Things to do in Izmir

That’s it, this time we’re really and truly off again! It’s in Turkey that this new 7-month trip has just begun. It’s been about a week since we left Switzerland and arrived in the lovely city of Izmir on the shores of the Aegean Sea. In this article, we’re sharing our first impressions of Turkey, as well as our favorite things to do in Izmir. Tips, good addresses… Follow the guide!

Izmir: A city with little tourism, resolutely turned toward the West

How we chose Izmir

To start, why did we choose Izmir as the first stop on this trip? Great question! Actually, when we started planning this trip (maybe 2-3 weeks ago), we were torn between several options: Iran? Georgia? Turkey? We had very little time back then, and we’ll admit it, the booking was made in (quite) a rush.

In the end, it was a cheap plane ticket, and especially a direct flight, that decided for us.

When we arrived, we hadn’t had any time at all to look into anything. We’d quickly booked an apartment, and that was it. This first week was meant to help us settle in and, above all, give us time to plan what came next. That’s now done.

Izmir, we knew it was a Turkish city, but let’s be honest, we could never have placed it on a map before. Much less well-known than Istanbul, which we’d already visited, or Ankara, or Antalya, it’s actually the country’s 3^rd largest city with nearly 3 million inhabitants (4 million counting the province)!

If you don’t know where it is either, here’s a little map of Turkey as a gift: 🙂

Introducing the city

The city of Izmir used to be called Smyrna. This name is still used in some languages, like Greek or Spanish.

Today, Izmir is best known as the most Western-facing city in Turkey. A large part of the population is Muslim, and you’ll find mosques all over. But when you walk around downtown, it’s not necessarily obvious. Many women don’t wear a headscarf, alcohol is served on plenty of terraces, and locals love gathering by the sea to drink a beer and snack on sunflower seeds or rice-stuffed mussels.

This week also happened to mark the start of Ramadan. But to be honest, we haven’t really seen what that looks like in Turkey yet. Here, it seems very few people actually observe Ramadan. At least, walking around the streets before and during it, we haven’t noticed any difference in people’s habits. The shops are all open, people are sitting on terraces, and the chai is flowing freely. Our guide told us he doesn’t know many people anymore who observe Ramadan in Izmir, or at least not very strictly. He said many people simply choose to give up something they enjoy, or limit themselves to 1 or 2 meals a day, without necessarily being strict about timing.

What to do in Izmir: our favorite spots to visit

Wander through the Bazaar district, Kemeraltı Bazaar

Izmir’s pedestrian center is a real beehive! In the Kemeraltı Çarşısı (its Turkish name), you’ll find stalls everywhere, crowds at all hours, and above all, smells and flavors coming at you from every direction. We got lost countless times there… Every time we spotted a cute little café, we could never find it again the next time. 😉 So basically, wander around the bazaar, and if you spot a café you like, sit down! You might never stumble across it again.

Visit Kızlarağası Hanı

Kızlarağası Hanı is a covered market located in the Bazaar district, but we’ve set it apart because it’s really a unique place. The building actually dates back to 1744 (though it’s since been restored), and if you come here, it’s not to buy overpriced souvenirs but for the beauty of the building and its atmosphere. On the ground floor, you’ll find all the usual uninteresting souvenirs, but head up to the upper floor and you’ll find antique dealers and craftspeople. We didn’t buy anything, but it was really interesting to wander through!

Stroll along the waterfront

This isn’t really a tourist activity as such, but since you’re passing through Izmir, we highly recommend taking a walk along the Aegean Sea and the waterfront. The city has built a promenade stretching for many kilometers (we’re far from having covered it all). From our apartment, we regularly walked the 5 km to reach the Kordon, this tree-lined seafront. Either way, on this promenade you’ll rarely be alone… Between couples in love, groups of friends grabbing a drink, joggers, mussel vendors, and especially fishermen, you won’t even notice the kilometers going by.

Visit the Agora Ören Yeri

The Agora Ören Yeri is an open-air museum right in the city center where you can admire the remains of the ancient city of Smyrna. The old agora, which dated back to the 4^th century BC, was destroyed by an earthquake in 178 AD but was quickly rebuilt by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. In the museum today, you can notably see the water channels built by the Romans, which are still functional.

