Kusadasi

Kusadasi is a coastal town on Turkey's western Aegean coast, in Aydin Province, about 95 kilometres south of Izmir. Selcuk lies to its north and Didim to its south, and the Greek island of Samos sits roughly 16 kilometres offshore, in plain view from the waterfront. The name means "bird island". The bay served as a natural trading harbour long before it was a resort; today it is one of Turkey's busiest cruise ports, with a large marina and anchorages on either side of it. The resident population is around 130,000, and in summer it is thought to rise to well over half a million.

The Old Town

A causeway 350 metres long runs out from the harbour to Pigeon Island, Guvercinada, where a fortress holds the high ground. It is Ottoman rather than Byzantine work: the citadel is attributed to the admiral Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha in the sixteenth century, the outer walls went up around the time of the Orlov Revolt in 1770, an inscription on the north tower is dated 1826, and the whole was rebuilt and enlarged in 1834. It entered Turkey's UNESCO tentative list in 2020.

Behind the harbour lies Kaleici, the old town, where sections of the southern city wall and its gate still stand. Two buildings of 1618 anchor the quarter, both raised by the Grand Vizier Okuz Kara Mehmed Pasha. The caravanserai was built as a secure store for the goods of merchants and seamen, later served as a hotel, and now hosts cultural events in its courtyard. The Kaleici Mosque — also called the Okuz Mehmet Pasa Mosque — was restored in 1830 and carries a dome set on a twelve-sided drum pierced by sixteen windows.

Kaleici is the bazaar quarter as well: leather, jewellery and souvenir shops through the Grand Bazaar and the Orient Bazaar, and a good share of the town's restaurants, bars and clubs. Above the town on Gazi Begendi Hill stands a statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, with the town, the sea and Pigeon Island laid out beneath it. The shore promenade is long and well kept, lined with shops, cafes and restaurants from end to end.

Beyond the Town

The Dilek Peninsula–Buyuk Menderes Delta National Park covers 27,598 hectares roughly 26 kilometres from Kusadasi, directly beside the town of Guzelcamli. It protects a stretch of largely undeveloped coast with coves and beaches, holds the Cave of Zeus not far inside the entrance, and records some 804 plant species and 256 species of bird.

Ephesus is why a great many ships call here at all. Ionian Greeks settled the site around the 10th century BC, though what visitors walk through is mostly Roman, and UNESCO inscribed it in 2015. The House of the Virgin Mary, believed to be where Mary lived after the death of Jesus, is nearby, and the Hellenistic city of Priene and the ruins of Miletus lie within reach to the south.

Water, Anchorage and Beaches

Setur Kusadasi Marina offers the full range of facilities, with anchorages both north and south of it. The bay is sheltered from most winds and the water stays calm through the summer, with very little sea running. It also breaks the coast at a useful point, between Didim and Bodrum to the south and the Cesme peninsula to the north, and many gulet cruises in Turkey call in here to take on stores and put guests ashore for Ephesus.

Ladies Beach is the best known of the beaches: shallow, busy, with water sports and a palm-lined promenade of shops and cafes behind it. The others are Downtown Beach between the harbour and the marina, Long Beach, Diamond Beach, Silver Sand, Paradise Beach and Love Beach. Most are sandy, but a few are rocky or coarsely pebbled, so sea shoes are worth packing.

The season runs from June to September. July and August are the hottest months, with mean daily highs of about 31.8°C and 31.6°C, and the sea is at its warmest in late summer. The shoreline shelves gently and the water is clear enough for snorkelling; it deepens further out, which is where the diving is. Adaland, the waterpark at Camlimani, is the fallback for anyone travelling with children.

Nightlife

Kusadasi has a reputation for nightlife that stands up against anywhere on the Turkish coast. Bars, pubs, clubs and discos cover the range from a quiet drink to dancing until dawn, and a good many restaurants add live music, themed evenings and fire shows. Bar Street is the concentrated version of all this. For something less relentless, Ladies Beach and the narrow lanes of Kaleici draw a gentler crowd, with live music at a volume that still allows conversation.