Alaçatı in Izmir, from the windmills to the lagoon

The windmills above the village

Alaçatı Yel Değirmenleri Parkı sits on a bare hilltop above the village, a cluster of squat towers in whitewashed and rubble stone under conical roofs. Stone terraces and young olive and pine plantings fill the ground between them, and the village roofs and the Aegean sit below. One mill keeps its original grinding machinery. Another holds a small cafeteria.

Entry is free, with no ticket and no booking. Every guide leads with the view from up here, and it is the one spot that takes in the whole town at once. Go at sunset or after dark, when the mills are floodlit, and remember the summit terraces are narrow.

Pazaryeri Camii and Hacı Memiş Ağa Camii

Pazaryeri Camii went up in the 1830s as the Greek Orthodox church of Agios Konstantinos, became a mosque, and was restored in 2009 and 2010. It is a three-nave basilica of rough rubble stone with tall arched windows and a slim minaret added to one side. Inside, columns divide the naves, and the restoration left the painted altar apse with its 19th-century icon panels on show. Of the town's three big churches it is the only one still standing, and the plainest reminder that Alaçatı was Greek Agrilia first.

Entry is free outside the five daily prayer times. Dress modestly, leave your shoes at the door and keep your voice down.

Hacı Memiş Ağa Camii, two minutes on foot from the market square, was built in 1812 by Hacı Memiş Ağa, the man the design-shop quarter is named after. The building is small and square, in rubble stone, with a single dome on an octagonal drum under terracotta tiles and a stubby stone minaret. A walled graveyard of leaning Ottoman headstones sits beside it. It is free and still in use. Go between prayers with shoulders and knees covered, and start your walk here.

The Hacımemiş lanes

Hacımemiş Quarter is narrow cobbled lanes of restored one- and two-storey stone houses, pale limestone walls, shutters painted turquoise, lilac and oxblood, and bougainvillea spilling over the courtyard doors. The independent design trade works out of old village rooms here, selling ceramics, textiles, jewellery and vintage furniture. The quiet cocktail bars and the meze courtyards are in the same lanes.

Wandering costs nothing, and the lanes themselves are the sight. The shops are the reason to stay in them, at ₺₺₺. Most are single rooms, so a party of more than four is better off browsing in shifts.

Thursday morning in the market square

Alaçatı Perşembe Pazarı fills the central market square with canvas-awninged stalls: crates of long-stemmed Alaçatı artichokes, tied bundles of wild fennel, thyme and purslane, tin trays of dried figs, drums of local olive oil. In spring the artichoke and wild-herb stalls are where the town's restaurant kitchens buy that morning. At ₺ it is the cheapest thing you will do here, and worth planning a day around.

It is free and open to all. The market runs mornings only and is packing up by early afternoon. In summer it goes shoulder to shoulder, so arrive before 10:00.

Port Alaçatı and the lagoon

Port Alaçatı Marina (Alaçatı Bay) is Alaçatı's sea front, 5 km down from the stone village, a fishing harbour converted into a low boutique marina of 260 berths. White hulls and masts line a stone-paved quayside promenade of awninged restaurant terraces, with a swim platform and a small guest beach at the far end. The beach club, the surf schools and the best fish terraces are all down here. The marina takes yachts up to 35 m. Walking the promenade is free; the quayside restaurants and the beach club sit at ₺₺.

Çark Plajı (Liman Mevkii) is the shallow lagoon that brings European windsurfers here. The flat water runs waist deep more than 200 metres out, between two scrubby low headlands, with dozens of coloured sails crossing the bay. The same depth makes it the safest swimming on the peninsula for families. The meltem blows 15 to 25 knots from May to October, so expect wind with your sunbathing. The beach is free, and the sunbed-and-parasol clubs along the shore charge separately.

ASPC – Alaçatı Surf Paradise Club (Liman Mevkii) is Turkey's biggest watersports centre, at the lagoon's edge. The rigging lawn is racked with more than 120 windsurf boards and walls of 250 bright sails, with a wooden beach-bar deck behind it and instructors wading beginners out into knee-deep water. VDWS instructors teach in Turkish, English, German, French, Italian and Russian, and the centre runs kids' and corporate camps, with up to 200 surfers on the water at once. Beginners and advanced freeriders use the same beach on the same day, so a group of mixed ability can book together. Lessons and hire sit at ₺₺₺.

