Kusadasi Shore Excursions, Timed to Your All-Aboard

Why we work only with cruise passengers

Because a port day has a hard stop, and everything else follows from it. A hotel guest can come back an hour late. You cannot, so every plan we write starts at your ship's all-aboard time and counts backward, and nothing goes into the day until the drive home and a margin are already set aside. You are back at the port at least 45 minutes before all-aboard. We plan every port day to have you back on time. That is our promise.

Planning one kind of day also means we know its details. The port has eight berths on two piers, and the walk from your berth to the exit takes about 5-10 minutes. Our Kusadasi ship schedule, which runs to September 2027, shows 65 days with three or more ships in port. On those mornings Curetes Street fills early and the road inland is slower, and we plan for that from the day you inquire, not the morning you land.

It also means every day we plan starts right outside the terminal exit, where your guide is waiting, and ends back at the same terminal exit. If you are staying in a Kusadasi hotel rather than on a ship, a regular day tour will suit you better than we will.

How a port day with us works, in five steps

Five steps, and only the first one needs anything from you.

1. You send your ship. The name, the date in Kusadasi and, if you have it, the all-aboard time, through our inquiry form or by email.
2. We send a timed plan. Within 24 hours, usually the same day, you get the day written out against your ship's clock, with the exact total for your group. Nothing is paid to reserve it.
3. We watch your ship. The evening before, we check its times again. On the morning, we follow it into the bay, so a late arrival changes the plan before you step off, not after.
4. Your guide meets you. Right outside the terminal exit, holding a sign with your name, usually within a minute of you stepping out. You agree the return time together before the vehicle moves.
5. Ephesus, at your pace. Your tickets are already bought at the official price, so you walk past the ticket line. Most days run downhill from the Upper Gate to the Lower Gate, where the vehicle is waiting, and extras come only if the clock says yes.

The full method, including how we set the margin on busy days, is on our back-to-your-ship page.

Ephesus is about 20-25 minutes from the pier

Kusadasi got lucky with its geography. Ephesus, once the capital of the Roman province of Asia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015, lies about 18-20 kilometers inland from the cruise pier: a drive of about 20-25 minutes on a normal morning. The terminal exit opens straight onto the town, about 50 meters from the center, so there is no shuttle to wait for and no long transfer before the day begins.

That short road is why a five-hour call is enough for the ancient city. Just Ephesus takes 3-3.5 hours door to door, and a longer call opens up the rest of the valley:

The House of the Virgin Mary is the stop that costs real time. The road climbs into the hills above the Upper Gate, and the visit deserves more than a quick look, so it belongs on a long call, as part of The Road of Paul and John. Every drive time above grows on multi-ship mornings, which is why every plan we send keeps room for the road.

Who runs Info Ephesus?

Info Ephesus is run by a licensed Kusadasi agency, GEZGİNOL TURİZM VE TİCARET LİMİTED ŞİRKETİ, registered with TÜRSAB under number 15746, a number you can check on TÜRSAB's agency search. infoephesus.com first went online in 2002, nearly 25 years ago: it is one of the earliest websites about Ephesus registered on the internet, and a great legacy to look after. We are the proud owners of infoephesus.com and run it today, and today it serves one kind of traveler only, the cruise passenger with a few hours ashore.

Everything here points at the same few hours: the ones between your gangway and all-aboard. There is more on who runs Info Ephesus.