Turkey · Aegean · Travel guide
What a week at the tip of the Aegean really costs, where Alaçatı is more show than substance and which bays are worth it.
Photo: Mert Mert / Pexels
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Estimates for orientation, not booking prices. Flights and hotels vary strongly by season: current prices are behind the links below.
Money & payment: You pay in Turkish lira (TRY). The exchange rate moves a lot, which is why all prices here are given in francs and euros. Cards are accepted almost everywhere; you need cash for the dolmuş, markets and tips. Flight time: 3 to 4 hours.
Nine options in three price ranges, each among the best-rated on Booking.com.
Budget
Simple hotel, family-run for decades, right on the waterfront promenade of Çeşme town, a few steps from the castle and the ferry pier. Rooms are plain and a little dated, but come with sea views and a central location that is rare in this price bracket on the peninsula.
Small town hotel right by the harbour and the pedestrian zone, clean no-frills rooms, friendly owners and a decent breakfast on the terrace. A good base if you take the dolmuş to the beaches by day and eat in the lokantas of the old town in the evening instead of paying Alaçatı prices.
Sleep in an Ottoman caravanserai from 1528, right next to Çeşme castle. Thick stone walls, a courtyard with pool and rooms that offer more history than comfort. For the price an unusual experience and right in the centre, ideal for a few nights of town and harbour.
Mid-range
Çeşme's big classic resort from the 1970s, with its own beach, marina, thermal pools and sprawling grounds between the town and Ilıca. Rooms are solid rather than chic, but the offering for families, with pools, sport and half board, is hard to beat for the price.
Four-star hotel on the quiet northern edge of town near Dalyan, with a pool, a small private beach and a view of the bay. Good breakfast, friendly service and walking distance to the harbour's fish restaurants. For anyone who wants sea and quiet but likes to be in the centre within ten minutes.
Resort right on Alaçatı's surf bay, next to the windsurfing schools and with a view of the sails. Rooms and bungalows in the garden, pool, half board available. The village is four kilometres away and the shuttle runs regularly. The best address if the wind is the reason for your trip.
Luxury
Several restored stone houses set around gardens and a pool, in the heart of Alaçatı yet quiet. Rooms with plenty of stone, wood and light, an excellent breakfast and a restaurant serving Aegean cuisine. The house that defined the Alaçatı style, with prices to match in high summer.
Large beach resort directly on the thermal beach at Ilıca with its own sandy beach, several pools, a thermal spa, kids' club and dependable service. Not personal, but comfortable: for families and anyone who wants international standards combined with the warm sea of Ilıca, a safe choice with good off-season rates.
The top resort on the peninsula, on Boyalık Bay: private beach, generous sea-view rooms, several restaurants, a spa with hammam and thermal water. Prices to match, well over CHF 500 (about EUR 535) in July and August. Considerably cheaper in the off-season, and then a real treat.
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The spot where learning to windsurf is easiest: a standing-depth bay, steady wind, no waves, schools right on the beach. Taster lesson or multi-day course, equipment included. Lessons take place in the afternoon when the meltemi blows, so keep your mornings free.
For anyone who already surfs or wants to start straight away with a kite, from about CHF 80 (about EUR 85) per lesson. Dedicated zones in Alaçatı Bay and at Pırlanta beach in the south. Courses with training equipment; several days make sense, as kiting takes longer to learn than windsurfing.
A day trip by gulet to coves you cannot reach from land, with three swimming stops and lunch on board. From Çeşme harbour or Alaçatı port, six to seven hours, around CHF 30 to 50 (about EUR 32 to 55) per person.
By ferry to Greece in 30 to 45 minutes, explore the mastic villages of Pyrgi and Mesta on a hired scooter, tickets around CHF 30 to 40 (about EUR 32 to 43) each way. Do not forget your passport and be at the harbour an hour before departure. Several sailings a day in summer.
The Ottoman fortress of 1508 with an archaeological museum, an exhibition on the naval battle of 1770 and the best view over the harbour and Chios. An hour is enough, then wander the lanes to the caravanserai and the promenade. Entry costs just a few francs.
