Gates named after treaties and dates
Five monumental entrances called Lozan, Montrö, 9 Eylül and more; the Lozan Gate on Cumhuriyet Bulvarı is the one everyone uses.
Nedim Ardoğa — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Satirdan kahraman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Satirdan kahraman — CC BY-SA 4.0
The quarter that burned in the great fire of 1922 was never rebuilt. Its rubble was levelled and planted, and what grew there is this: 42 hectares of trees, ponds and avenues in the middle of İzmir, opened on 1 September 1936 together with the first İzmir International Fair. The city wanted its own Gorky Park, so the municipality brought in Soviet designers, and the five gates still carry the treaties and dates of the young republic: Lozan, Montrö, 9 Eylül, 26 Ağustos and Cumhuriyet. For most of the year the park is free, and the municipality publishes no fixed gate hours; in practice it is open from early morning until late at night, and it functions as İzmir's central park in the fullest sense: a 1,850-metre running track hugging the inside of the walls, more than 7,700 trees, every one tagged and insured, tennis courts, the open-air Atatürk theatre where the summer concerts happen, and a small funfair that runs from about 11am to 11pm and suits children under ten far more than teenagers. The 1937 parachute tower is the silhouette you see from every path, but it has been closed since the 2020 earthquake and its restoration is still at the survey stage, so do not plan on climbing it. The zoo left in 2008, its animals moved to the Wildlife Park outside the city. The park changes character entirely in early September, when the halls of the İzmir International Fair open (the 2026 edition runs 5 to 13 September) from 4pm to 11pm behind a token ticket of 100 lira, with free lawn concerts, street theatre and country pavilions. Outside the season those halls are plain concrete sheds, and the spring book fair fills them again with a mainly local crowd. The state-run History and Art Museum inside the park (Roman statuary, ceramics, jewellery) is listed as temporarily closed by the provincial culture directorate, and one of its buildings has since been turned into a public library, so do not count on it. For Gulf and Levant visitors this is an evening stroll, not a day out. The ground is dead flat and pushchair-friendly and the shade is generous, but an August afternoon on the Aegean coast is only bearable with water and the cafés under the trees. Come from Basmane metro or through the Lozan Gate on Cumhuriyet Bulvarı, a few minutes on foot from the Alsancak waterfront, and pair the park with a walk along the Kordon in a single evening.
Five monumental entrances called Lozan, Montrö, 9 Eylül and more; the Lozan Gate on Cumhuriyet Bulvarı is the one everyone uses.
For the first half of September the park becomes an evening festival with free lawn concerts and national pavilions.
İzmir's landmark since 1937 and visible from every path, though shut since the 2020 earthquake with no climbing possible.
Lozan Gate, Cumhuriyet Bulvarı, Alsancak – Konak, İzmir
Kordon (Alsancak Waterfront)This was supposed to be a six-lane highway. In the late 1990s the city filled in12 min walk4.6
Agora of SmyrnaA few hundred metres uphill from Izmir's old bazaar, ten minutes on foot from Ko14 min walk4.6
Kemeraltı BazaarThe lanes you thread today between gold shops and spice sacks were, four centuri19 min walk4.3
KadifekaleThis is the hill, 186 metres above the centre of İzmir, where Lysimachus, one of19 min walk4.1
İzmir Clock TowerThis is the image İzmir chooses for itself: it is the emblem of the Metropolitan21 min walk4.8An evening is enough. The funfair is modest, the halls are shut outside fair season and summer afternoons are punishing; give it an hour or two after sunset combined with the nearby Kordon, unless you land during the September fair, when it earns a whole evening.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet — be the first.