Kusadasi

Beach life is why most people book Kusadasi. Ladies Beach, a sandy crescent just south of the centre, is the town beach, lined with sunbeds and backed by hotels. Long Beach runs for several kilometres further south and is the busiest stretch in high season. North of town, Pamucak is a wide, quieter sweep of sand near the Ephesus road. The clearest water is in the coves of the Dilek Peninsula national park, about half an hour south, where pine slopes come down to small pebble and sand bays.

The Aegean reaches about 24°C in August and is swimmable from June into October. The town beaches are crowded and built up in summer, and the park coves fill quickly at weekends.

The food is Aegean Turkish: grilled fish and meze, olive-oil vegetable dishes, wild greens, gözleme and köfte, with rakı at the table in the evening. The best meals are usually away from the harbour front, in the fish restaurants and meyhanes of the old Kaleiçi quarter and in the plain lokantas where locals eat at lunch. The big weekly market is the best place to see local produce, olives and cheese.

The resort areas lean heavily on international menus and all-inclusive hotel buffets. The food is good honest eating rather than a reason to come, and fine dining is limited.

There is not much to see in the town itself. Pigeon Island, joined to the shore by a causeway, has a small stone fortress and gives the harbour its landmark view. In the centre stands the Öküz Mehmet Pasha caravanserai, a fortified Ottoman inn from the early 17th century. Behind it, the Kaleiçi quarter has a few lanes of old houses, a mosque and a historic hammam.

An hour or two covers all of it. Visitors interested in history come for the ancient sites inland, not for the town.

Going out centres on Bar Street, a lane of pubs, karaoke and dance bars near the harbour, with music running late into the night through the summer. A few large open-air clubs and beach bars around Long Beach and the marina keep going until the early hours in July and August. The crowd is mostly young package travellers.

The quieter option is a long dinner and drinks on the harbour or in Kaleiçi. Outside the season the scene shrinks to a handful of bars, and the town goes to bed early.

The best of the landscape is the Dilek Peninsula national park south of town. A forested mountain ridge drops to the sea there, with a walking route through a canyon, wild horses and birds of prey, and wetland at the Büyük Menderes delta behind it. Boat trips run along the coast, and the clear water suits diving and snorkelling.

Inland, olive and fig country climbs into hills, and the granite Latmos mountains above Lake Bafa, about an hour away, offer rocky hiking past old hermitages. Spring and autumn are the seasons for walking, because high summer is too hot for much beyond the water.

Kusadasi's great strength is its position. Ephesus, among the best-preserved Greco-Roman cities anywhere, is about 20 minutes away, with its marble streets, the Library of Celsus and the great theatre. Next to it, Selçuk has the Basilica of St John, the scant remains of the Temple of Artemis and a good museum. The House of the Virgin Mary sits on the hill above. Şirince, a hill village of old stone houses and fruit wines, is a short drive further.

South along the coast, the Ionian cities of Priene, Miletus and the Temple of Apollo at Didyma make a full day out, all within about an hour and a quarter. Izmir is a little over an hour north. In summer a ferry crosses to the Greek island of Samos in about an hour and a half.

Kusadasi works well for a straightforward beach vacation with children. Ladies Beach and Long Beach have sand and gentle entry into the water. Large resort hotels with kids' clubs and pools line the coast, and two big water parks lie at the edge of town. Turkish culture is warm towards children, and families are welcome in restaurants late into the evening.

Beyond the beach and the slides, there are no zoos, aquariums or museums made for children. Ephesus is hard going for small children in summer heat, the centre is hilly with busy roads, and July and August can be too hot for much in the middle of the day.

The harbour, bazaar and Kaleiçi are compact and easy to cover on foot, though some lanes climb steeply. Shared dolmuş minibuses run along the coast to Ladies Beach and Long Beach and inland to Selçuk, which makes Ephesus easy to reach without a car.

Many hotels sit out along the coast road, far from the centre, and pavements are patchy. Priene, Miletus, Didyma and the national park are much easier with a hire car or an organised tour.

Shopping is built around the cruise port. The covered bazaar and the streets behind the harbour are packed with leather jackets, carpets, gold and silver jewellery, Turkish delight, cotton towels and imitation designer goods. The sales pitch is persistent and bargaining is expected.

The weekly town market is more rewarding for olive oil, spices, dried figs and textiles at local prices. Beyond that there is a modern mall and little in the way of design boutiques or serious craft workshops.

Kusadasi is reasonable rather than cheap. Dolmuş fares, market produce and meals in local lokantas are inexpensive. Mid-range hotels and all-inclusive packages cost less than comparable resorts across the Aegean.

Harbour-front restaurants, beach clubs and imported drinks are priced for tourists. Entry to Ephesus and the other major sites is charged at a level set for foreign visitors, and it adds up over several outings.

There is very little performing arts to attend. Summer brings occasional open-air concerts, and hotels and restaurants stage Turkish-night dinner shows with folk dancing and belly dancing. Some bars have live cover bands. There is no theatre, opera or concert season.

The hammam is the main form of wellness here. A historic Turkish bath stands in the old quarter, and most larger resort hotels have their own hammam with foam massage and scrub alongside a conventional spa. These are mostly tourist versions of the tradition rather than neighbourhood bathhouses.

The pace depends on the season and where you stay. In high summer the centre is loud and crowded. In May, June and September the hotels outside town and the quiet coves to the south are good places to slow down.