Stone houses, windmills, herbs, olive oil and mastic: Alaçatı on a Saturday morning, when the market is in full swing and the Istanbul crowd is still asleep. With a guide you get the Greek history of the village and the best tastings thrown in.
Greek harbour city from the 7th century BC, 25 km north of Çeşme, with a theatre, acropolis and views of the islands. Hardly visited, but with good fish restaurants on the water right next door. By hire car or as a half-day tour.
Turkey's most famous ancient city is two hours away: the Library of Celsus, the great theatre, the Temple of Hadrian, the terrace houses. Stress-free as a guided tour with transfer, also easy on your own with a hire car. Set off early, Ephesus has almost no shade.
Enjoy the hot springs of Ilıca in hotel pools and hammams, often bookable as a day pass for non-guests. Ideal on a windy day or in the off-season when the sea gets fresher. Hammam with scrub from about CHF 30 (about EUR 32).
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The Çeşme peninsula eats Aegean: wild herbs, vegetables in olive oil, fish from the small harbour and mastic from Chios, which ends up here in ice cream, pudding and coffee. The kumru sesame roll keeps prices on the ground; Alaçatı lifts them again.
The sesame roll from Çeşme, warmed on the grill and filled with sucuk, cheese, tomato and often salami. Crisp, greasy, perfect after the beach. CHF 4 to 6 (about EUR 4.30 to 6.40).
Tip:The queue is longest in the evening, lunchtime is quicker; order it with ayran.
Ice cream with mastic resin from the neighbouring island of Chios, slightly resinous, chewy and very refreshing. CHF 2 to 3 (about EUR 2.10 to 3.20) a scoop.
Tip:Try it plain before adding chocolate, the mastic is delicate.
Turkish coffee brewed with a pinch of mastic, resinous and slightly sweet. A piece of mastic lokum on the side. CHF 2 to 3 (about EUR 2.10 to 3.20).
Tip:Sakızlı muhallebi, the mastic pudding, is on the menu in the same places and is just as much of a must.
Wild herbs of the peninsula in olive oil: şevketi bostan, samphire (deniz börülcesi), radish leaves, chard, usually offered as meze on a tray to choose from. A meze dinner CHF 15 to 25 (about EUR 16 to 27).
Tip:Book ahead in summer; in April Alaçatı holds its herb festival (Ot Festivali), when everyone cooks with them.
Fish from the small fishing harbour of Dalyan north of town, grilled with rocket and lemon, with meze and rakı. CHF 20 to 30 (about EUR 21 to 32) per person, half of what you pay in Alaçatı.
Tip:Order fish by weight and have the price named beforehand; sea bream (çipura) and sea bass (levrek) are cheaper than wild catch.
Aegean breakfast with olives, cheese, herb omelette, olive oil for the bread, fig and mastic jams. CHF 10 to 15 (about EUR 11 to 16) per person in the village.
Tip:Relaxed on weekdays; at weekends book or come before nine.
The small, fragrant melon of the peninsula, on every street corner in July and August. CHF 1 to 2 (about EUR 1.10 to 2.10) a kilo, as dessert after fish or at breakfast.
Tip:Smell the stem end, ripe melons are strongly scented; eat it chilled with beyaz peynir.
Dishes of the day from the counter: vegetables in olive oil, rice, köfte or stew. A menu with soup CHF 10 to 15 (about EUR 11 to 16) in the lanes away from the harbour promenade.
Tip:Go at lunchtime when the counter is full; in the evening the locals eat at home.
Through markets and eateries with a guide, tastings included.
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Çeşme sits at the westernmost tip of Turkey, just eight kilometres from the Greek island of Chios, and for centuries was the port for trade between Izmir and the Aegean. The name means "fountain", after the Ottoman springs where ships took on water. The castle by the harbour was built by Sultan Bayezid II in 1508 against pirates and the Genoese; it still stands above the centre today. In 1770 the bay saw one of the greatest naval battles in Ottoman history, when the Russian fleet destroyed the Ottoman one in a single night. Alaçatı, the village inland, was largely built by Greeks in the 19th century: they drained the marshes, planted vines and mastic trees and put up the stone houses with coloured shutters that define the village today. After the population exchange of 1923, Muslims from Greece moved in, and Alaçatı sank into obscurity until windsurfers discovered the shallow, reliably windy bay in the 1990s. Since then the village has become the summer address of Istanbul's upper class, with all the advantages and drawbacks that brings. Ilıca, with its hot springs in the sea, was already known to the Romans.
