Hello,
Does anyone have experience doing a day trip to Ephesus from Istanbul? I am thinking of flying to Izmir, somehow getting to Ephesus, exploring and then returning to Istanbul that same night. Ephesus sounds grand but only have the one extra day so am trying to minimize hauling my suitcase all around.
Posted by
11 posts
One day is enough to see Epheaus.
You can book either a private or regular group tour of it, startşng from Izmir airport and finish back there.
SRM Travel can help you with it.
Posted by
Virginia
318 posts
Yes, I’ve done it. A long day but I had sufficient time to see the town of Selcuk (which has the little museum with artifacts, and a market) as well as the ruins. I arranged with a driver to pick up at Izmir airport and return at end of the day. This was back in 2012 and it’s probably a bit more of a hassle today as the Istanbul airport is now further from the city than the old Ataturk Airport was, but I expect still feasible.
Posted by
Salem, Oregon, USA
2801 posts
Slate makes a good point about getting to the airport. There are two airports in Istanbul - the new airport (IST) is a solid 45-60 minutes travel from the center of Istanbul, plus you need to allow time for getting through security and navigating to your gate (big airport). SAW is the old airport and could potentially be a bit faster to get to and through.
It is too bad you only have one day. Depending on how long you're in Istanbul and the rest of your Turkey visit itinerary, I might not give up a day there trying to get to Ephesus. If you're set on it, I would suggest picking a guided tour option just so someone else is handling the logistics. It seems there are plenty of options based on the Google.
Posted by
Virginia
318 posts
One clarification about the airports. Istanbul has two. IST is the big newest one. SAW is an older one, on the Asian side. Both are quite far from the city. The one I previously used, Ataturk, was convenient to the city and used to be the principal airport, but now has no commercial flights and its former code, IST, has been transferred to the new airport.