Izmir Travel Forum

A couple of questions about Izmir. I am deciding between Izmir and Thessalonkik in early November. Any suggestions? Also what is a good hotel near Cumhuriyet? Is the Crown Plaza Hotel far from the main square? What are your suggestions on where to stay?
Are there good places to tour outside Izmir and are there good day trips from Izmir?
I would really appreciate any suggestions/advice.
Thanks!
Ray

Dear Ray, Both cities are interesting and beautiful. Selanik -as we say- is in Greece. She was a pure Turkish city until 1912. We lost her during Balkan Wars.My family imigrated from Selanik in 1924.Therefore I have a great respect and love to Selanik.

On the other hand Izmir is more interesting then Selanik. Within 2 hours you can reach the antic cities like Ephesus, Miletus, Didymia, Bergama, Cesme, Kusadasi, Selcuk. You will have a possibility to visit old Roman culture. You can also visit the home of Virgin Mary. St. Johns temple and grave. Since you are coming from a very far and new country your desicion must be on Izmir.
You will find many pages about that cities in VT.
For hotels I can not add and suggestion.
May you come happily and return happily.
PS If you choose Selanik please drink a glass of beer on the quai for my ancestors sprits who are buried in their lost graves.

Dear Ray
This hotels also are very near to the main square
Hilton Izmir
Anemon hotel
Anba Hotel
Sir victor already inform you about the good places around
you can also check my pages for Thessaloniki if you are interested.
good luck and enjoy your stay
regards
macit

Hi Macit,
I will check out the Izmir hotels. Actually I don't want the most expensive. Anything clean and a good location would work for us.
Thank you for the good information. It looks like there are better tours out of Izmir than Thessaloniki so I will check on airfares and see what I can do.
I might even get a local guide for a day.
thanks again.
Ray

Hi Ray
the hotels that I name you are not the "expensive " ones.Anba hotel is 3 stars and the rest is 4 stars.Izmir is the big brother of Thessaloniki they are very similar.But there is much more to see in Izmir.
good luck and have good time in Turkey .
macit

Thanks to you and SirVictor
I booked the flight to Izmir, leaving London on November 1. I will be in Izmir 6 or 7 nights. I am not in a hurry to book hotels this early but will be looking around.
Thx to both of you!
Ray

Hi Ray,

I just checked my VT e-mail. You sent me a message. I saw you are asking the same questions here. Izmir is great location to stay and take tours to Within 2 hours you can reach the antic cities like Ephesus, Miletus, Didymia, Bergama, Cesme, Kusadasi, Selcuk as SirVictor said.

I was in Izmir, Yes. But it was at 1999. It must be changed a lot. The best thing you can search in the search box by destinations/ Izmir at VT’s home page. It brings you who live there and top Izmir pages by members.

Anyway, I did it for you, Check this link below (you can get fresh results on hotels and ask questions to natives)

http ://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Middle_East/Turkey/Izmir_Ili/Izmir-1837607/TravelGuide-Izmir.html


Birsen

Many thanks. I will look it up!