Alaçatı is without question the prettiest village on the peninsula: cobblestones, Greek stone houses with blue shutters, bougainvillea, windmills on the hill. On a July evening, though, it is also one long catwalk. The restaurants on Kemalpaşa Caddesi easily charge CHF 50 to 80 (about EUR 55 to 85) per person for dinner with wine, a cocktail costs CHF 15 (about EUR 16), and a room in a boutique stone house starts at CHF 200 (about EUR 215). My advice: see Alaçatı, take an evening stroll and have a glass of wine, but eat in the side streets or go straight to Çeşme town. In May, June and September prices are a third lower, the weather is still perfect, and the Istanbul crowd is still, or already back, in Istanbul. The Saturday market with herbs, mastic and olive oil is the best thing about the place and costs nothing.
Alaçatı Bay is one of the best windsurfing spots in Europe, and for good reason: in summer the meltemi blows almost every afternoon at a steady 15 to 25 knots, the bay is waist-deep for hundreds of metres out, and there are hardly any waves. So you simply stand up in the water when you fall, which makes getting started easier here than anywhere else. The surf schools are lined up side by side at the end of the road to the sea, about 4 km from the village. A two-hour beginner lesson costs around CHF 60 to 80 (about EUR 65 to 85), a weekly package with five lessons about CHF 250 to 300 (about EUR 270 to 320), equipment hire for advanced riders CHF 50 to 70 (about EUR 55 to 75) per day. Kitesurfing is available too, but in a separate zone. Important: the wind arrives in the afternoon; in the morning the bay is glassy and good for stand-up paddling. Between July and September there are regular World Cup races.
Ilıca lies between Çeşme town and Alaçatı and has the long, fine-sand main beach of the peninsula. What makes it special: thermal springs bubble up from the seabed, so near the shore the water is noticeably warmer in places than elsewhere in the Aegean, and you can still swim here in October. The beach is public and free; sunbeds and umbrellas cost around CHF 10 to 15 (about EUR 11 to 16) per day. Behind it stand the big thermal hotels that fill their pools with the spring water, and a few restaurants right on the sand. In high summer Ilıca is full of Izmir locals at the weekend and relaxed during the week. The shallow entry is perfect for small children, and in the evening the Izmir families eat kumru and mastic ice cream in the Ilıca çarşı. The dolmuş gets you there from Çeşme centre in ten minutes, from Alaçatı in five.
If you only know Ilıca, you are missing the best part. Altınkum in the south of the peninsula, about 10 km from Çeşme, is a strip of golden sandy coves with turquoise water, dunes behind and simple beach bars; the dolmuş runs hourly from Çeşme in summer. Pırlanta next door means "diamond" and has even finer sand, but is windier, which is why the kiters hang out there. Ayayorgi, directly north of Çeşme town, is the opposite: a small bay carved up entirely into beach clubs, with sunbeds at CHF 30 to 60 (about EUR 32 to 65) per day, a DJ from the afternoon and prices like Bodrum. Take a look once, but your money is better spent in Altınkum. Dalyan, the small fishing harbour north of town, has the best fish restaurants on the peninsula, right on the water and without the Alaçatı mark-up. Book a table there for sunset and you have the best evening of the trip.
From Çeşme you can see Chios on the horizon, and the ferry takes just 30 to 45 minutes. Several companies sail several times a day in summer and at least once a day in winter; a ticket costs around CHF 30 to 40 (about EUR 32 to 43) each way. With an EU, UK or Swiss passport you need nothing more than the passport itself, but expect passport and customs checks on both sides, so be at the harbour at least an hour before departure. Chios town itself is nice but unspectacular; if you have a day, hire a scooter at the harbour and ride to the mastic villages in the south, Pyrgi and Mesta with their geometric facades, or to the beach at Mavra Volia. Important for your Turkish visa: the trip to Chios counts as leaving Turkey. With the standard multiple-entry e-visa this is no problem.
