City Tours in Izmir, Turkey

Here are some sample Izmir city tours, excursions and airport transfers from TTP's recommended tour companies and travel agencies.

(The actual programs of each tour company will vary, but these samples give you an idea of what you may see.)

Airport-to-Hotel Transfer (30 minutes)
An English-speaking guide/driver meets you in the Arrivals hall of Izmir's Adnan Menderes Airport, assists with your luggage, escorts you by private car over the hills to your hotel, and helps with your luggage again. You pay the driver with a pre-paid voucher. No worries about struggling with a foreign language, about taxi drivers who take you the long way round to run up the meter, or about having the right amount of Turkish liras to cover the fare and tip. Details & reservations...

Half Day Izmir Tour (3 hours)
Start with a drive to the top of Mount Pagus which rises above the city center. Enjoy the panoramic views of the city and Bay of Izmir from the walls of Kadifekale, an ancient fortress built by Alexander the Great. Tour Izmir's museums of Archeology and Ethnography, then visit the city's symbol, its Ottoman Clock Tower. Finally, penetrate its elaborate bazaar (one of my favorites in all of Turkey) which stretches for blocks. You can see the best of Izmir in only 3 hours! Details & reservations...

Izmir, Jewish Sites and Sardis (7-1/2 hours)
This full-day private tour shows you all the best sites in Izmir, and also Sardis, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, with its grand Roman Synagogue. At Sardis you can also visit the Temple of Artemis (Cybele, Diana), and other ancient monuments. Details & reservations...

Ephesus and St. Mary's House (9 hours)
To see all of Ephesus, take this full-day tour: Fountain of Trajan, Temples of Hadrian and Domitian, the mosaic-filled Private House, the Library of Celsus, Baths of Vedius, Scholastic Baths, Bouleuterion (council chamber) and the enormous 24,000-seat Great Theatre. After lunch (included), visit the Virgin Mary's House set in a neraby hilltop park, and the Ephesus Museum in Selçuk, where many of the choicest relics of Ephesus are displayed. Details & reservations...

Pergamum and Asklepion (8 hours)
See Pergamum on this full-day tour which includes its acropolis, its steep, dramatic theater, monumental Altar of Zeus and the Asclepion, the ancient medical center where Galen laid the foundations of European medicine. Details & reservations...

Full Day Pamukkale and Hierapolis (9 hours)
Drive south and east through fertile fruit- and tobacco-growing country up the Meander River valley to Pamukkale (Hierapolis), where you'll enjoy a swim in its naturally warm mineral waters. Explore the extensive ruins of the Roman health spa of Hierapolis, which show that 2000 years ago people were enjoying just what you're enjoying! Details & reservations...

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Above, a calèche waits for passengers on Izmir's Birinci Kordon (First Cordon) waterfront boulevard.

Below, gleaming white calcium travertines at Pamukkale, reachable by tour from Izmir.