Sunset over the gulf
The sun sets straight ahead of you over the water behind Karşıyaka, and the lawns fill up an hour before.
Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Riabinok — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Riabinok — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Riabinok — CC BY-SA 3.0
This was supposed to be a six-lane highway. In the late 1990s the city filled in a strip of the bay in front of Alsancak to lay a coastal road on it; the courts stopped the scheme in 1999 and the landfill sat orphaned on the water until mayor Ahmet Piriştina turned it into lawns, palms and a bike path, opened on 15 June 2000. It has been the picture Izmir keeps of itself ever since: grass running right to the lip of the gulf, people sitting on it with no chairs and no tickets, and the sun going down directly in front of them over the water, behind the houses of Karşıyaka on the far shore. The promenade runs about a kilometre and a half, from Cumhuriyet Square with its 1932 equestrian statue of Atatürk north to the Alsancak ferry pier and the port wall. The first row of buildings, what locals call Birinci Kordon, is an unbroken line of fish restaurants and cafés with glass fronts on the sea, priced noticeably above what you would pay in the Kemeraltı bazaar ten minutes' walk away. Halfway along stands the Atatürk house, a mansion built in 1875-80 where he stayed on his visits and now a free museum, though it is closed for restoration until 24 October 2026; outside that, check the day before you go, as it has usually shut on Mondays. Two things the older guidebooks promise are gone: the horse carriages were banned in 2019 (the city promised battery-powered look-alikes, but do not plan around finding one), and the heritage tram that trundled along the quay from 2020 was withdrawn in May 2024 for lack of passengers. What has arrived instead is a temporary 1,700-metre storm wall with 22 flood gates that close when the sea rises, finished in March 2025 together with 6,000 square metres of new planting after repeated gulf floods, so the water's edge now looks greener than it did. The right time is an hour before sunset. In August the middle of the day is humid and heavy and the lawns have no shade, but the sea breeze Izmir calls the imbat picks up in late afternoon and makes the evening not just bearable but pleasant; in winter the westerly storms have put the quay itself underwater more than once, which is what the new wall is for, so pick a clear day. The walkway is dead flat and fine for pushchairs and bikes, and families have an easy add-on: a ferry from Alsancak or Pasaport pier to Karşıyaka, about fifteen minutes each way for a few dozen lira paid with an İzmirim card or a contactless bank card, then the ride back with the whole city lit up behind you.
The sun sets straight ahead of you over the water behind Karşıyaka, and the lawns fill up an hour before.
About fifteen minutes from Alsancak or Pasaport pier for a few dozen lira, and the best angle on the whole Kordon.
A mansion built in 1875-80 where Atatürk stayed, a free museum on the quay itself, closed for restoration until 24 October 2026.
Atatürk Caddesi (Birinci Kordon), Alsancak, Konak
Walk the Kordon at sunset and sit in a café for tea or coffee on the water; if fish is the goal, the front-row restaurants do it well but at prices clearly above Kemeraltı, and what you are paying for is the view, not the plate. With small children a Kordon restaurant is easier, because the grass is right outside the door.
No. The lawns have no shade and the humidity is heavy, and the only people out there will be tourists. Go after five when the imbat breeze arrives, or make it the end of a day spent in Kemeraltı and Konak.
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