Çeşme walking tour & city guide

Çeşme town

The town gathers around Çeşme Castle, a 16th-century Ottoman fortress beside the harbor, with a statue of the admiral Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Pasha and his lion out front. Next to it stands an old caravanserai, and a pedestrian market street runs inland past shops, bakeries and ice cream stalls.

Along the waterfront, the marina promenade is lined with cafés and yachts, and ferries leave for Chios. The town has a gentle, local feel compared with the busier resorts, especially in the evening when families stroll the seafront.

Alaçatı

Ten minutes inland, Alaçatı is a former Greek village of honey-colored stone houses with blue and turquoise shutters, now filled with boutique hotels, shops and restaurants. Its lanes are draped in bougainvillea, and on the hill above the village a row of restored windmills catches the evening light.

The village is lively in summer, quiet and atmospheric in spring, when it holds a herb festival celebrating the wild greens of the Aegean. South of Alaçatı, the bay is one of the world's best-known windsurfing spots.

Beaches and a walking route

Ilıca, just east of the town, has a long sandy beach with shallow water warmed by thermal springs, while Altınkum and the coves to the south are wilder and quieter. A good walk starts at the castle, follows the market street and the marina promenade, and continues along the coast toward Ilıca. In Alaçatı, simply wander from the central mosque, a former church, through the old lanes to the windmills.