Kusadasi Hotel Entertainment

Kusadasi Hotel, Places to Stay - Mid-Range

Kusadasi Property, Hotels
Mid-range hotels are scattered throughout town, with some inland from the yacht ma­rina, some on the pension streets of Aslanlar Caddesi and Bezirgan Sokak; and many more along Atatürk Bulvarı and İstiklal Sokak.
Cephane (JEHP-hah-neh) Sokak leads off Barbaros Hayrettin Caddesi opposite the caravanserai. Bahar Pansiyon (256-614 1191, fax 614 9359, Cephane Sokak 12), used to be an excellent choice but nowadays its rooms look pretty mundane; the fans and roof terrace barely compensating for the leaky plumbing.

Walk up Aslanlar Caddesi to the right of the Akdeniz Apart-otel to find Hotel Sun Garden (256-614 3806, fax 614 4225, Aslanlar Caddesi 70-A), across from the AdaHotel.
breakfast included. in a previous incarna-tion this place was called the Hotel Flash -don't let anyone persuade you that the Flash was anywhere else.

Turn right onto Bezirgan Sokak to find the airy, two-star, 22 room Hotel Stella (256-614 1632, Bezirgan Sokak 44), with fabulous views of the town and the harbour. At the time of writing it was closed for renovation but bright, modern rooms used to be priced at US$75 a double with shower, breakfast included.

Facing the sea, just less than 1 km north of the caravanserai on Atatürk Bulvarı, are several convenient modem hotels offering comfortable rooms for moderate prices. The three-star Otel İlayda (256-614 3807, fax 614 6766) has 40 rooms with bath (and many with sea-view balconies) for US$40/60 a single/double. Otel Derici (256-614 8222, fax 614 8226), nearby at Atatürk Bulvarı 40, also has three stars, and 87 comfortable rooms (some with sea views) at rates of US$80 a double with breakfast. Right next door Atınç Otel (256-614 7608, fax 614 4967) charges US$90/110 for its rooms.

Continue along the seafront and, about 1 km north of the centre, you'll come to another group of moderately priced lodgings on istiklal Sokak. Hotel Köken (256-614 1460, fax 614 5723, Istikdal Sokak 5), is the Standard Turkish two-star: rooms with private bath cost US$24, breakfast included. Next door to the Köken is Yunus Pension, and beyond that the 20 room Çidem Pansiy­on (chee-DEHM) (256-614 1895, İstiklal Sokak 9), a clean, cheerful place with single rooms for US$22 to US$26, doubles for US$28 to US$34. This was being renovated at the time of vvriting. When it re-opens the cheaper rooms may be gone.

The nearby two-star, Hotel Akman (256-614 1501, İstiklal Sokak 13), is tidy if soulless. It's open from mid-March to the end of October and used by tour groups. Rooms, some with bathtubs, cost US$35/50 a single/double, breakfast included.

Entertainment

Much of Kuşadası's nightlife is aimed at specific national groups. Barlar Sokak (not to be confused with Barhar Sokak) near the Akdeniz Apart-otel is choked with Olde English and Irish 'pubs', and Deutsches 'bierstuben'. The quieter, classier bars are in Kaleiçi's narrow streets. Wander around to find Back Street Bar, Be Bop Cafe Bar, Orient and other places, bearing in mind that names change with surprising rapidity. Most offer dusky courtyards, comfy uphol-stered seats/benches, drinks, conversation and hip music.

Out on Güvercin Adası, the fort is usually let to disco organisers. Even if the latest incarnation is not to your liking, the walk out to the island and back is pleasant. This is certainly the place to come for a sunset rakı or two.

If you're into organised entertainment, Hotel Kervansaray plays hoşt to a Turkish night most evenings during summer. To watch the music and dancing without eating costs US$40; with a meal you're looking at US$60

Things to Buy

Kuşadası's bazaar offers the full range of Turkish souvenirs: onyx, meerschaum, leather clothing and accessories, copper, brass, carpets and jewellery. If you're heading on, save your shopping for later as almost anywhere else will be cheaper. If you must shop here, do it before or after the cruise ships are in port, as prices are higher then and dealers are ruder.

Kusadasi Beach Hamams Camping

Kusadasi Beaches, Kusadasi Turkey

You can swim from the rocky shores of Güvercin Adası and its causeway, but Yılancı Burnu, the peninsula less than 1 km to the south, is more enticing. Alternatively, catch the Şehiriçi (in-town) dolmuş to the northern beach near the yacht marina or further north, past the Kuştur holiday village, to the beach opposite the Tur-Yat Mocamp.

Kuşadası's most famous beach is Kadınlar Denizi (Ladies Beach), 2.5km south of town and served by dolmuş minibuses running along the shore road. Kadınlar Denizi is a small beach crowded by big hotels and woefully inadequate for the crowds in high summer, when the hotel pool is often more inviting. The coast south of Kadınlar Denizi has several more small beaches, each backed by ranks of big hotels.