Breakfast and the all-day café

Köşe Kahve (village centre) has been open since 2004 and is the easiest way into an Aegean breakfast. Pavement tables stand on the cobbles, copper cezve pots sit on the heat, and the trays come crowded with small dishes, jams, olives and village bread. Order the sakızlı Turkish coffee, made with mastic.

The café runs from 09:30 until 01:00 or 02:00, so it works as a late stop as well as a first one. Nobody takes bookings, the tables are small enough that a group of more than four gets split across them, and the room fills by 10:00. Prices are ₺₺.

Dinner in the stone village

Ortaya Alaçatı (Hacımemiş square) is Michelin-listed and the most useful table in the village, a corner house of stone walls and arched openings with terrace tables out on the cobbles under bougainvillea. Small plates of seasonal greens, grilled vegetables and fish land in the middle of the table and get passed around, which suits a party of four to eight. Book ahead, ask for the square-side terrace, and walk straight into the bars afterwards. Prices are ₺₺₺.

Fava Alaçatı (Kemalpaşa Cd. No. 108) keeps a walled garden behind plain tall double doors on the main drag that give nothing away. Inside is gravel underfoot, mature trees strung with lights, tables set among the greenery and no street noise. The kitchen does fennel kavurma, octopus tandır and a leblebi dessert. Reserve, and ask for the garden when you do. Prices are ₺₺₺.

Sota Alaçatı (a back lane off Kemalpaşa) is Alaçatı's Michelin Guide entry and the town's benchmark for shellfish. The open-air courtyard dining room is built around bubbling live lobster and oyster tanks, with ice counters of whole day-boat fish and white linen under vine cover and festoon lights. Dinner is ₺2,000 a head before wine, so treat it as the one big dinner of the trip. Reserve well ahead, and far ahead for July and August. It does not take walk-in crowds, and the dress is smart-casual.

Fish on the marina edge

Ferdi Baba – Port Alaçatı has been running since 1981 and serves the straightest fish dinner in town. The terrace is on the quay with yacht masts directly behind the tables, a crushed-ice counter of whole bream, bass and octopus at the entrance, white cloths, rakı glasses, melon and white cheese. Octopus dolma and ocean börek are what to order.

It opens daily from 12:00 to 23:00 year round, so in the shoulder months, when half the town shuts, it is still serving. Book in season. Prices are ₺₺₺.

Bars in Hacımemiş

Mathilda's Cocktail Bar Alaçatı (12017. Sokak No. 17) is the sensible first stop of a night in the quarter, a large open-air courtyard with low lanterns and planting round the perimeter, a long back-lit bottle wall and plates of appetisers on the tables. The bar team shakes at a crowded counter. The door is relaxed, though at weekends you want to be in before midnight. Nar, Boop and the louder rooms are all a two-minute walk. Prices are ₺₺₺.

Take Five Alaçatı (12001. Sokak No. 79) is the Alaçatı bar built around jazz, with a proper sound system and a crowd that came to listen. Two turntables sit lit by spots in front of illuminated shelves holding more than 1,000 records, on a narrow lane under a stretched awning and orange street lamps, with small tables out on the stones. The cocktails are serious and the room is small, so book ahead for more than four and reserve early for the Friday and Saturday live sets. Prices are ₺₺₺.

Staying inside the stone village

Alavya Hotel is ten years open and still the design benchmark for sleeping in the stone village, a cluster of village houses around a walled orchard garden on the site of Alaçatı's old open-air cinema. Rooms are individually designed by Hakan Ezer, mixing local stone with contemporary pieces, and the courtyard holds a pool and olive trees. The Mitu restaurant and the Miboso spa are on site.

It is within walking distance of Hacımemiş, which matters more here than a sea view. Weddings, meetings and private events run here, so multi-room bookings are routine; ask about a buyout outside high season. Rates are ₺₺₺₺.

Practical notes

The market is Thursday mornings only, and the two mosques close to visitors at the five daily prayer times. Book Sota, Ortaya, Fava and Take Five ahead in season.

See the Izmir guide and the Izmir hotel search.