Language · 11 published
City guide · Türkiye
İzmir begins in Konak, where the İzmir Clock Tower stands beside Konak Square and the gulf waterfront. From here, Kemeraltı’s historic market streets lead inland through hans, shops, mosques and food stalls, while the coast opens into the broad Gulf of İzmir and the Kordon promenade. The city is also the natural base for western Türkiye’s major excursions: Selçuk and Ephesus to the south, Bergama and Pergamon to the north, and Çeşme, Urla and the peninsula coast to the west. İzmir therefore works as both an urban destination and a launch point for archaeology, villages, beaches and Aegean coastal landscapes.
Reviewed by Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor
Set your days, your pace and the hours you actually want to be out. The planner works around closing days and travel time, and leaves room to eat.
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
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Typical visit duration
Efes
Ephesus is an extensive ancient city in western Türkiye, visited today as an archaeological site near Selçuk in İzmir Province. The city visible today was founded by Lysimachus, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, around 300 BC.
Pergamon is the ancient hilltop site above Bergama in İzmir province, centred on the Acropolis and its monumental archaeological remains.
İzmir Saat Kulesi
İzmir Clock Tower is a historic public monument in Konak Square, in İzmir’s Konak district. Built in 1901 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Sultan II Abdülhamid’s accession, it has become one of the city’s most recognisable symbols.
Asansör is a historic vertical connection in İzmir’s Karataş neighbourhood. It links Mithatpaşa Caddesi with Şehit Nihatbey Caddesi, allowing people to cross the steep change in level without taking the long stair route.
Agora Açık Hava Müzesi
The Agora of Smyrna is the excavated state agora of ancient Smyrna in central İzmir, in Namazgah near Mezarlıkbaşı.
Aziz Yuhanna Bazilikası
Basilica of St. John is a hilltop archaeological complex on Ayasuluk Hill in Selçuk, İzmir, at İsa Bey Mahallesi, St. Jean Sokak No: 4. Its identity comes from the monumental church built over the site associated with St.
Çeşme Kalesi
Çeşme Castle is a six-towered Ottoman fortress built in 1508 during the reign of Sultan Bayezid II. Moats remain on three sides, framing a historic defensive site in the centre of Çeşme.
Selçuk Efes Müzesi
Ephesus Archaeological Museum is the principal museum for understanding ancient Ephesus in Selçuk, İzmir. It presents finds from worship, daily life, art and power, giving objects a closer scale than the open-air ruins.
Artemis Tapinagi
The Temple of Ephesian Artemis is the Artemision sanctuary associated with ancient Ephesus, in Selçuk, İzmir Province.
Meryem Ana Evi
The House of the Virgin Mary is a Catholic pilgrimage shrine on Bülbül Mountain, about 9 km from Selçuk in İzmir Province. It is associated with the tradition that Mary spent her final years here.
Teos is an ancient Ionian city in Sığacık, Seferihisar, on İzmir’s Aegean coast. Founded as an Ionian colony around 1000 BC, it developed as a maritime settlement connected to northern and southern harbours.
Kızıl Avlu
Red Basilica, also known as Kızıl Avlu, is a monumental ancient site in Bergama, İzmir. Its striking red-brick structure stands in the İslamsaray area and gives the place its familiar English name.
Gediz Deltası
Gediz Delta is a vast wetland on İzmir’s northwestern edge, spreading across the districts of Çiğli, Menemen, Karşıyaka and Foça.
Kyme
Cyme, also called Kyme, is an archaeological site near Çakmaklı in Aliağa, İzmir, around Nemrut Bay. It was one of the Aiolian cities founded around the middle of the eleventh century BC and developed as an important port centre.
Kadifekale, also called Velvet Castle, is an open-air archaeological site on Pagos, the 186-metre-high hill south of İzmir’s city centre.
Celsus Kütüphanesi
The Library of Celsus is a defining monument of Ephesus, near modern Selçuk in İzmir Province.
