İzmir
An Aegean port city with layers of ancient Greek, Roman, Ottoman and modern Turkish history, where waterfront promenades meet covered bazaars and Byzantine hilltop ruins.
Also part of The Aegean CoastThe Seven Churches of Revelation
İzmir opens toward the Aegean with a long waterfront promenade where locals walk in the evening hours, the sea air carrying salt and the sound of ferry horns from the bay. The city moves at a gentler pace than Turkey's larger metropolises — an old port town that absorbed Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman layers over millennia, then rebuilt itself after a catastrophic fire in 1922 destroyed much of the 19th-century urban fabric. What remains is a city of contrasts: concrete blocks from the mid-20th century sit beside restored neoclassical facades, and the call to prayer from Kadifekale drifts down toward the clock tower in Konak Square below.
The Konak Waterfront
The Saat Kulesi — a stone clock tower built in 1901 — marks the visual heart of the city centre, its silhouette visible from the Kordon, the seaside promenade that stretches southward along the bay. Boats and ferries depart from the nearby docks, connecting the city to coastal towns and islands. Around Konak Square, the atmosphere shifts between the orderly grid of modern streets and the older quarters climbing the hillside inland.
Kemeraltı Bazaar and the Hillside
Walking inland from the waterfront, the covered Kemeraltı Bazaar occupies a neighbourhood of narrow streets and Ottoman-era shop houses that dates to the 17th century. The market sells spices, textiles, and everyday goods alongside workshops where craftspeople work with metal and wood. Above this district, Kadifekale — the Velvet Castle — occupies a hilltop where ancient foundations, likely Hellenistic in origin, overlook the city and the bay. From here, the view encompasses the urban sprawl reaching toward the mountains inland.
The Alsancak district, north of the Kordon, has tree-lined streets of late-Ottoman townhouses, some restored, others worn by time. Cafés occupy their ground floors, and the neighbourhood draws visitors in the afternoons and evenings. Near the northern end of the waterfront, old quay walls and the remnants of Roman-era harbour works hint at the long history of this stretch of coast.
Find it on the map
- İzmir City
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Tours that visit İzmir
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Before you book you should know
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Is this trip right for you?
Our groups are capped at eight travellers, which is about a third of what the industry calls a small group. Eight people share one vehicle, one table at dinner and one guide's attention, and the day can change on the road without anybody being left behind. If you are looking for a coach, a fixed script and a microphone, this is not that.
Most days involve real walking, often on ground that was laid two thousand years before walking shoes: marble worn smooth, cobbles, uneven steps and long site paths with little shade. Bring shoes you can spend a morning in.
Some days move between regions and are largely a drive, with stops along the way. Summers are hot — well over 35°C inland — and winters are colder than most people expect, so layers, a hat and sunscreen earn their place in the bag whatever the month.
How demanding a particular trip is, is written on the trip itself: the physical rating in the header, and the day-by-day itinerary above.
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Rooms, and travelling on your own
Trip prices are per person, sharing a twin room. Each traveller picks their own room while booking, so a party can mix the three:
- Twin share — two single beds, shared with someone you are travelling with or with a traveller of the same gender.
- Travelling as a couple — one double room.
- Individual room — a room of your own, for a single supplement on top of the trip price. Availability is limited, and the supplement for a given date is shown next to the option when you book.
Solo travellers are welcome on every departure, and most of our groups have one or two aboard.
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Accommodation
The hotels named in an itinerary are a guideline rather than a guarantee. Where one is full, or has dropped below the standard we booked it for, we substitute a property of a similar standard in the same area — we would rather change the hotel than the trip.
Check-in is usually mid-afternoon. If you arrive early we will ask for the room, but no hotel can promise one before its own check-in time; luggage can normally be left at reception in the meantime. If you want the room from the night before, ask us and we will add the extra night to your booking.
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Passports, visas and insurance
Entry requirements depend on your nationality and change without much notice, so the only reliable source is the official one: the government of the country you are travelling to, and your own foreign ministry's travel advice. Check both before you book a flight.
Many countries ask for a passport valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates, and for blank pages. It is worth looking at yours now rather than at the airport.
We ask every traveller to carry travel insurance covering medical treatment and repatriation, and we would strongly encourage cover for cancellation and for your luggage as well.
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Your departure is guaranteed — the day can change
Once a departure is on the calendar it runs. We do not cancel a trip for want of a minimum number of bookings, so a booked date is one you can plan flights and leave around.
What can move is the shape of a day. Museums and archaeological sites change their hours, roads close, weather turns, a local holiday lands in the middle of the week. Where that happens your guide reorders the day, or swaps a stop for one of the same weight, and tells you why. Changes to a booked itinerary are covered by our Booking Terms & Conditions.
