Izmir Cruise Stop: A Day From Alsancak, Bazaar to Kordon

On an Izmir cruise stop, your ship docks at Alsancak port, in the district of the Kordon seafront. If you stay on before or after the cruise, see the best hotels in İzmir. In one day, you can walk the Kemeraltı bazaar, see the Agora of Smyrna and ride the Asansör. Or drive out to Ephesus or Pergamon instead. Here is how we plan the day around your all-aboard time.

Where does your ship dock in Izmir?

Cruise ships call at İzmir Alsancak port. Your guide and driver meet you there, and the old center around Konak (a large traditional mansion) Square is a short drive away. Your booking shows the arrival and all-aboard times, so we plan the day backward from the second one. For the other Turkish ports, read our guide to the Turkey cruise ports for 2027.

What can you see on an Izmir cruise stop?

Morning. Start at the Clock Tower on Konak Square, then walk into the Kemeraltı Bazaar. Its main street curves because it follows the line of a former inner harbor. Its name, “under the arches,” comes from an old vaulted section. Stop for coffee in the courtyard of the Kızlarağası Han of 1744, one of the bazaar’s 19 surviving hans.

Midday. See the restored colonnade of the Agora of Smyrna. Then drive up to Kadifekale. Lysimachus, a general of Alexander the Great, built this fortress when the city was refounded on the hill in the 4th century BC.

Afternoon. Ride the Asansör, built in 1907 by Nesim Levi to link two streets 50 meters (164 feet) apart. Then walk along the Kordon, the seafront where İzmir comes to watch the sunset, on your way back to the ship.

What to eat. İzmir has two foods registered under its own name in 2017: boyoz, a breakfast pastry, and kumru, a sandwich. Try both in the lanes of Kemeraltı.

Can you see Ephesus from Izmir on a cruise day?

Yes, if your ship stays long enough for a full day. Our Ephesus and Şirince tour from Izmir collects you and heads south to Selçuk. There, you walk down the streets of Ephesus to the Library of Celsus and the Great Theatre. Then you visit the House of the Virgin Mary and the hill village of Şirince. Ephesus has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015.

What about Pergamon?

Our Pergamon and Asklepion tour also plans the day from İzmir. You start at the top of the acropolis, among the columns of the Temple of Trajan, and look down the steep theater. After lunch, you walk the sacred road into the Asklepion, the healing sanctuary where the doctor Galen began his career.

Our suggestion

On a first call, spend the day in the city: the bazaar in the morning, the hill in the middle of the day and the Kordon before all-aboard. With a long day in port, choose Ephesus or Pergamon instead. Our Izmir city tour follows the first plan, and our Izmir food tour adds boyoz and kumru. For the whole city, read our guide to İzmir.

Is your ship calling at Izmir? Tell us the date and the hours in port, and we will plan the day.