Viking Neptune Kusadasi Taxi: Winter and Summer Calls to Ephesus

Viking Neptune is listed for 13 Kusadasi calls between 22 October 2026 and 28 September 2027, and none of them has published arrival or departure times yet. Almost half the list is winter: four calls in December 2026 and two in January 2027, and on all six Viking Neptune is the only ship in port. The rest are spread over October, May, July, August and September, several of them on days when other ships share the port.

Good to know: our standard cruise port taxi is the round trip to Ephesus. The House of the Virgin Mary, the Temple of Artemis and Şirince are not part of the Ephesus transfer; they can be added as extra stops for an additional charge. Tell us which ones you want when you book.

Two different kinds of call

Winter (13, 19, 25 and 31 December; 24 and 31 January). Days are short and rain is possible, so a compact route makes sense even if the ship stays a long time. The core of the day is the House of the Virgin Mary, Ephesus from the upper gate down to the lower gate, and the Temple of Artemis. Add Şirince only if the window is long and the weather is dry: cars stop at the village entrance and the lanes up are steep and cobbled. Two of these calls are Christmas Day (Friday 25 December) and New Year's Eve (Thursday 31 December); send us your times as soon as Viking publishes them.

Spring to early autumn (May, July, August, September 2027). Here the issue is heat rather than daylight. Ephesus has little shade, so start early and get the walk done in the morning. Three of these calls are on busy days: 18 May, 3 August and 28 September.

Deciding what fits once times appear

Use the times printed in your cruise documents and this rule of thumb. It already allows about 30 minutes to get off the ship and puts you back at the port at least 60 minutes before departure (or before all-aboard, if Viking sets that earlier).

Time in port	What fits by private taxi
8 hours or more	House of the Virgin Mary, Ephesus, Temple of Artemis, Şirince
about 6.5 hours	House of the Virgin Mary, Ephesus, Temple of Artemis
about 5 hours	Ephesus and the Temple of Artemis
under 4.5 hours	no safe round trip to Ephesus

These are our planning estimates; traffic and queues vary. The drives behind them are roughly 30-35 minutes from the port to the House of the Virgin Mary, about 10 minutes on to the Ephesus upper gate, 5-10 minutes from the lower gate to the Temple of Artemis, 15-20 minutes to Şirince and 30-35 minutes back. If you skip Şirince, Ephesus to the port is 20-25 minutes. On site, allow 45-60 minutes at the House of the Virgin Mary, about two hours for the Ephesus walk (30-45 minutes more for the Terrace Houses, separate ticket), 15-20 minutes at the Temple of Artemis and 60-90 minutes in Şirince.

A suggested order

For most calls: port, House of the Virgin Mary, then the driver drops you at the Ephesus upper gate and waits at the lower gate, then the Temple of Artemis, and Şirince last if it fits. On a winter afternoon with rain, the easiest cut is Şirince. On a summer day you can swap the first two stops and do Ephesus straight from the port, so the walk past Curetes Street, the Library of Celsus and the Great Theatre happens before the hottest hours; the House of the Virgin Mary, up on Bülbüldağı above Ephesus, comes afterwards.

All 13 Viking Neptune calls

Date	Day	Arrives	Departs	Also in port that day
22 Oct 2026	Thu	not announced	not announced	Celebrity Ascent, Star Legend, Sun Princess
13 Dec 2026	Sun	not announced	not announced	none listed
19 Dec 2026	Sat	not announced	not announced	none listed
25 Dec 2026	Fri	not announced	not announced	none listed
31 Dec 2026	Thu	not announced	not announced	none listed
24 Jan 2027	Sun	not announced	not announced	none listed
31 Jan 2027	Sun	not announced	not announced	none listed
18 May 2027	Tue	not announced	not announced	Celestyal Discovery, Oceania Sirena
24 May 2027	Mon	not announced	not announced	none listed
28 Jul 2027	Wed	not announced	not announced	Odyssey Of The Seas
3 Aug 2027	Tue	not announced	not announced	Celestyal Discovery, MSC Splendida, Celebrity Infinity
22 Sep 2027	Wed	not announced	not announced	Odyssey Of The Seas
28 Sep 2027	Tue	not announced	not announced	Celestyal Discovery, Oosterdam

Source: public port schedule data, checked 4 October 2026. Cruise lines change schedules; check your own cruise documents.

The fullest day on the list is Tuesday 3 August 2027, with three other ships, followed by Thursday 22 October 2026, also with three. On those dates, and on 18 May and 28 September, several ships in port means busier sites: leave the port early and book in advance. Monday 24 May 2027 is the one non-winter call with no other ship listed.

Booking a Viking Neptune Kusadasi taxi with us

• A driver meets you at the cruise port exit with a name sign.
• Your party has the vehicle to itself, up to 8 people; a larger group gets a second car.
• The driver waits at each stop, however long you take.
• Entrance tickets are paid by you at each site. We provide transport, not a guided tour.
• No prepayment: pay the driver in cash at the end of the day (EUR, USD or TL).

We are a local transfer company holding a D2 licence from the Turkish Ministry of Transport. Ticket rules and hours at Ephesus change by season, so check muze.gov.tr before your cruise, particularly for the December and January dates.

Send the call date, the times (or "not announced yet"), passenger numbers and children's ages on the cruise port taxi booking page. See also Viking Neptune at Kusadasi, the House of the Virgin Mary by taxi from the port and our plan for Viking Vesta.