Beş Kapılar Kalesi
Foça Castle is the surviving Beşkapılar section of the historic fortifications on Eski Foça’s peninsula, between the Küçükdeniz and Büyükdeniz bays.
Kültürpark is İzmir’s major central urban park and fairground, established on 1 January 1936 under the leadership of Behçet Uz. Its 420,000-square-metre grounds combine mature greenery, public recreation, cultural attractions and event spaces in the centre of the city.
Çamlık Eski İstasyonu
Çamlık Railway Museum is an open-air railway collection beside TCDD’s Çamlık station, approximately 7 kilometres from Selçuk in İzmir Province. It opened to visitors in 1991 and preserves steam-era railway heritage in the setting of a real railway yard.
Izmir Archaeology Museum
İzmir Archaeological Museum is a city museum in Konak, located inside Bahribaba Park at Yeşiltepe Mahallesi, Halil Rıfat Paşa Caddesi No: 4. The present museum building opened to visitors on 11 February 1984 and was built on a 5,000-square-metre site.
İzmir Bergama Müzesi
Bergama Museum is an indoor museum in Bergama, İzmir, bringing together archaeology from the ancient city’s major excavation areas and objects from the region’s traditional life.
İzmir Doğal Yaşam Parkı
İzmir Wildlife Park is a large municipal zoological park in Sasalı, within Çiğli district of İzmir.
Metropolis is an ancient city between Yeniköy and Özbey in Torbalı, İzmir. Its name is understood to mean “City of the Mother Goddess,” reflecting the religious and civic identity associated with the settlement.
Ayasluğ
Ayasuluk Hill is the historic high ground above Selçuk, where several of the town’s most important monuments occupy one archaeological setting. A visit brings together St.
Klazomenai is an archaeological site on the Urla coast and was one of the twelve Ionian cities.
Kordonboyu
Kordon is İzmir’s bayfront promenade, stretching between Konak and Alsancak Port along the central shore of İzmir Bay. Its defining experience is movement beside open water: a continuous urban route where the bay, city frontage and everyday public life meet.
Klaros
Claros is a sanctuary of Apollo at Ahmetbeyli in Menderes, İzmir, remembered for prophecy rather than for the remains of a complete ancient town.
Çakırağa Konağı
Çakırağa Mansion is a preserved historic residence in Birgi Mahallesi, near Ödemiş in İzmir Province, now experienced as a Ministry of Culture and Tourism museum.
Pergamon Kütüphanesi
The Library of Pergamum is a specific ruin in the upper city of the Bergama Acropolis, beside the Sanctuary of Athena in Bergama, İzmir.
Asklepion
Asklepion is Pergamon’s ancient healing sanctuary, founded in the 4th century BC for Asklepios, the god associated with medicine. Its identity comes from the way a sacred precinct organised healing, movement and public experience together.
Konak Meydanı
Konak Square is İzmir’s civic waterfront heart, where the city centre opens towards the Gulf and the historic entrance to Kemeraltı. Its defining landmark is the İzmir Clock Tower, completed in 1901 and rising 25 metres above the square.
İzmir Etnografya Müzesi
İzmir Ethnography Museum occupies a historic three-storey building in Konak, on Halil Rıfat Paşa Caddesi beside the Varyant route. The building was constructed in 1831 as St.
Key Museum is a dedicated motoring museum near Torbalı in İzmir, built around historic automobiles, motorcycles, and an extensive collection of scale models.
Tiyatro
Ancient Greek theatre of Pergamon is a Hellenistic hillside auditorium within the Bergama Acropolis archaeological site. Its seating descends directly along the Acropolis slope, making the terrain part of the theatre’s design rather than a backdrop.
Limantepe is a coastal archaeological settlement in İskele Mahallesi, Urla, where research examines a long sequence of occupation rather than a single monument preserved for routine sightseeing.
