Alsancak, the Kordon Promenade and Kıbrıs Şehitleri Street

Stretching north from the historic 1880s Konak Pier (whose cast-iron customs hall was designed by Gustave Eiffel's workshop) past the breakwater of Pasaport Pier up to Alsancak Harbour lies Izmir's social heart: the seafront boulevard of the Kordon (Atatürk Caddesi) and the gridded neighbourhood of Alsancak immediately behind it. Known in the 19th century as La Punta ("The Point"), this was the cosmopolitan European and Greek residential quarter of old Smyrna.

Walking the Kordon from Pasaport to Alsancak Ferry Pier

Begin at Pasaport Ferry Pier (operating out of a charming 1884 Ottoman-era passport and quay control pavilion) and walk north along the water toward the striking triangular concrete monument of Cumhuriyet Meydanı (Republic Square). Beyond the square, the shoreline opens into a wide 150-metre green park strip containing a red cycle path, the grass-tracked rails of the Konak Tram, a broad pedestrian promenade and acres of open lawn right at the water's edge. Every afternoon from in the early evening onwards, thousands of students, families and dog walkers spread blankets on the grass to watch cargo ships and white ferries cross the golden bay while eating gevrek and çiğdem. Lining the landward side of the boulevard are two-storey 19th-century Levantine townhouses and modern fish taverns, plus the Atatürk Museum in a neoclassical 1880s seafront carpet merchant's mansion.

Kıbrıs Şehitleri Caddesi and the Chios Stone Alleys (Cumbalı Evler)

Turn one block inland from the Alsancak Ferry Pier onto pedestrianised Kıbrıs Şehitleri Caddesi, the busiest shopping and dining spine in the city. Rather than staying on the main street, duck into its perpendicular side alleys, specifically Dario Moreno Sokağı (1469 Sokak), Gazi Kadınlar Sokağı (1453 Sokak), Muzaffer İzgü Sokağı and Bornova Sokağı (1462 Sokak). These narrow lanes preserve dozens of two-storey 19th-century stone townhouses (Sakız tipi evler, or Chios-style houses) characterised by high ground-floor ceilings, symmetrical iron doors and projecting wooden bay windows (cumba), now housing craft beer pubs, acoustic music bars, third-wave coffee roasters and vintage bookshops.

Izmir Culture and Arts Factory (İzmir Kültür Sanat Fabrikası)

At the eastern end of Alsancak near the 1858 British-built Alsancak Train Station (the oldest operating railway station in Turkey), walk into the lush, tree-shaded grounds of the former 1884 Régie / Tekel Tobacco Factory. Opened in 2023 after a landmark restoration, this cultural campus holds the new Archaeology and Ethnography Museum, the Painting and Sculpture Museum, specialist libraries and quiet garden cafés.