İzmir
Turkey
Turkey’s third city and its most relaxed: a seafront promenade that walks for kilometres, a bazaar older than the republic, and Ephesus an hour down the line
Photo by Deniz Demirci on Unsplash
Photos by ozgur uncuoglu, Mehmet Korkmaz and Deniz Demirci on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Turkey
April to June, and September to October (high summer is 34°C and the city empties to the peninsula)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 150mm in Dec
Where it is
38.42°N, 27.14°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Walk the Kordon from Konak to Alsancak at sunset
- Get lost in Kemeraltı and stop for coffee in a han
- Take the ferry across the bay and back
- Ride the Asansor for the view
- Train to Ephesus for the day
İzmir travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Turkey
Good valueExchange offices (döviz) in the centre give a better rate than the banks and far better than the airport, take no commission and post the rate in the window. Change in small amounts; the lira moves. Cards are taken almost everywhere.
ATMs & cards
Garanti BBVA, İş Bankası, Akbank and Ziraat are the ones to use. Turkish machines charge substantial foreign-card fees, so take out more at a time — or change cash at an exchange office, which often beats the machine. Decline the conversion.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- the standalone machines in the bazaar
Use these instead
- Garanti BBVA
- İş Bankası
- Akbank
- Ziraat Bankası
Turkish machines charge high foreign-card fees now, so an exchange office with cash often beats the machine. Decline the conversion.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Turkey
SafeComfortable and easygoing, the least conservative big city in Turkey. Pickpockets in the bazaar crowds and around Konak, and the usual care with taxis that will not run the meter. The earthquake of 2020 is why the newer blocks stand differently from the old ones; nothing a visitor need think about.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Kemeraltı bazaar crowds — pickpockets
- the streets around Basmane station late — unlit and a drinking crowd
- taxis that will not run the meter — use BiTaksi
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Turkey visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period.
Other passports
e-Visa requiredup to 90 days$43-$60
Applied for online in minutes. Buy it only from evisa.gov.tr — the lookalike sites charge several times the real fee.
Visa required in advance
How to get it: The e-visa is issued online at evisa.gov.tr, usually within an hour. Print it or keep it on your phone; airlines check it at the gate.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Turkey
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid if you will eat widely outside restaurants
Getting treated
Private hospitals in Istanbul are genuinely excellent and a fraction of Western European prices, with English spoken in the international departments. State hospitals are free for emergencies but slow and rarely English-speaking. Insurance is strongly advised — you will be asked to pay up front at private hospitals.
Tap water is chlorinated but heavily mineralised; almost everyone drinks bottled.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodBoyoz, the Sephardic pastry, for breakfast with a boiled egg; kumru sandwiches; midye dolma from a street cart; and the best fish on the Aegean along the Kordon and in Çeşme Altı. Cheaper and better a street back from the water.
Nightlife
The most relaxed drinking city in Turkey: meyhanes and bars all over Alsancak, and a young crowd that stays out.
- Alsancak — the bars and meyhanes, street after street
- the Kordon — terraces on the water
Closing: Bars 02:00, later at weekends.
Getting around
Easy- UberWorks here
- BiTaksiWorks here
- BoltNot here
BiTaksi the Istanbul taxi app · Uber which dispatches those same taxis
- Against a taxi
- The same metered taxis. The app matters because it records the ride and the driver cannot refuse a short fare quietly.
Private ride-hailing is illegal in Turkey; everything on the app is a licensed yellow taxi.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Istanbul — 7 hours ahead of you
1 hour of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–10:00 your time, 16:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 02:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 02:00–10:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Turkey
Why these are Turkey's numbers and not İzmir's
Home broadband — Fair. Video calls and streaming for one or two people — fine for a holiday, thin for a household working. Broadband here runs at 65% of the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Good. Maps, calls and streaming, and enough to tether a laptop for an afternoon. Mobile runs at 1.2× the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for İzmir, so these are medians for all of Turkey. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Turkey, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Turkish
- HelloMerhabaMER-ha-ba
- PleaseLütfenLOOT-fen
- Thank youTeşekkürlerte-shek-koor-LER
- Yes / NoEvet / HayırEH-vet / HA-yuhr
4 more phrases
- Excuse meAffedersinizaf-fe-DER-si-niz
- How much is it?Ne kadar?neh ka-DAR
- The bill, pleaseHesap, lütfenheh-SAP
- Cheers!Şerefe!sheh-reh-FEH
Religion
Sunni Muslim, secular state
Around 99% Muslim by heritage, but the state is constitutionally secular and Istanbul is cosmopolitan. Women cover their heads to enter mosques, everyone removes shoes, and mosques close to visitors during the five prayer times.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Accept the offered tea — refusing it outright dismisses the gesture
- Take shoes off entering a home or mosque
- Cover shoulders and knees at mosques; women cover their hair, and scarves are lent at the door
- Haggle in the bazaars, politely and with humour
Don't
- Do not point the sole of your foot at anyone, or cross your legs so it shows
- Do not blow your nose at the table
- Do not make jokes about Atatürk; insulting him is a criminal offence
- Do not photograph people, especially women, without asking
Where to stay in İzmir
No Holistay rentals in İzmir yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is İzmir on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Adnan Menderes ADB
25 minfrom the airport· 18 km as the crow flies
25 min on the İZBAN train to Alsancak.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