Ümran Baradan Oyun ve Oyuncak Müzesi
İzmir Toy Museum is a specialised Konak Municipality collection in Varyant, built around toys gathered by ceramic artist and painter Ümran Baradan.
Yamanlar Dağı
Mount Yamanlar is the mountain and nature-park setting identified by İzmir Governorate at Dededağı Tepe in Karşıyaka. Its identity comes from a forested, elevated landscape rather than a building with galleries, exhibits or a timed programme.
Meryem Kilisesi
Church of Mary is an early-fifth-century Christian basilica within the Ephesus Archaeological Site near Selçuk in İzmir.
Hadrian Tapınağı
The Temple of Hadrian is a Roman Imperial monument on Curetes Street inside the Efes Archaeological Site at Selçuk in İzmir. Associated with Emperor Hadrian, it is recognised as one of Ephesus’s representative Roman Imperial buildings.
Atatürk Müzesi
İzmir Atatürk Museum is a house museum on Atatürk Caddesi, the First Kordon waterfront road in Alsancak.
Notion is an ancient Greek city spread across two hills at Ahmetbeyli in Menderes, İzmir.
Aydınoğlu Mehmet Bey Camii
Birgi Grand Mosque, also known as Aydınoğlu Mehmet Bey Mosque, stands in Birgi in Ödemiş district of İzmir, beside the stream and within the town’s historic settlement.
Kara Ada
Eşek Island is a natural island off İzmir’s Çeşme Peninsula, on the eastern side of the Chios Strait, and is formerly known as Goni.
İsa Bey Camii
İsa Bey Mosque is a 14th-century Aydinid mosque on the south-western slope of Ayasuluk Hill in Selçuk, İzmir.
Arkas Sanat Alaçatı is a gallery and cultural centre in Alaçatı, Çeşme, built around the Lucien Arkas Exhibition Hall and the Arkas Sanat Collection.
Çamaltı Tuzlası
Çamaltı Salt Pan is a working coastal salt-production landscape inside İzmir’s Gediz Delta, where shallow evaporation ponds, embankments and wetland habitats meet.
İzmir Kadın Müzesi
İzmir Women's Museum is a Konak Municipality museum in Basmane, opened on 23 January 2014 and identified by İzmir's public bodies as Turkey's first women's museum.
İnkaya Mağarası
İnkaya Cave is a dry cave west of Yelki village, on the eastern side of Kocadağ in Güzelbahçe, İzmir. Its documented underground length is 222 metres, and the deepest point is 30 metres below the entrance.
Arkas Art Center is a temporary-exhibition venue in İzmir’s Alsancak district, housed in a restored historic building whose rooms shape the visit.
Odeon (Konser Salonu)
The Bouleuterion at Ephesus is a compact civic auditorium associated with the city council and also known as the Odeon.
TCG Pirireis
USS Tang is the submarine displayed in İzmir as TCG PİRİREİS, a museum vessel at the İzmir Naval Museum’s İnciraltı quay.
Gölcük
Lake Gölcük is an alluvial-dammed lake in a tectonically defined depression at Gölcük Mahallesi, Ödemiş, İzmir. It sits on the Bozdağlar Plateau at approximately 1,050 metres above sea level, while the surrounding plateau averages about 1,100 metres.
İzmir Müze Gemiler Müdürlüğü
İnciraltı Sea Museum is a waterfront collection of former naval vessels at İnciraltı pier in Balçova, İzmir.
Tiyatro
The Great Theater of Ephesus is a vast ancient performance and civic building positioned where the city’s principal harbour route begins.
Sığacık Kalesi
Sığacık Castle is a living historic settlement in Sığacık Mahallesi, Seferihisar, İzmir.
TCG Ege
USS Ainsworth is preserved as TCG EGE at İzmir Naval Museum, where the former warship is displayed as a museum ship at İnciraltı pier.
