Çeşme (pronounced chaysh-may) is a sea-side resort town on the Aegean, west of Izmir.

Understand

The old town and the castle of Çeşme

Çeşme lies on the extreme western tip of Turkey, opposite the Greek island of Chios.

Get in

Çeşme is a 30 min drive from Izmir. Buses and dolmuses run frequently to Izmir around the clock, fare 10 TL / €5. Buses also run from Istanbul, taking 8 hours.

There are 4-6 daily ferries from the nearby Greek island of Chios with Erturk Lines, Turyol and Sunrise. The fast ferry takes 20 minutes while the regular one takes just under one hour. Prices for the regular ferry is around €20, while the fast ferry costs about €10 more.

From July 2019 a direct ferry sails between Çeşme and Lavrion near Athens, operated by Aegean Seaways. This sails overnight M W F from Lavrion at 22:00 to reach Çeşme at 06:00, with the return sailing Tu Th Sa at 22:00. On Sunday the ferry sails from Lavrion at 11:00 to reach Çeşme at 19:00, then sails back near midnight to reach Lavrion at 08:00. It's intended to run this service year-round.

1 Çeşme Port is west side of the bay, along Atadağ road off Highway D300.

See

• 1 Çeşme Castle (Çeşme Kalesi) (at the town centre). A well-preserved citadel by the shore. (updated Oct 2017)
• Old town. Old part of the town (virtually all of downtown) has lots of neo-classical buildings from late 1800s/early 1900s that wouldn't be out of place in, say, Symi, which are well preserved and are quite elegant. 

Do

• Windsurfing
• Kiteboarding — the beaches around Çeşme (e.g., Pırlanta-Çiftlikköy) offer good kiteboarding.
• Do not miss a trip to one of the thermal baths in nearby Ilıca, either in the hotels (Altın Yunus is a good one) or at one of the stand-alone pools.

Eat

• Kumru — a kind of local warm sandwich. Tasty, it is made with a special bread stuffed with salami, Turkish garlic-flavoured sausage (sucuk), grilled cheese and tomatoes. A vegetarian version is also available if you ask for it, prepared without the sausage and with the addition of green pepper. Most famous eatery specialized in kumru is Kumrucu Sevki at downtown.
• Ice cream (dondurma) — Veli Usta is a great place to have an ice-cream. There are lots of flavors available, including very local balbadem (honey and almond) and black currant, which are the most favorite flavors.

Drink

Raki

Sleep

• 1 Radisson Blu Resort & Spa, Ilıca Mahallesi, No., 3435. Sk. No:25, ☏ +90 232 455-45-00, fax: +90 232 455-45-01, info.cesme@radissonblu.com. Beachfront hotel offering rooms with a seaview, TV, free internet access. Two swimming pools (both indoor and outdoor) and an on-site spa available. The hotel lies 5 km away from the old town. € 165-278. (updated Oct 2017)
• 2 Rıdvan Hotel, 16 Eylül Mahalles (Centre of old town), ☏ +90 232 712 63 36. (updated Oct 2017)
• Central Park Otel, Çiftlikköy Mevkii (3 km from the old town), ☏ +90 232 234-11-01. Free wi-fi and clean rooms. There is also a small pool in the hotel and 5 min to the beach. €45/double room. 
• 3 Sheraton Çeşme Hotel, Resort And Spa, Sifne Caddesi, No:35, ☏ +90 232 750 00 00. Check-in: 3 PM, check-out: 12 PM. (updated Nov 2019)

Connect

Town's telephone code is (+90) 232.

Go next

• Alaçatı — a historical town on the southern leeward side of the peninsula—and thus is perfect for wind-surfing!—noted for its Greek houses, ancient windmills with modern electricity-generating wind turbines side by side on the hill overlooking it. About 8 km east of Çeşme.
• Ilıca — a town noted for its thermal springs, 5 km east of Çeşme, on the northern coast of peninsula.
• The Greek island of Chios is opposite Çeşme, about an hour away by ferry, and thanks to quite frequent ferries can be done as a day-trip from Çeşme. The ferry departs at 09:30 from Çeşme and the return trip is at 17:00 from Chios (16:00 on Sundays).