In summer you can fly direct to Izmir from Zurich and many other Western European cities with SunExpress or Turkish Airlines, in around three hours. From Adnan Menderes airport a bus runs directly to Çeşme in about 90 minutes for around CHF 8 (about EUR 9); a taxi costs CHF 60 to 80 (about EUR 65 to 85). On the peninsula the dolmuş takes you everywhere for about CHF 1 (about EUR 1) per ride, every 15 minutes between Çeşme, Ilıca and Alaçatı. For Altınkum and the bays in the south, a hire car or scooter is more practical, from CHF 35 (about EUR 37) per day. When it comes to food: kumru, the sesame roll with sucuk, cheese and tomato, is the Çeşme speciality and costs CHF 4 to 6 (about EUR 4 to 6.50); mastic ice cream and mastic pudding are the obligatory desserts. The lokantas in Çeşme town away from the harbour promenade serve a set menu for CHF 10 to 15 (about EUR 11 to 16), and the fish restaurants in Dalyan are half the price of Alaçatı.
Four to five days are enough for Çeşme town, Alaçatı, Ilıca and two bays. If you want to learn windsurfing, you need a week, because lessons depend on the afternoon wind. Add a day trip to Chios and one to Ephesus or Izmir and it becomes a full week to ten days. As a beach holiday destination Çeşme works for two weeks too, but it will never be as cheap as Antalya.
June and September are ideal: 26 to 30 degrees, a warm sea, steady wind for surfers, but without the high-season prices and the rush from Istanbul. July and August are hot, crowded and up to twice as expensive. May and October are quiet and cheap, and the sea at Ilıca is still pleasant thanks to the thermal springs. In winter many hotels in Alaçatı are closed.
Direct flights to Izmir (ADB) with SunExpress or Turkish Airlines run several times a week in summer from Zurich and other major Western European airports, around three hours and from about CHF 250 to 350 (about EUR 270 to 375) return. From smaller airports you usually change in Istanbul. From the airport a direct bus reaches Çeşme in around 90 minutes. If you are staying in Alaçatı, change to the dolmuş in Çeşme or take a taxi from the airport for CHF 60 to 80 (about EUR 65 to 85).
Yes, above all Alaçatı in July and August. Hotels, restaurants and beach clubs cater to wealthy Turks from Istanbul and Izmir, and they pay without blinking. Dinner in Alaçatı easily costs CHF 50 to 80 (about EUR 55 to 85) per person, a boutique room over CHF 200 (about EUR 215). In Çeşme town and in the off-season you are at roughly half that. Compared with Antalya, budget around 30 to 50 percent more.
Yes, and hardly anywhere is better for it. The bay is standing depth for hundreds of metres, the wind is steady and without gusts, and there are practically no waves. The schools offer taster lessons for around CHF 60 to 80 (about EUR 65 to 85) and multi-day beginner courses from about CHF 250 (about EUR 270). After three to five lessons most people manage their first runs out and back. Children from about eight years old are taught too.
If you are in Çeşme for at least five days: yes. The crossing takes 30 to 45 minutes and the ticket costs around CHF 30 to 40 (about EUR 32 to 43) each way. Take your passport and be at the harbour an hour before departure. The best way to spend the day is on a hired scooter in the mastic villages of Pyrgi and Mesta in the south of the island. Chios town alone is not really worth the effort.
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The herb festival celebrates Aegean cuisine and its wild herbs: stalls with chard, fennel and purslane, cooking competitions, herb walks and concerts in the lanes of Alaçatı. Tens of thousands of visitors from Izmir and Istanbul come for the weekend; it is the biggest festival on the peninsula before the surf season.
For travellers: Hotels in Alaçatı are sold out and expensive on the festival weekend; arrive by dolmuş from Çeşme or Izmir rather than by car.
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