Ayvalık Old Town
Ayvalık Eski Çarşı
A well-preserved old town of Greek-style stone houses, with coloured shutters, churches converted into mosques and old olive oil workshops. It is ideal for slow strolling and eating.
Before the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey, Ayvalık Old Town was the Greek settlement known as Kydonies. More than a thousand 19th-century stone terraced houses survive, with colourful wooden doors and windows and wrought-iron balconies spread across the sloping lanes. Several Orthodox churches have been converted into mosques. The old town centres on the clock tower of Saatli Mosque. In the lanes, many former olive oil workshops have been turned into shops, cafés and boutique hotels, where you can buy olive oil and olive soap and taste local specialities such as Ayvalık tost and Turkish desserts. A large open-air market is held every Thursday, when crowds are at their peak. The old town is open all day and free to enter. It sits beside the seaside promenade and harbour, where island tour boats depart, so it is best to spend half a day walking around. The lanes are steep and the stone paving slippery, so wear flat shoes.
Opening hours
All day
Nearby sights
- Çınarlı Mosque
- Saatli Mosque
- Taksiyarhis Church Museum
- Cunda Island (Alibey Adası)
- Rahmi M. Koç Museum Cunda (Taksiyarhis Church)
- Sarımsaklı Beach
- Şeytan Sofrası
- Badavut Beach