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Practicalities
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Ferries anchor at the
Alsancak terminal
, 2km north of the centre, where there's also a Turkish Maritime Lines office selling onward boat tickets (tel 0232/464 7835); a taxi into town costs $2 or you could walk 250m south and pick up bus #2 (blue-and-white) or bus #12 (red-and-white) from Alsancak train station. Intercity
trains
pull in at
Basmane station
, 1km from the seafront at the eastern end of Fevzipasa Bulvari (left-luggage daily 8am-7pm; $2 per piece). From the
airport
, there's an hourly shuttle train to Alsancak train station, as well as Havas buses (14 daily) to the main THY office at the central
Buyuk Efes Hotel
. The
bus station
is way out on the east side of the city (left-luggage daily 7am-midnight; $2 per piece), from where buses #50, #51 and #54 run to Basmane and Konak. Buses to and from destinations on the Cesme peninsula depart from the separate Uckuyular bus station, accessible by bus #12 and #169 from Konak. There's a
tourist office
in the airport arrivals hall (tel 0232/274 2214), another in Konak Meydani near the seafront (tel 0232/483 5117), and a third adjacent to the
Buyuk Efes Hotel
at Akdeniz Mah. 1344 Sok 2 (daily 8am-7pm; tel 0232/445 7390).
The main areas for budget hotels are Cankaya, Akinci and Altinordu, immediately west and southwest of Basmane train station, around Fevzipasa Bulvari and Anafartalar Caddesi. In Akinci, Hikmet Otel, 945 Sok 25 (tel 0232/484 2672; under ?5/$8), has rooms ensuite and not; Nil Otel , Fevzipasa Bul 155 (tel 0232/483 5228; under ?5/$8) has all ensuite rooms with TV, though the ones at the front may be noisy. In Cankaya, Oba , 1369 Sok 27 (tel 0232/483 5474; under ?5/$8), is worth trying, as is Guzel Izmir , 1368 Sok 8 (tel 0232/483 5069; under ?5/$8), which has small ensuite rooms.
Not surprising given its size, Izmir boasts seemingly inexhaustible
restaurant
options. Avoid the clutch of obvious eateries within sight of Basmane station: there are more decent places in the bazaar area, although most of them close by early evening;
Omur
, Anafartalar Cad 794, is cheap and friendly, serving ready-prepared dishes but no alcohol;
Bolulu Hasan Usta
, 853 Sok 13/B, does the best pudding and ice cream in town - but nothing else. The best eating options by far are in Alsancak on the Birinci Kordon, and on and around the pedestrianized Kabris Sehit Caddesi. Typical are
La Sera
, Birinci Kordon 190a, with kebabs, fish and desserts plus live music evenings; and
Cafe Reci
on 398 Sok, serving salads, crepes and ice cream. More upmarket is the pricey
Kemal'in Yeri
, 1453 Sok 20/A, which is famous for its seafood, while for the budget-conscious the
Kurcicei
at 75 Kibris Sehit Caddesi boasts that it's open 25 hours a day and offers 21 types of
pide
. Best-value
bar
is the long-standing
Eko
on the corner of Pilevne Bul and Cumhuriyet Cad, which also serves kebabs and chips. Further along on 1482 Sok
Kahve Bahane
and
Kaos
are brisk, inexpensive student hangouts housed in a row of dilapidated old Greek merchants' houses. There are several
Internet
cafes around Alsancak, including Chat Internet Cafe, 1453 Sok 14a. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Turkey,
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