A large part of the site is closed to the public as excavations and restorations are still underway. Still, it’s worth a visit, if only to wander down to the lower level near the old basilica.

Entrance ticket price: 6 euros (a bit over 300 TL per person). The Agora Ören Yeri is open daily from 8:30 am to 7 pm. Plan on about thirty minutes for the visit.

Walk past Izmir’s Clock Tower

Okay, the Clock Tower (İzmir Saat Kulesi) is a bit of an Izmir classic. For our part, we were clearly out of luck since it was under full renovation during our visit. Located in the heart of the city on Konak Square, this tower was built in 1901 by a French architect: Raymond Charles Péré

Admire Izmir from the Asansör

I’ll give you a hint: the name “Asansör” comes from the French word “ascenseur” (elevator). Why? Simply because that’s exactly what it is: an elevator (or rather two) that lets you easily get from one street to another without having to climb the hill. The İzmir Tarihi Asansör is free, and from the top, you get one of the most beautiful views over Izmir!

Visit the Blue Mosque, Fatih Camii

There are plenty of mosques in Izmir, and many of them are worth a look. You won’t have any trouble finding the ones downtown, in the Bazaar district, or around Konak. But if we had to recommend just one more, it would probably be Fatih Camii, located at number 36 on Birleşmiş Milletler Street. Its lovely color and impressive panorama over the city make it worth a short visit! That said, we’ll agree it doesn’t quite compare to Istanbul’s Blue Mosque ;).

Visit the Atatürk Museum

The Atatürk Museum is a free museum dedicated to the founder of the Republic of Turkey. Adored by some and criticized by others, he’s the one who gave the country its secularism, granted women the right to vote, and replaced the Arabic alphabet with the Latin one. The museum itself isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s still really interesting to learn more about the founding father of modern Turkey.

Wander around Konak Pier

Konak Pier is a former customs building, designed by none other than Gustave Eiffel (yes, the same one behind the tower in Paris)! It was first turned into a fish market and has, in recent years, become a large, rather chic, ultra-modern shopping mall. Now, we’re not big shopping fans, but the architecture of the place is definitely worth a look!

Our favorite spots in Izmir to eat and/or grab a drink

Where to eat?

Our favorite spots in Izmir:

Gozlemecim

A great spot for eating gözleme. These ultra-thin crepe-like dishes can be stuffed with just about anything. At this little restaurant, the menu is a huge list of ingredients, and you choose what you want to put in your gözleme. Really good, fresh ingredients, and a nice place. Great for vegetarians too!

Address: 897 Sokak No: 19
Price: we paid 48 TL (under 7€) for 2 gözleme, 3 drinks, and 2 teas (on the house)

Magro

A good spot for slightly healthier food, so you’re not just eating kebabs the whole time. Located on the Kordon promenade, we ended up there somewhat by chance on our first night. It was excellent!

Address: Atatürk Caddesi 220A (on the Kordon)
Price: we paid 102 TL (about 14 euros) for 2 dishes, 2 drinks, and 2 teas.

Tugba

Tugba is a good spot to pick up some Turkish sweets and have a good Turkish coffee for 1 TL. Fair warning though: it’s easy to end up buying more than planned :)! We meant to buy 2-3 things and ended up with almost a kilo of Turkish delight. In the end it cost us less than 3 euros, but our waistlines might pay the price!

Address: It’s a chain and you’ll find it all over. The one we went to was in Konak Mahallesi, Anafartalar Cd. No:7

And another thing to try in Izmir: Midye! No specific address here since they’re literally everywhere. Midye are mussels stuffed with rice (and the mollusk itself, of course). You eat them with a squeeze of lemon.

Note: we’d recommend eating them at a restaurant rather than buying them from the many street food vendors selling them. They’re still seafood, so keeping the cold chain intact matters (even though the mussel is cooked).

Where to grab a drink?

The best view for a drink is definitely from the Asansör. At the top there’s a restaurant (fairly upscale) but also a café with an incredible view. And if the café is full, don’t hesitate to walk 20 meters left or right! Two smaller, much cheaper, very local cafés, Lutz Coffee and Aşıklar Tepesi, offer more or less the same view!