Çukuriçi Höyük
Çukuriçi Höyük is a prehistoric settlement mound in Selçuk, İzmir, southeast of ancient Ephesus and near the Aegean coast. Its importance lies in the archaeological sequence beneath and around the mound, not in standing monuments designed for modern visitors.
Belevi Mausoleum is an Early Hellenistic monumental tomb on a hillside near Belevi, in Selçuk district of İzmir.
Bet Israel Sinagogu
Bet Israel Synagogue is an active historic place of worship in Karataş, within Konak, İzmir. Construction began in 1905, and the synagogue opened for worship in 1907.
Teleferik is Balçova’s enclosed cable-car attraction, with its lower facility on Sakarya Caddesi opposite İzmir University of Economics.
İzmir Tarih ve Sanat Müzesi
Inside İzmir’s Kültürpark at the Montrö Gate in Alsancak, the İzmir Museum of History and Art presents the archaeological and artistic record of İzmir, ancient Smyrna and the wider Aegean setting.
Buca Gölet is a public recreation facility in Belenbaşı Mevkii, near the Sebze Hali in Kaynaklar, within İzmir’s Buca district.
Domitian Tapınağı
The Temple of the Emperors is an imperial-cult monument within ancient Ephesus, standing on the west side of the State Agora. Its large terrace and altar identify a ceremonial complex set directly into the city’s civic landscape.
Gallesion
Mount Galesios is a 764-metre mountain north of Ephesus, on the northern bank of the Küçükmenderes River in İzmir Province. Galesion and Alamandağ are alternative names for the same peak.
Yeşilova Höyüğü
Yeşilova Mound is an archaeological settlement in Bornova, İzmir, where evidence of human occupation reaches back about 8,500 years, to around 6500 BCE.
Çandarlı Kalesi
Çandarlı Castle is a compact fortified landmark in Çandarlı Mahallesi, within İzmir’s Dikili district.
Çeşme Deniz Savaşı
Battle of Chesma is a historical display within İzmir Çeşme Museum, set inside Çeşme Castle and specifically located on the lower floor of Umur Bey Tower.
Kolophon
Colophon is an archaeological settlement landscape in Menderes, İzmir, between present-day Değirmendere and Çamönü. It was one of the oldest and most important cities of Ionia, but it is not a compact museum or a single monumental ruin.
Efes Deneyimi Müzesi
Efes Deneyimi Müzesi is an immersive museum opposite the Ancient Theatre inside the Efes Ancient City site. It presents the story of Ephesus through a sensory, audiovisual experience rather than a conventional sequence of display cases.
Lebedos
Lebedus is a small open-air archaeological landscape on the Kısık Peninsula beside Ürkmez, between Gümüldür and Ürkmez on İzmir’s coast.
Çeşme Müzesi
Çeşme Museum is an archaeological museum inside historic Çeşme Castle in Musalla Mahallesi. The castle is part of the visit, giving the collection a setting of defensive walls and historic rooms rather than a detached modern gallery.
Atatürk Maskı
Atatürk Mask is a monumental outdoor portrait of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk built directly into the Yeşildere hillside in İzmir’s Çaldıran area, between Buca and Konak.
Atarneus is an ancient settlement at Ağılkale, on a hill near Dikili in İzmir. Local heritage information dates its history to approximately 4000 BCE.
Başdurak Camii
Başdurak Mosque is a functioning Ottoman-era mosque at the meeting of Anafartalar Caddesi and Kemeraltı 863 Sokak in Konak, İzmir.
Trayan Tapınağı
The Temple of Trajan occupies the highest terrace of the Pergamon Acropolis on Kale Hill above Bergama, İzmir.
Gate of Magnesia
Magnesian Gate is the surviving city gate identified within the ancient city of Ephesus at Selçuk.
Karabel Kaya Kabartması
Karabel relief is a Hittite-Luwian rock monument carved into the south-facing slope at Karabel Pass near Kemalpaşa.
