The bucket-list things to do — and who runs each one.
Here’s the bucket list for your day ashore: the most extraordinary thing to do at each stop, who runs it, and how to book it direct — so you can weigh it against your ship’s excursion and pick what suits you.
In port at Kusadasi (Ephesus), the bucket-list move is Private Ephesus Grand Tour: Ruins, Terraces & Virgin Mary. Ephesus Ancient City runs it. Below: 3 bucket-list things to do on a Kusadasi (Ephesus) port day — worth weighing against whatever your ship offers.
Walk the marble streets of one of antiquity's greatest cities — Library of Celsus, Great Theatre, Temple of Artemis — then ascend to the sacred House of the Virgin Mary, all at your own pace with a licensed private guide.
Book itALL INCLUSIVE Private Ephesus & The House of Mary & Turkish LUNCH$119 per person
Run by Ephesus Ancient City · 4.80 from 41,000 reviews
Step inside the UNESCO-listed 'Houses on the Slope' — Roman aristocratic villas with floor mosaics, wall frescoes and underfloor heating still intact — with a specialist archaeologist guide for an immersive, unhurried experience.
Book itKusadasi Port: Ephesus & Terrace Houses Tour (Skip-the-Line)$64 per person
Run by Ephesus Ancient City · 4.80 from 41,000 reviews
Join top-rated local expert Levent Solmaz for a bespoke full-day private tour blending Ephesus' ancient grandeur with Kusadasi's Ottoman castle, authentic bazaar, and a Turkish lunch at a family restaurant — the true luxury of insider access.
We have not yet verified a bookable operator and price for
this one, so we are not quoting either.
Seek out the ghostly single column of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, then follow St. John's footsteps to his hilltop basilica in charming Selçuk — a deeply moving morning beyond the main Ephesus circuit.
We have not yet verified a bookable operator and price for
this one, so we are not quoting either.
Surrender to the centuries-old Ottoman hammam ritual — full-body marble steam, kese exfoliation and foam massage — at one of Kusadasi's finest historic bath houses, emerging renewed before reboarding.
Book itKuşadası: Turkish Bath Experience w/ Peeling & Foam Massage$32 per person
Run by Ephesus Archaeological Site · 4.80 from 15,000 reviews
Escape to the enchanting hilltop village of Şirince — a Greek-Ottoman gem of whitewashed houses and vine-draped terraces — for private wine tasting, artisan fruit wines, fresh mezze and hand-embroidered treasures.
We have not yet verified a bookable operator and price for
this one, so we are not quoting either.
Your day in KusadasiNothing picked yet — tick what you fancy
$0for two, booked direct
Now plan the rest of it
You know what to do on the day. Here is the trip it belongs to —
each one opens as a whole plan, not a list: where to fly in, every port, what it runs.
