Frequently Asked Questions
WHY GO PRIVATE?
With private tours, you get the flexibility of choosing what you want to see and what you don't.
You have your own private guide to answer your questions and share with you his/her knowledge and expertise only with you as just much as you want.
Private tours are personal. You do not have to rush or slow down as long as you do not want to. You may pick the most suitable pick up and drop off times for you and determine the duration of your tour.
WHY EPHESUSTOURS.BIZ
Because we love what we do.
Because we are in love with all the sites that we take you to, and we offer you to let us take you to the heart of history, culture and fun with professionals at affordable rates.
Because we are standing behind our services to offer 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Because since 2001, more than 10.000 happy customers can't be wrong.
WHAT IS 100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE?
We stand behind our services.
During your tour:
- If you dislike the vehicle that we provide you and tell your guide about your complaint, we promise to replace the vehicle with another one during the tour.
- If you dislike the lunch arrangement and tell your guide about your complaint, we promise to find and offer other alternatives for your desire.
- If you change your mind and wish to make a change at your schedule during your tour and tell your guide about that, we promise to be flexible and offer you alternative schedules that would most interest you.
- If you dislike your guide and let the agency know about that (by calling them at the tour or make your guide call the agency for you), we promise to do our best to provide you another guide if available.
If we do not help you with any of the promises above, we will give your money back.
WHAT IS A DELUXE TOUR?
A Deluxe tour is a sum of upscale services offered to you by Ephesustours.biz. With our deluxe tours, you have the privilege to choose your guide and your lunch. Your lunch is served at a special 5 star restaurant with your complimentary drinks. The Terrace houses in Ephesus is complimentary. At your luxury vehicle, a variety of cold soft drinks and snacks are complimentary all day long. And, sorry but we do like to keep the secret gift as a secret until you open the package up at the end of your tour.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GROUP TOUR AND A SEMI VIP TOUR?
Group tours are usually for 40-45 people in a bus and one guide to share for all. With that number of people at a time, generally visits to sites are faster, lunch is open buffet and you do not have an option to determine the pick up or drop off time. You go as fast as the slowest at the group and try to hear the guide with too much effort.
To make our services affordable for everyone and for the travelers who would like to meet other people and share their day with another party or two, we offer Semi-VIP tours . We limited the capacity of semi-vip tours with 10 people maximum. The first party to reserve the SEMI-VIP tour selects the pick up time. Not to cause any consequences, semi-vip tour schedules are fixed for half day and full day.
HOW WILL YOUR GUIDE FIND US? WHERE WILL WE MEET?
When you are getting out of either the boat or the plane, your guide waits for you outside the customs or outside the exit gate holding a name board with your name on it. If you are staying at a hotel, your guide waits for you at the reception at the time you set.
IF FOR ANY REASON I WANT CANCEL MY TOUR, WHAT IS YOUR PROCEDURE?
We ask for a small amount of deposit to keep the guide for you but you’re free to cancel or make changes after you pay the deposit. It is refundable. We only request you to do so latest 4 days prior to your tour day so that the guide we keep for you, may guide for another group.
Cancellations must be done not later than 4 days prior to arrival; otherwise the deposit is non-refundable. You should have our cancellation confirmation in order to have a refund.
If guests fail to arrive, we have the right to debit the pre-payment.
Changes are subject to availability. We’ll do our best to help you with changes.
DO YOU ACCEPT VISA OR AMEX?
We accept Visa, MasterCard and AMEX. For Visa and MasterCard, there is no commission. For AMEX, banks in Turkey require %4 commissions which will be added to the total amount of your tour.
HOW MUCH IS DOWNPAYMENT? WHY SHOULD I MAKE A DOWN PAYMENT?
The down payment is 20% of the total amount. All of our guides are exclusive, experienced and good at their branch. They work hard and they are usually on a tour almost every day. To keep them for you, we require a small amount of down payment to organize your arrangements.
HOW CAN I PAY REST OF TOUR MONEY?
We require the rest of the payment to be paid in cash on the tour day to your tour guide. Our prices are in US Dollars. We accept US Dollars, Euros, Turkish Lira and British Pounds. You may also pay with credit card except Sundays. On Sundays our office is closed and there’s no chance to pay with credit card.
WHERE WE WILL EAT LUNCH?
Our standard lunches are usually at village farms at the countryside. We try to offer you the most fresh, local and healthy food because we would like you to remember the Turkish hospitality forever when you return home. Starters are 4-5 types of vegetable dishes cooked with olive oil, garlic, onion and/or tomato paste. Main dish is chicken or meatballs.
For a richer variety of food, you may buy Ottoman lunch with at least 20 types of Turkish traditional dish at a cozy family-run village restaurant.
I AM VEGETARIAN, IS THERE A VEGETARIAN MENU?
As long as you let us know your special diet either at the time of reserving your tour or when you meet your guide, we will do our best to help and provide you the kind of food you like.
I WANT FRESH FISH BARBECUE IN MY LUNCH, CAN YOU ARRANGE?
We have this option only in our deluxe tour options.
I WANT CELEBRATE MY WIFE BIRTHDAY, CAN YOU ARRANGE CHAMPAGNE IN THE MIDDLE OF EPHESUS?
Not at the historical site as we do not want to disrespect other travelers, but yes we may arrange a birthday cake at lunch!
WHY TERRACE HOUSES? IS IT REALLY WORTH TO GO?
None of our guests regretted that they have been to the terrace houses. You will be seeing the private houses of Romans who lived 2000 years ago. You will be surprised when you see the heating system or the beautiful mosaics which remained well until our day. There are a number of steps at terrace houses which may not be possible for our handicapped guests or guests with mobility problems.
WHAT IS GUIDE ONLY SERVICE?
You may reserve a guide only to visit Ephesus and surrounding area. With reserving a guide only you may extend your limits to Priene, Didyma, Miletos or other nearby towns. You may reserve a guide for a half day or a full day and within the duration specified you may visit to the places you like. Guide only service includes only the guidance fees. All other expenses are excluded.
WHEN DO WE PAY THE BALANCE/REMAINDER AFTER MAKING THE DOWN PAYMENT?
The remainder is to be paid in cash on the tour day to your tour guide.