Ayasolouk
Ayasuluk Citadel occupies the summit of Ayasuluk Hill in Selçuk, where the town’s central heritage landscape rises into a defended archaeological enclosure. Its surviving walls belong to a layered setting associated with Byzantine, Aydınoğlu and Ottoman periods.
Larisa
Larissa is an ancient settlement near Buruncuk in Menemen district, north of İzmir. It belonged to the Aeolis region and occupied an elevated landscape rather than surviving as one compact monument.
Kızlarağası Hanı
Kızlarağası Han is an eighteenth-century Ottoman commercial inn in İzmir’s Konak district, embedded in the working lanes of Kemeraltı rather than set apart as a museum.
![Acropolis of Erythrae [Erythrai]](/media/commons/d/db/500/Erythrai_DSC_0113.jpg)
The Acropolis of Erythrae, also written Erythrai, is the elevated part of the ancient settlement associated with modern Ildırı in Çeşme, İzmir.
Teuthrania is an archaeological site identified with Kalerga Tepe, also written Kalarga Tepe, in İzmir’s Bergama district. The remains occupy an elevated rural hill rather than a formal museum building or a compact visitor complex.
Atatürk Anıtı
Atatürk Monument is the equestrian civic sculpture in İzmir’s Cumhuriyet Meydanı, on Kordon at Atatürk Bulvarı, in front of Swissôtel. Its subject is Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as a commander, giving the waterfront square a distinctly republican and military memorial character.
Asklepion is a healing sanctuary near Bergama, arranged as a connected landscape of approach, worship, public gathering and treatment. The long Via Tecta leads towards the monumental propylon and the principal sacred area.
Yıldıztepe Şehitliği
Yıldıztepe Military Cemetery is a small memorial site in İskele Mahallesi, within İzmir’s Urla district.
Atatürk, Annesi ve Kadın Hakları Anıtı
Atatürk, His Mother and Women's Rights Monument is a landmark in Anayasa Meydanı, Tuna, on Karşıyaka’s İzmir waterfront. Its present structure reopened in 2018 after the original 1972 monument was rebuilt.
Konak Pier is a historic waterfront customs building group on Atatürk Caddesi in İzmir’s Konak district, now used as a shopping and leisure destination.
Neonteikhos
Neonteichos is an archaeological settlement in the mountainous landscape around Yanıkköy, within İzmir’s Menemen district.
Panayırdağ
Panayır Mountain is a 121-metre natural summit in Selçuk, İzmir, within the landscape around ancient Ephesus. It is a landform rather than a museum, enclosed attraction or constructed mountain park.
Myonnesos
Myonnesus is a small rocky archaeological island off the Doğanbey coast in Seferihisar, İzmir. It is also called Çıfıt Adası, Çiftekale Adası and Çıfıtkalesi. This is a low offshore rock rather than a conventional museum or enclosed attraction.
State Agora
The State Agora of Ephesus is the ancient city’s civic square: an open archaeological space where the surviving footprint and stonework help explain how public life was organised in Ephesus.
İnciraltı Kent Ormanı
İnciraltı City Forest is a broad public green space in Bahçelerarası, Balçova, on İzmir’s coastal side. Visit İzmir describes approximately 620,000 square metres of open area, giving the site a scale closer to a landscape destination than a compact attraction.
66 Evler Parkı is a neighbourhood green space in Yenikent Mahallesi, Urla, within İzmir Province.
Persian tomb
Persian Tomb Monument is a rock-cut funerary monument in Yenibağarası, in the countryside east of Foça. Public descriptions identify it with the additional names Taş Ev and Taş Kule and date it to the 4th century BC.
Aziz Yuhanna Katedrali
St. John's Cathedral is a Catholic church in Alsancak, within İzmir's Konak district, at Şehit Nevres Bulvarı No. 29. Construction began in 1862 and the church opened in 1874.
