I had a custom itinerary made by Ertunga Ecir (Ephesus shore excursion + 4 day tour of Istanbul and Cappadocia upon cruise disembarkation in Istanbul) for which there is no exact tour description on TripAdvisor but I have selected the closest description. The team was pleasant and patient during the planning and reservation process. I made several changes that the team facilitated willingly. There are many good reviews about Ertunga Ecir on TripAdvisor (which is one of the reasons I chose them!) so I will try to add some different observations than what is already posted by others. 1. I was impressed by the honesty of this agency and their willingness to put service before money first. Firstly, I was quoted a per person price for a shore excursion in Ephesus based on 5 persons. However, on the day of the excursion one of the members in my group could not attend. At the end of the tour, when I told the guide that I had agreed to pay a certain price per person for 5 persons he told me that he had already spoken to the owner and that I only had to pay for 4 persons, which was very nice of the agency. Secondly, I never felt pushed by the agency for payment. I can tell that the owners have a good read of clients and they generally know who they can trust so this fact does not mean that you can take advantage of this. I am only mentioning this because I could tell that the agency’s first concern is providing good service. Thirdly, when the guide took us to a carpet demonstration in Cappadocia and I purchased a carpet, he advised me to sign my name on the back of the tag of carpet, and including in an area that could not be removed, even though the factory was expected to be reputable. I felt that he was looking after my interest and that the visit to the carpet factory was not a shopping visit for the guide to earn a commission on sales to tourists. 2. Our guide, Urmut, in Ephesus and Kut, in Cappadocia, had great energy and were able to bring the ruins and rocks to life with their story-telling. Kut was very patient in accommodating changes to tour plans and he was very gracious and hospitable. He even stayed to see our bus drive off after it turned around to go the airport after he had already waved goodbye. The driver, Rassim, in Cappadocia was very courteous and he was prepared with water and umbrellas (to provide shade) for the trips. Our guide in Istanbul did his best to keep our wait times for the popular sites as short as possible. 3. Regarding service, the agency’s owners offered to assist us with any final travel needs before we left Turkey even though our formal tour itinerary with them was ending on that day and we were continuing to a hotel and a flight home that we had booked ourselves. It was reassuring to know that there was local assistance to ensure that we got to our final destination safely. 4. This agency did a great job of arranging hotels, guides and drivers for us so that we felt safe while visiting and we left Turkey with a good impression of the country, its people and educated about its history and culture. We would not hesitate to use Ertunga Ecir again and we certainly want to see more of Turkey in the future because of our great first experience.

Taketrips