Things to do
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İzmir Archaeological Museum
The regional collection covering Smyrna, Klazomenai, Teos and the Ionian coast, including bronzes and grave goods that never left for Istanbul. It sits in Konak beside the ethnography museum.
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İzmir Ethnography Museum
A former hospital of 1831 holding the crafts of the Aegean province, from camel wrestling gear to felt-making and Ottoman printing. It is next door to the archaeological museum and half the size.
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Agora of Smyrna
The Roman marketplace of Smyrna, rebuilt by Marcus Aurelius after the earthquake of 178, with its vaulted basement galleries intact and still carrying water. It sits below the Kadifekale slope in the middle of the modern city.
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Alsancak
The Levantine quarter behind the northern waterfront, a grid of nineteenth-century merchant houses now full of bars, bookshops and small kitchens. It is where the city eats after dark.
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Arkas Art Center
A restored nineteenth-century house on the Alsancak waterfront showing a shipping family's collection of European painting alongside touring exhibitions. Entry is free.
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Asansör
A lift tower built in 1907 by a Jewish merchant to carry residents up the cliff between two levels of the Karataş quarter, still free to ride. The terrace at the top looks straight down the gulf.
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Kadifekale
The hilltop castle above İzmir on the site of the acropolis Alexander's generals laid out, reached by bus or a steep walk. The view down the gulf at dusk is the reason people come up.
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Kemeraltı
The bazaar that filled in the old inner harbour, a covered and open maze of seventeenth-century han courtyards, synagogues, mosques and coffee houses still trading for the city rather than for visitors. Kızlarağası Han is the set piece.
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Konak Square
The square at the centre of the waterfront, marked by the ornate clock tower of 1901 given by Abdul Hamid II and the tiled Konak Mosque behind it. The ferry pier and the bazaar entrance are both on it.
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Swissôtel Büyük Efes
The Grand Efes of 1964 rebuilt behind its garden on Cumhuriyet Square, still the city's largest hotel and the one with the deepest lawn. It is a short walk from both the bazaar and Alsancak.