Otherwise, if you’d rather stay downtown, the best place for a drink is along the Kordon promenade. There, bars, pubs, and restaurants line up one after another. Not exactly charming, but the view is nice and the menus are varied.

Lastly, for a chai, we recommend Acı Kahve Cafe, the little café in the middle of Kızlarağası Hanı. Run by the city, the prices are tiny and the vibe is very local and friendly.

Visiting Izmir with a guide

During our stay, we also did a tour with a local guide. We wanted to ask some questions, but mostly to see and understand Izmir a bit better. We regularly do free walking tours (tip-based guided city tours) in every new city, and every time, we’ve loved the concept. So naturally, we went looking for something similar here.

Now, we won’t lie, the options were slim… In our research, we came across a tour listed as “closed” on TripAdvisor but with a linked website and a WhatsApp number for contact. So, without much hope, we sent a message. Less than 2 minutes later, Osman replied, enthusiastic, and set up a meeting for the next morning. Simple and effective, as they say!

The next day, we met up with Osman. A guide of gold! History-wise, he’s not the most knowledgeable, and his tour isn’t super structured either, and yet we loved this 5-hour visit with him! We were the only ones who showed up, as other participants had canceled at the last minute. Osman is a guide who will never try to drag you to a carpet seller or offer you a “free” tea at a friend’s place just to sell you souvenirs afterward. No, with him, the tea is offered wholeheartedly, and his good mood is quickly contagious. He has plenty of stories and, above all, he’s open to talking about absolutely any topic imaginable.

2026 update: Osman’s tours unfortunately don’t seem to exist anymore :(. We found an alternative on Getyourguide. We haven’t tried this tour ourselves, but if, like us, you’d like the benefit of a local’s advice, it could be a good option.

Getting around Izmir

By public transport

Getting around Izmir is very easy! There are buses, metros, tram lines, and bike-share stations. During our stay, we only used the tram, the metro, and bikes.

The Izmirim Kart is your golden ticket for all your travels. The card costs 115 TL and can be topped up at any metro station (no minimum top-up amount). Each ride then costs 30 TL. A “ride” means a trip that can include transfers but doesn’t exceed 90 minutes. In short, it’s very practical and cheap! To get one, download the official app on your phone or buy it directly at metro stations, ferry docks, or bus terminals.

When arriving at Adnan Menderes Airport, know that the cheapest way to reach downtown is definitely the metro! At the international terminal, you’ll see plenty of buses and taxis. Some people will even tell you there’s no metro or train (yes, that happened to us). So yes, the urban train isn’t at the international terminal, but it is at the domestic arrivals area, a 5-minute walk away. Just follow the IZBAN signs.

Tip: use Google Maps to find out which station to get off at.

By bike

Like many cities around the world, Izmir has a whole network of city bikes. Mostly located along the waterfront, they’re a great way to get around quickly and cheaply while enjoying the scenery. The entire seafront promenade has an excellent bike lane. Plus, you can bring the bikes onto the ferries, so you can extend your ride a bit. In short, we loved it!

The bikes are called Bisim, and they’re blue and white for the manual ones and yellow and green for the electric ones. You pay for the first 5 minutes upfront, 10 or 20 TL depending on whether it’s a standard or electric bike. After that, the per-minute rate is 1.5 TL for a manual bike and 4 TL for an electric one.

To rent a Bisim, there’s only one way: download the Izmirim Kart app and scan the QR code on the bike. Note that a pre-authorization hold is required: 47.50 TL for a classic bike and 120 TL for an electric one. This amount isn’t actually charged; it’s just held on the card to secure the transaction and is released once the ride is over.

Our travel budget

Since we left, I’ve gone back to our old world-tour habits and I’m carefully tracking every expense. That way, I can put together detailed articles on budgets by country. But in Turkey, the budget varies quite a bit depending on the region and the season! Starting in June, we’ll be heading into high tourist season a bit… So I figured I’d share little budget summaries live for each of our destinations.

Exchange rate during our stay: 1 € = 6.8 TL

2026 update: the prices below in TL are no longer accurate. Inflation has been such that today 1 € = 55 TL. The prices converted into euros, however, have stayed roughly similar.

