Pros: received the fax from the tour provider at my hotel front desk the night before the tour confirming the pickup time the next day. Picked up on time. Lunch food was decent. Cons: The guide's English was hard to understand. Was picked up in a minivan that was quite dirty, not spacious for seven people and the ride was uncomfortable, nothing close to the comfort of a big coach bus. In Perge, some random tourist asked, if she can join us as she woke up late and missed any tours at her hotel. Our driver/guide decided to make extra unreported cash and let her join us. Since we were already cramped in a minivan, I really didnt care for an extra passenger. We didnt visit any Manavgat waterfalls. In Side, we were not given enough time to explore the town, as our extra passenger was in a hurry to go back to Antalya. The guide didnt give any historical excursions in Side like he did in Perge or Aspendos. It was an OK experience.

I emailed the main tour provider in Turkey to confirm the tours I bought. The response was prompt and positive. The pickup in Ismir was on time; however, the driver didn’t speak any English. I was picked up alone (just me) by the driver in a minivan and driven by the driver for an hour to the neighboring Ephesus. I was a bit concerned, as it looked strange there was no tour bus with other people, and for a second I was wondering, whether I was being kidnapped. Suggestion: provide a bit more explanation, as to why I was being picked up alone without any other tourists and driven for an hour in a minivan somewhere else. Then the tour guide joined our minivan closer to Ephesus and thank God she spoke English. She explained that I was the only one who booked that tour on that day, so I got a private guide and driver all to myself for a whole day, which was great. Her English was very good and overall knowledge seemed deep. However, for being young, she seemed a bit tired and disinterested in the whole guiding process. So I am not sure I got my monies worth information-wise. The lunch was great, several-course meal, quite delicious and much better than what other tours have been feeding me in Turkey. In the afternoon I was given a choice to visit the local museum vs the St Johns Basilica, which was in my itinerary that I booked. The guide said that St Johns Basilica was not worth visiting and convinced me to go the museum, the museum was not that impressive and I would suggest sticking to the itinerary without trying to sway the customers to do something else. I wish I saw the St Johns Basilica instead. Around 2.30 pm the fun began, even though, the tour description says it’s a whole-day tour, it’s not. After 2.30 they took me to the carper cooperative where two sales men tried very hard to sell me carpets. Since I was the only one in the group, I felt very pressured and besides I was not expecting any carpet shopping. From what I can assume, the guide gets a cut from selling those carpets, so she tried very hard to convince me to buy a carpet, even after we left the cooperative. Not succeeding with carpets, she offered to take me to the leather cooperative, which I agreed to. There another round of hassling began, I managed to walk out without any leather coats, which was quite a heroic effort on my behalf. I could see the guide was quite disappointed with me. Then she said I would get a bonus and be able to see the city of Kusadasi, it only turned out to be that we were dropping her off there, since she lived there. So after wasting my time for three hours, we finally made it to Ismir by 6.00 pm. Suggestion: make it a half-day tour and cut out all these cooperative sales pitches, but rather include historical sites. After all, that’s what I paid for.