraklion to Rhodes. Or you can take a ferry from Santorini to Rhodes and enter Turkey on the south coast, either at Marmaris, Bodrum or Fethiye.

Do you know how easy it is to get from any of Marmaris, Bodrum or Fethiye to Ephusus?

I can't speak from experience but it's a long bus ride or an expensive flight to Izmir via Istanbul followed by a bus to Selcuk and a taxi to Ephesus. You can also rent a car and drive yourself if you're so inclined.

Michael have you checked Aegean or Olympic for flights from Santorini to Samos via Athens? That would probably be the easiest. Also, have you checked the availability of trips to Ephesus from Samos at that time of year? It would be a shame to get all the way to Samos and find that there is only one trip a week or something. I have no idea, but I would verify this first, before making transportation arrangements. Contact a travel agency on Samos and ask about the Ephesus trips. If they don't answer an email fairly quickly, use Skype and call them. I haven't been to Pamukkale so can't comment on that, but I know the Ephesus ruins are well worth a visit.

My wife and I are going from Pireaus (Athens) to Santorini on Sat, Oct 22, 2011, by Ferry, stay the 23rd. Then we take the Ferry to Rhodes on Mon Oct 24, 2011 at 01:05, and on same day take the Ferry to Mamaris, Turkey, at 17:30. From there we rent a car in Mamaris and go to Ephesus and later Pamukkale. There was no ferry from Santorini to Samos that I could find. Also the ferries from Santorini to Kos and Rhodes run only on M, W, F. So it was tough to find the right connections.

We basically have the same itinerary. We are going from athens to santorini. I decided to go to KOS then Bodrum and rent a car to Ephusus and Pamukkale. We are spending our last week in Istanbul. I hope you enjoy your vacation! Maybe we'll cross paths.

Yes, looks like it's a quite similar trip. From Pamukkale we will drive to Cappadocia, spend a few days there, turn rental car in at Kaysari and fly to Istanbul and return to the USA on November 2nd. Perhaps paths will cross!

Personally, I'd skip Pamuukale. I've been there and wasn't too impressed. Ephesus is MUCH, MUCH better...in my opinion of course. :)

I may be too late here, but I recently read that the springs and waterfalls on the limestone cliffs at Pamukkale have dried up...the sunsets are still good,
but all of the water delights in Rick's original video are now gone from what I read...I was considering going there too..