• The flight: We bought a one-way Zurich–Izmir flight that cost us 85 euros per person (taxes and checked baggage included). To book, we used Skyscanner and picked the cheapest date within the week we were planning to leave.
• Accommodation: For this first destination in Turkey, we chose to rent an apartment. We got a small studio of about 25 m², a 30-minute walk from downtown. The big plus of our apartment? Two workspaces, but especially a gorgeous terrace with a view over Izmir! Find all the apartments and hotels on Booking.
• Food: Food is really cheap in Izmir! For a quick bite (Pide, Dürum, Köfte, Dolma, etc.), expect to pay between 8 and 15 TL per person to fill up. If you go to a restaurant and stay reasonable while still treating yourselves, expect around 50-110 TL for a meal for two (without alcohol). A chai typically costs 1 or 2 TL, though it’s very often offered for free after meals. Since we had an apartment, we also did some grocery shopping for breakfasts and a few dinners on our terrace. Here, the total is always a shock; it comes out to roughly 50% cheaper than in France and close to 70-80% cheaper than in Switzerland!
• Transport: As mentioned above, transport is really cheap in Izmir. Get the Izmirim Kart and you’re set for your whole stay.
• Activities and extras: We did the free tour with a guide. Since it’s tip-based, we decided to leave him 200 TL at the end of the day. Otherwise, the Agora visit cost us 12 TL per person.

Excluding flights, we spent about 24 euros per day, per person, in Izmir. That said, I won’t hide the fact that on a full round-the-world trip, we’d probably spend a lot less, since that’s clearly possible. Our apartment was relatively expensive, but so lovely and comfortable to work from too. (Yes, despite appearances, we also did a lot of work this week ;).)

Where to stay

Looking for accommodation in Izmir? Check out the map below to find a list of all the hotels and apartments. Adjust the filters based on your budget, dates, and type of accommodation to narrow down your search.

What to see and do around Izmir

Izmir is a really nice city and also a popular starting point for day trips. During our travels, we were in slow-travel mode and decided to spend a night in Ephesus and then continue to Pamukkale. These two spots are classic excursions that can also be done as day trips from Izmir.

Ephesus

Personally, I’d recommend doing Ephesus as a day trip. It’s totally doable, given the travel time is around 1 hour (1.5 hours max). To get to Ephesus, you have 2 options:

• Rent a car in Izmir: rentals start at around 25-30 euros a day in low season and go up to 50 euros in high season. We recommend comparing rates across different agencies on this site. Don’t hesitate to list both downtown and the airport as pickup points, since the price differences between agencies can be significant.
• Take an organized tour: tour prices vary depending on what’s included, but expect roughly 100 euros per person for the day. That price includes entrance fees, transport, and the guide. See tours on Civitatis or Getyourguide.

Renting a car gives you more independence and flexibility, and it’s also cheaper if there are several of you. That said, for Ephesus, we’ll admit that having a guide can really add a lot of value. We visited the site without one and kind of regretted the lack of information… I think having some anecdotes and a bit of historical context really enriches the visit!

Pamukkale

To get to Pamukkale, I think it really depends on how much time you have… That said, if you decide to go for the day, keep in mind the travel times are long! Count on 2.5 to 3 hours of driving between Izmir and Pamukkale one-way, so between 5 and 6 hours of driving just for a day trip. It’s totally doable, but if you have the time, we’d recommend spending the night in Pamukkale instead.

For excursions, we generally compare prices between Civitatis and GetYourGuide (we regularly use both sites).

More activity ideas in Izmir

Our thoughts on Izmir

Let’s be honest, Izmir is certainly not the “prettiest” city in Turkey. There are relatively few tourist attractions really worth the detour, but despite that, we really enjoyed this first stop. It was truly a gentle start to the trip for us. The city is calm, the people incredibly kind, and the food divine. We loved strolling along the harbor and simply watching people and the fishermen go by, and the old men putting the world to rights under the trees.

That’s it for this first article on Turkey! Either way, we’re really excited to see what the rest of this trip has in store for us. Tomorrow, we’re heading to Ephesus, a little village among the vineyards, before continuing to Pamukkale and then to the coast to walk part of the Lycian Way with our tent on our backs.

See you soon!

P.S. — We’ve put together all our tips in a practical guide for backpacking in Turkey. Happy reading!