Izmir

One day in the city and two out to Ephesus, Şirince or Çeşme

Give Izmir three to four days. Give the city one day for Konak Square, the Kemeraltı bazaar, the 1907 Asansör and the Kordon at sunset. Spend day two at Ephesus, an hour away by İZBAN train to Selçuk, and day three in Şirince and the House of the Virgin Mary, or on the Çeşme peninsula.

Give the city one full day and use the rest of your stay as a launch pad. Start at Konak Square and its clock tower, then lose the morning in the lanes of the Kemeraltı bazaar and the old Kızlarağası Han caravanserai. After lunch, ride the 1907 Asansör lift for the view over the bay, and finish on the Kordon promenade at sunset.

• Day two: Ephesus. İZBAN trains run to Selçuk in about an hour, and the ruins lie 4 km west of the town. Arrive at opening time in summer, before the heat and the cruise groups from Kuşadası, and add the Ephesus Museum in Selçuk on the way back.
• Day three: Şirince, a hill village 9 km east of Selçuk known for fruit wines, paired with the House of the Virgin Mary by taxi or tour. Beach lovers can instead head 85 km west to Çeşme and Alaçatı.
• Four days or more: sleep a night or two on the Çeşme peninsula or in Selçuk itself to save on long return trips.

Kemeraltı keeps shop hours and closes on Sundays, so do not save it for the end of a weekend. Book rooms in Çeşme and Alaçatı early for July and August, when the peninsula is crowded, and expect city hotels to be tight in early September during the international fair.

A hire car is worth it only for Çeşme and Şirince, and for Bodrum or Antalya the bus is easier than the train.

April, May and October, when Ephesus is bearable

The best time to visit Izmir is April, May or October. April averages 21°C and May 27°C, ideal for the shadeless ruins of Ephesus, and October at 25°C suits both ruins and swimming.

Spring comes early on this coast. April (21°C) and May (27°C) are the months for Ephesus, which has almost no shade. June is already 31°C, and July and August hold at about 34°C with barely any rain. The steady meltem wind off the Aegean cools the waterfront in the afternoons, but it does nothing for the marble streets of the ruins.

The İzmir International Fair fills Kültürpark in the first days of the month, a big local event that books up central hotels. October drops to a pleasant 25°C and is the best month for combining ruins and swimming.

The rain arrives between November and March, which together bring most of the annual 730.5 mm; December (131 mm) and January (128 mm) are the wettest. Winters stay mild, highs only dipping to 13 or 14°C, and Ephesus is quiet enough to enjoy at any hour. Snow is rare and seldom lasts more than a few hours.

Two spring events are worth timing a visit around: the Izmir Jazz Festival in March and the city marathon in April.

Boyoz, kumru and Aegean greens from breakfast to the Kordon

Izmir's food is best at breakfast. Eat boyoz, an oily pastry brought by the Sephardic Jewish community, with tea, and kumru, a sesame bun with sucuk, cheese and tomato. At lunch, the canteens around Kemeraltı serve tarhana soup and İzmir köfte, and evenings are for grilled sea bass on the Kordon.

The morning meal is where Izmir shows its character most clearly. Boyoz, an oily pastry that came with the Sephardic Jewish community, is eaten with a glass of tea. Kumru is a sesame bun filled with sucuk sausage, cheese and tomato; buy it early from a street stall, while the bread is still warm. One makes a snack, two make lunch.

At midday, head for the home-cooking canteens in the alleys around Kemeraltı and off Talatpaşa Boulevard. Trays of tarhana soup, İzmir köfte and sulu köfte line the counters. Manisalı Birtat serves Manisa kebab drenched in yoghurt and tomato sauce. Island settlers from Crete left the local kitchen a taste for wild greens and olive oil, and tulum cheese comes from the surrounding region.

Evenings are for grilled sea bass and drinking on the Kordon, or on 1448 Sokak in Alsancak, a street lined end to end with bars. The atmosphere is noticeably liberal for Turkey. Standard manners still apply in the mosques of Kemeraltı, where you cover up and take your shoes off.

Skip Yengeç by Alsancak pier, a known tourist trap, and the overpriced seafront fish houses unless you have checked the menu.