Reasons to visit Ayvalık
Ayvalık is calm and peaceful in comparison to many of Türkiye’s other popular holiday resorts. While Ayvalık welcomes numerous visitors during the summer months, the town is a wonderful destination in the autumn as well, offering a culture, cuisine and an atmosphere of simplicity that has not been altered by time.
Getting to Ayvalık
Ayvalık is about a 30-minute drive from Edremit Koca Seyit Airport. Turkish Airlines operates several daily flights from İstanbul to Edremit; the flight takes around one hour. You can purchase a flight ticket to Edremit here.
What to do in Ayvalık
In addition to its culinary traditions, calm atmosphere and lovely landscapes, Ayvalık offers a number of other activities befitting its seafront location, including kitesurfing, scuba diving and boat tours.
Places to visit in Ayvalık
Cunda Island
The Cunda Peninsula, also known as Alibey Island, is accessible from Ayvalık town by road. Cunda Island, home to some of the sites mentioned below, is among the places to visit in Ayvalık. The Island has a variety of accommodation facilities, restaurants and beaches.
Taksiyarhis Churches and Museums
With a predominately Greek population during the 16th and 17th centuries, Cunda Island’s Greek Orthodox Taksiyarhis Church was rebuilt in 1873, on the site of a previous church. Restored in the 2000s, Taksiyarhis Church was opened as a museum in 2014 by the Rahmi M. Koç Foundation for Museology and Culture. The collection includes tin toys, steam models, perambulators and chronometers.
In Ayvalık town, the Balıkesir Taksiyarhis Memorial Museum is set in the town’s oldest church. Originally built in the 15th century, the church underwent several renovations, the last taking place in 1893. Restored in 2013, it is now a museum operated by the Balıkesir Kuva-yi Milliye Museum Directorate. Visitors can enter with a Museum Card.
The Necdet-Sevim Kent Library
The restored mill and chapel, is now a stylish mini-library on Cunda Island. The Library’s garden offers unparalleled views of the Island.
Saatli Cami (Clock Mosque)
Set in the Ayvalık bazaar, the Saatli Cami was built as a church in the 1800s and converted into a mosque following the population exchange.
Şeytan Sofrası (Devil’s Feast)
Presenting the best view of Ayvalık, the Devil’s Feast is a hilltop observation deck. About eight kilometers from the city center, the site presents fantastic vistas over Lesbos Island and the Ayvalık Islands. It is especially popular at sunset.
Taş Kahve (Stone Coffee Shop)
Taş Kahve, on Cunda Island, is arguably one of the island’s most famous spots. Founded in the 1920s, the seafront café is renowned for its Turkish coffee and mastic ice cream, as well as its traditional stone coffee grinding methods.
Macaron Neighborhood
The historical Macaron District in Ayvalık is a picturesque neighborhood that exemplifies the Aegean spirit with its colorful Greek-style houses and taverns, cafes and boutiques.
Trata Ayvalık
Türkiye’s first traveling restaurant, Trata Ayvalık, serves in a different location each day, selecting the area’s most scenic spots for the daily dinner service. Bookings can be made via Instagram for this extraordinary Ayvalık experience.
Ayvalık beaches
Ayvalık offers a multitude of beaches, with Sarımsaklı Beach especially popular among families with children. Ortunç Bay has a Blue Flag beach and Altınova Beach is known for its relative calmness. Badavut Beach and Cunda’s Çataltepe Beach are also quite popular.
Dining in Ayvalık
Thanks to a synthesis of Greek, Cretan and Turkish heritages, great food awaits you in Ayvalık. Some of the local specialties include:
- Ayvalık tostu – a toasted sandwich with cheese, sausage and salami,
- Lor tatlısı – a type of curd cheese dessert,
- Papalina (European sprat), a small fish species found only in the Ayvalık region,
- Mastic ice cream, a flavor from the neighboring island of Lesbos
- Cretan-style appetizers, various mezes
- Sour grape juice (Verjuice) made from unripe grapes.
