Moving to İzmir

Port, shipping & logistics

Alsancak Port, the Aliağa terminals, freight forwarders

İzmir has been the Aegean's export gateway for two thousand years; Alsancak handles the containers and the Aliağa complex north of the city handles bulk, energy and ship recycling.

Petrochemicals & refining

Petkim, STAR Refinery, SOCAR Türkiye (Aliağa)

The Aliağa peninsula 50 km north is one of Türkiye's biggest industrial concentrations — a petrochemical complex and a refinery that supply a large share of national demand.

Food, agriculture & olive oil

Aegean exporters, olive-oil producers, dried figs and sultanas

The Aegean hinterland is Türkiye's richest farmland, and İzmir is where its figs, sultanas, olive oil and tobacco are traded and shipped — the Aegean Exporters' Associations are headquartered here.

Manufacturing & the free zone

Aegean Free Zone (ESBAŞ, Gaziemir); Vestel City in neighbouring Manisa

The Gaziemir free zone hosts export manufacturers with real tax advantages, and Manisa's electronics belt 35 km east — one of Europe's largest single-site appliance plants — draws a daily commute from İzmir.

Technology & R&D

Teknopark İzmir (İYTE, Urla), Ege Teknopark, a growing games cluster

Smaller than Istanbul's or Ankara's but real, anchored on the İzmir Institute of Technology campus at Urla, with the same Law No. 4691 income-tax exemption for R&D and software staff.

Tourism & hospitality

Çeşme and Alaçatı resorts, Ephesus tourism, cruise calls

Çeşme and Alaçatı are Türkiye's most fashionable domestic summer destinations, and Ephesus an hour south is one of the great classical sites — seasonal, but a large regional employer.

Neighborhood · Alsancak, Konak

The waterfront promenade along the Gulf of İzmir — a wide grass strip, horse carriages, and the entire city out walking every evening at sunset.

Local tip: Walk it north from Konak towards Alsancak at golden hour, then cut inland to 1453 Sokak and the Alsancak backstreets when you want a drink rather than a view.

Culture · Konak

A vast covered-and-open bazaar that has run since the 17th century, wrapped around the 1744 Kızlarağası caravanserai and the ruins of the Roman Agora.

Local tip: Have coffee in the Kızlarağası courtyard, then find Havra Sokağı for the food stalls and the cluster of old synagogues nearby — the Jewish quarter is the part almost every visitor walks straight past.

Landmark · Karataş, Konak

A 1907 public lift built by a Jewish philanthropist to spare residents the cliff climb, with a terrace at the top and a steep painted lane of old houses running down from it.

Local tip: Ride up for the bay view at sunset, then walk down Dario Moreno Sokağı rather than taking the lift back — the street, named after the singer who grew up here, is the whole point.

Nature · Karşıyaka

The north-shore waterfront, with a long park, a famous stepped wooden sunset deck, and the İZDENİZ ferries running back across the bay every few minutes.

Local tip: Take the vapur over from Konak rather than driving round the bay — 15-20 minutes on open water, and the İzmirim Kart fare is barely more than a bus.

Food · Urla, ~35 km west

A stretch of small Aegean wineries, olive groves and farm restaurants on the peninsula road, plus Urla's own restored old town and fishing harbour.

Local tip: Go for a long weekday lunch rather than a Saturday, and pair it with the İYTE campus coast at Gülbahçe if you want a swim on the way back.

Landmark · Selçuk, ~75 km south

One of the best-preserved classical cities in the Mediterranean — the Library of Celsus, the great theatre, and the marble street that ran down to a harbour now silted a few kilometres inland.

Local tip: Reachable on the İZBAN commuter train to Selçuk plus a short taxi, so you don't need a car. Go at opening in summer; there is no shade on the marble street by eleven.