What to see in İzmir and what Alaçatı is known for: the old centre, the wind and boyoz

The main sights of İzmir can be covered on foot in two days. In the old centre, the Clock Tower on Konak Square, the shopping streets of Kemeraltı, the ruins of the Agora of Smyrna and the Archaeological Museum stand close together. Above the centre rise the Asansör and Kadifekale hill, and the evening belongs to the Kordon waterfront. A third day is worth spending on the Çeşme peninsula: Alaçatı is known for its stone houses, windmills and a shallow bay where windsurfers learn and race. Ephesus and the village of Şirince are also in İzmir province, but they make a separate trip south.

Konak and Kemeraltı: the tower, the bazaar and the ancient square

The tower on Konak Square was built in 1901 for the 25th anniversary of Sultan Abdülhamid II's reign. According to the İzmir Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, it is octagonal, four storeys and 25 metres tall, with columns in a North African style; its four clock faces were a gift from the German Emperor Wilhelm II. The 1974 earthquake stopped the clocks at 02:04, the tower was repaired within two years, and the clocks still run.

From the square, Kemeraltı leads into the old town. The city's tourism portal Visit İzmir calls it İzmir's commercial centre since the 17th century; its streets tangle like a maze. In the courtyard of Kızlarağası Han, built in 1744, about two hundred shops sell antiques, leather, jewellery and souvenirs. Havra Street has been the Jewish quarter since the late 16th century: it has nine synagogues, four of them standing wall to wall, and the stalls sell fruit, fish, cheese and pickles. Walking around the bazaar is free.

The Agora of Smyrna lies in the same old centre. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, building began in the late 4th century BC, after Alexander the Great: the city authorities and the court sat here, and trade went on. The slope beneath the square was levelled with vaulted cellars, a terrace with porticoes stood on top of them, and some of the cellars survive. In Byzantine and Ottoman times the site was a cemetery, which kept the ruins from being built over; excavations have been under way since 1932.

The Archaeological Museum stands in Bahribaba Park; the current building opened on 11 February 1984. The hall of stone works holds Hellenistic and Roman sculpture, including a marble statue of Androklos. Upstairs are bronze statues of a running athlete and of Demeter, both raised from the bed of the Aegean Sea, and the treasury keeps coins from the Archaic period to Islamic times.

The Agora and the museum belong to the Ministry and keep the same hours: from 1 April to 1 October 08:30–19:00, the rest of the year 08:30–17:30; the ticket office closes half an hour earlier. As of 7 November 2026, an adult ticket costs €6 for the Agora and €4 for the museum; the prices are published in euros on the Türkiye Müzeleri portal.

Asansör, Kadifekale and sunset on the Kordon

In the Karataş quarter, the Konak district runs up against a steep slope. In 1907 the philanthropist Nesim Levi built a tower with a lift here: before it, getting from Mithatpaşa Street to Halil Rifat Paşa Street meant climbing 155 steps. The tower, about 40 metres high, is stone at the bottom and brick above; a plaque at its base gives the builder's name and the year in French and Hebrew. The lift ran on steam, then on water, and on electricity since 1985. The ride up is free, and at the top a terrace looks out over the bay. The entrance is reached along Dario Moreno Street, named in 1990 after the singer who lived here with his mother.

The highest point of the old city is Kadifekale hill, ancient Pagos, 186 metres high, south of the centre. The İzmir Directorate of Culture and Tourism writes that the fortress was built by Lysimachus, one of Alexander the Great's generals, when the city was resettled on the hill after the destruction of ancient Smyrna. Of the fortifications, five towers west of the citadel and a stretch of the southern wall remain, and Byzantine cisterns can be seen inside; nearby lie ruins from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods.

In the evening, head down to the bay. The Kordon runs along the water towards Alsancak, and Visit İzmir recommends the stretch between Gündoğdu Square and Alsancak pier: people sit on the lawns, street musicians play, and the sun sets over the Aegean.

Alaçatı: what the town on the Çeşme peninsula is known for

Alaçatı lies about 10 km from Çeşme itself. The town took its present form in the 19th century: according to a study by Deniz Hekimoğlu and Ayşegül Altınörs Çırak (Dokuz Eylül University, 2018), it was built by workers from the Greek islands who arrived after the marsh south of the settlement was drained. They lived from grapes and wine, which was shipped through Alaçatı's port to Chios and France; in 1881, 4,055 of its 4,122 inhabitants were Greek. After the War of Independence the Greek population left in the exchange, and in its place came migrants from Macedonia, Yugoslavia and Greece, who tried growing tobacco.