There's also Pamucak (see the Pamucak section earlier in this chapter), 15km to the north. Most of the year you can get there on a dolmuş running betvveen Kuşadası and Selçuk; at other times you may have to change to a Pamucak dolmuş in Selçuk, or get out at the Pamucak road and walk 3 km.

Kusadası Hamams

Kuşadası's hamams are of the un-Turkish New Age type, allowing men and women to bathe at the same time, and charging an out-rageous US$20 for the full works.
The Belediye Hamamı (256-614 1219) is up the hill behind the Akdeniz Apart-otel; take the street which goes along the left side of the hotel. it's open from 9 am to 9 pm. The Kaleiçi Hamamı (256-614 1292), just west of the Öküz Mehmet Paşa Camii, is open from 7 am to 10 pm.

Kuşadası Camping

North of the centre about 1 km, inland from the yacht marina, are three decent camping areas. Best is Önder Camp­ing (256-614 2413, fax 614 2946), open all year, with lots of facilities: tennis, swimming pool, laundry and a good restaurant (open from March to October only). If the Önder is full, the adjoining Yat Camping (256-614 1333) takes the overflow.

The larger Tur-Yat Mocamp (256-614 1087), several kilometres north of these on the shore, is open from mid-April or late May until mid to late October. Across the road from a small beach, it charges US$8 for two people in a tent. break fast and dinner included. There are a few restaurants and a fuel station close by.

Kuşadası History Hotel Property

Kuşadası Turkey, Kusadasi Hotel and Property

About 20km from Selçuk is Kuşadası (koo-SHAH-dah-suh), a seaside resort town with a resident population of 50,000. Like Mar­maris it's swollen out of all recognition throughout the summer with package holidaymakers from Europe.

Many cruise ships on the Aegean Islands circuit stop at Kuşadası so passengers can tour Ephesus and haggle for trinkets in the bazaar. The town centre is all shops and işportacılar (itinerant pedlars and touts ready to sell you anything and everything). The pleasant, easy-going atmosphere which made it popular in the 1970s is long gone, even though a few businesses stili hang on to serve the farmers, beekeepers and fishermen who make up an ever-dwindling portion of the population.

Kuşadası gets its name (Bird Island) from a small island now connected to the main-land by a causeway, called Güvercinada, or Güvercin Adası (Pigeon Island). it's recognizable by the small stone fort which is its most prominent feature.

Like Selçuk, Kuşadası makes a good base for excursions to the ancient cities of Ephesus, Priene, Miletus, and Didyma, to Altınkum Beach and Dilek National Park, and even inland to Afrodisias and Pamukkale.

Kuşadasi History

The natural port here may have been in use several centuries BC, and was probably known to the Byzantines, but modern Kuş­adası's history begins in medieval times when Venetian and Genoese traders came here, calling it Scala Nuova. Two centuries after the Ottoman conquest in 1413, Öküz Mehmet Paşa, vizier and sometime grand vizier to sultans Ahmet I and Osman II, ordered the building of the Kaleiçi mosque and hamam, the city walls, and the caravan-serai in order to improve the city's prospects as a trading port with Europe and Africa.

Useful for exporting agricultural goods, Kuşadası was also an important defensive port along the Ottoman Aegean coast. in 1834 the Güvercinada fortress was restored and improved. Kuşadası maintained its modest trade, farming and fıshing economy and its quiet character until the tourism boom of the late 1980s turned it into the brash resort you see today.

Orientation

Kuşadası's central landmark is the Öküz Mehmet Paşa Kervansarayı, an Ottoman caravanserai which is now a hotel. it's 100 m inland from the cruise-ship docks, at the intersection of the waterfront boulevard, Atatürk Bulvarı, and the togn's main street, the pedestrianised Barbaros Hayrettin Cad­desi which cuts inland from the caravanserai. Just beyond the PTT on the northern side of Barbaros Hayrettin Caddesi, a passage leads to the Öküz Mehmet Paşa Camii and the Kaleiçi Hamamı. Further along at the stone tower, Barbaros Hayrettin Caddesi crosses Sağlık Caddesi and becomes Kahra­manlar Caddesi, lined with shops and restaurants. Turn left onto Sağlık Caddesi to explore Kuşadası's market and the old Kaleiçi neighbourhood of narrow streets packed with restaurants and bars. Turn right off Barbaros Hayrettin Caddesi to find raucous Barlar Sokak (Bars Street), and the hillside pensions overlooking the harbour.

The Hacı Hatice Hanım Camii (Hanım Camii for short) about 100m along Kahra­manlar Caddesi makes a convenient landmark. The otogar and dolmuş station is more than 1 km east of the caravanserai on the bypass road.

Information in Kusadasi

The Tourism Information Office (256-614 1103, fax 614 6295), on İskele Meydanı, is right near the wharf where the cruise ships dock, located about 100 m west of the caravanserai. This office is usually open from 8 am to noon and from 1.30 to 5.30 pm but keeps longer hours in summer.
Banks with ATMs are on Barbaros Hay­rettin Caddesi (Akbank, Garanti, Yapı Kredi and Ziraat). The PTT on Barbaros Hayrettin Caddesi near the caravanserai changes money as well.

The postal code is 09400