Hisar Camii
Hisar Mosque is an active Ottoman mosque in İzmir’s Kemeraltı bazaar, in the Hisarönü area beside Kızlarağası Hanı. İzmir Metropolitan Municipality dates its construction to 1592 and attributes it to Yakup Bey.
Yedigöller
Buca Yedigöller is a neighbourhood recreation area in İzmir, set among the Çağdaş, İzkent, Karanfil, Gaziler and Murathan neighbourhoods.
İlk Kurşun Anıtı
First Bullet Monument is a memorial in Konak Atatürk Square, where İzmir’s civic history unfolds around the Clock Tower and Konak Government House.
Saint Polycarpe Kilisesi
Saint Polycarp Church is a Roman Catholic church in Akdeniz Mahallesi, in İzmir’s Konak district.
Konak Camii
Konak Mosque, also known as Yalı Mosque, is a small Ottoman-era mosque on Konak Square in central İzmir.
Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata ·
District boundaries come from OSM administrative relations, so a district page holds exactly the places inside it — plus, for the islands and the coast, the nearest district by proximity.
Use Konak as the central reference point. The Clock Tower, Konak Square, Yalı Mosque, government buildings and the entrance to Kemeraltı are concentrated here; the market continues inland and north-east, while the waterfront route runs towards Konak Pier, Alsancak and Kordon. The Gulf of İzmir divides the metropolitan area, with districts such as Karşıyaka on the northern shore and Balçova, Narlıdere and Güzelbahçe along the western shore. The province extends much farther than the centre. Selçuk and Ephesus lie south, Bergama lies north, and Çeşme and Urla lie west on the peninsula. Treat these outlying places as separate day-trip areas rather than neighbourhoods of the centre.
Checked 2026-09-02
İzmir’s integrated public-transport system combines İZBAN suburban rail, İzmir Metro, trams, ESHOT buses and İZDENİZ ferries, with İzmirim Kart used across the network. The Clock Tower, Konak, Kemeraltı and the central waterfront are easiest to experience as a walking circuit, with buses, rail and ferries extending the journey around the gulf. İZBAN is particularly useful for the airport and the southern corridor towards Selçuk; Ephesus itself is then reached from Selçuk using current local connections. Bergama, Çeşme, Urla and peninsula beaches require separate intercity or municipal transport planning. Check the relevant operator before travelling because routes and service frequencies can change.
Checked 2026-09-02
Begin at the İzmir Clock Tower in Konak, look across Konak Square towards the gulf, then walk through Kemeraltı and continue north along the waterfront towards Kordon. This route introduces İzmir’s principal historic, commercial and seaside settings in one connected visit.
İzmir is a practical base for a southern excursion to Selçuk and Ephesus. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism lists Ephesus as an archaeological site in Selçuk, İzmir Province. Check the current İZBAN and local transport information before travelling, and confirm the site’s current visitor information on the Ministry page.
Bergama is a substantial northern excursion centred on Pergamon. UNESCO describes the acropolis as the capital of the Hellenistic Attalid dynasty and part of a wider cultural landscape that includes the Asclepieion and later layers around modern Bergama. Plan it as a separate outing and verify current transport and site information before departure.
The main western options are Çeşme and Urla, together with the peninsula’s smaller coastal settlements and beaches. İzmir’s official destination material presents the province as a destination for Aegean coast, swimming and relaxation as well as history. Choose one coastal area for a day rather than trying to cover the entire peninsula.
Use İzmirim Kart with the city’s integrated buses, metro, suburban rail, trams and ferries. Walk between the central Konak sights, then use rail or sea transport for longer gulf-side journeys. For Bergama, Çeşme, Urla and beach areas, check the current intercity or municipal connection separately.
No official recommended stay length is recorded. Your duration depends on whether the plan covers only Konak, Kemeraltı and the gulf waterfront or adds separate excursions to Ephesus, Bergama, Çeşme or Urla. Those destinations are spread across the province, so each requires its own travel time and itinerary space.