Alaçatı is famous above all for the town itself. The houses are built of local stone; long-time residents interviewed by the authors recall that the walls used to be plastered and whitewashed with lime, and the windows and doors painted blue. Since 9 February 1979 Alaçatı has been a protected urban conservation area (kentsel sit), with 216 registered buildings within its boundaries, among them the Pazaryeri and Hacı Memiş mosques and the windmills at the entrance to the town. Tourists were drawn by the stone houses, cobbled lanes, windmills and local herbs; the first two restaurants and a hotel opened in 2001, and Kemalpaşa Street became the main shopping street. The researchers also note the price of success: some of the “old” façades are new imitation stone, and many homes have turned into shops and hotels.

Where to windsurf in Alaçatı

The main spot is Alaçatı's natural harbour (Alaçatı Limanı), south of the town. According to the İzmir Directorate of Culture and Tourism, the season runs from May to October; from mid-June to mid-September a steady north wind blows, and from October to April the wind is usually from the south. The sea stays shallow and almost without waves: GoTürkiye gives winds of 15–25 knots and a depth of less than 1.5 metres even far from the shore. That is why the bay serves both as a training ground for beginners and as a venue for national and international competitions.

Schools and board rentals operate on the shore. Each school sets its own training conditions and its requirements for equipment and experience; gezdir.me does not assess their safety and does not rank them. According to the same Directorate, the province designates and announces the water sports areas every year at the start of the tourist season, so check with the school where lessons take place. Besides Alaçatı, people windsurf and kitesurf in the province at Çeşme, Dikili and Çandarlı, Seferihisar, Urla and Güzelbahçe.

What to eat in İzmir: boyoz, kumru and lokma

İzmir's baked goods have official descriptions: the İzmir Chamber of Commerce registered them with TÜRKPATENT as geographical indications with the boundary “İzmir province”. Boyoz (İzmir Boyozu, No. 268, 2017) is a round flaky bun with a “navel” in the middle, 7–9 cm across. A dough of flour, water and salt is brushed with fat mixed with tahini, stretched thin, rolled into a rope and baked until it has a light caramel crust. The specification recommends eating boyoz straight from the oven.

Kumru (İzmir Kumrusu, No. 262, 2017) is a sandwich on bread that is wide in the middle and narrow at the ends: according to the specification, it looks like the body of a turtle dove, kumru. The bread is sprinkled with sesame and baked with or without chickpea leaven. Cold kumru is filled with İzmir tulum cheese, tomato and green pepper, hot kumru with sucuk, salami and kaşar cheese; the toasted version is also called “Çeşme-style”. According to the same specification, bakers created kumru starting from İzmir gevrek, as the simit ring is called here, which has had its own indication since 2021 as well.

İzmir lokma (İzmir Lokması, No. 210) differs from lokma in other cities by its shape: a ring 6–8 cm across with a hole in the middle. The yeast dough is fried in sunflower oil and kept in a syrup with lemon juice for no more than 5 minutes; after a day, lokma loses its crunch. On the Çeşme peninsula, Çeşme Damla Sakızı mastic has been protected since 2024: the resin of mastic trees, Pistacia lentiscus var. chia. According to its specification, it goes into coffee, ice cream, biscuits, lemonade and the milk pudding muhallebi.

How to get from Istanbul to İzmir

Flying to Adnan Menderes Airport (ADB) is fastest. According to the airline, as of 7 November 2026 Pegasus flies there non-stop from Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport in about 1 hour 10 minutes. Flights from Istanbul Airport (IST) could not be checked on the carriers' websites on the same day. From the airport, the İZBAN commuter train (Aliağa – Selçuk line) runs into the city, with transfers at Alsancak and Halkapınar stations.

By car, you take the Gebze – Orhangazi – İzmir motorway with the Osmangazi Bridge; it was built under the build-operate-transfer model and has toll collection points. Intercity buses also run between the two cities, but their timetables and fares could not be checked on the operators' pages.

Without a plane or a steering wheel, you can go by sea and rail. İDO ferries run from Yenikapı to Bandırma (the route is in the 2026 winter timetable), and from Bandırma the “17 Eylül Ekspresi” train runs daily to İzmir's Basmane station, taking 6 hours 40 minutes on average, according to GoTürkiye. The ferry and train timetables are published separately, so check them before you travel.

Photo: Mors et Vita · CC BY 4.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Izmir_Konak_Square_and_Clock_Tower,_2026.jpg)