Kusadasi

Since it opened in 2009, this laid-back, upscale waterfront seafood restaurant has become a favorite with locals, who spill out from the stone walls and onto the terrace. The menu features excellent meze, including fried calamari and grilled eggplant with a punchy white sauce, and fish either simply grilled or cooked with béchamel or tomatoes. Oven-baked halvah with ice cream is a good choice for dessert. Alcoholic drinks are available. Ask when ordering about prices to avoid any unpleasant surprises.

Laid-back but still pleasantly lively, this fish restaurant across from the marina has indoor-outdoor dining and less of a touristy vibe than those around the cruise ship port. Meze, hot starters like stuffed mussels and calamari, and fresh whole fish are all well prepared and the service is efficient.

The name means "pure Urfa" (Urfa is a city famed for its sizzling grilled meats), and the focus at this causal, 50-year-old spot is on kebabs and other meaty Turkish dishes, at slightly high but still reasonable prices. Though the crowd is mostly tourists (the helpful staff speaks a variety of languages), the food is happily still tasty and authentic enough to please locals. The comfortable surroundings, including a pleasant terrace, are just off Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa Bulvarı, the main thoroughfare (though there are no views).

Just around the corner from Öz Urfa in Kuşadası's main bazaar area, "My Nest/Home" truly lives up to its name, offering the kind of food you'd find in a Turkish home. At lunchtime, items sell out quickly, so get there early to enjoy mantı (Turkish-style "ravioli" with plain yogurt and tomato/butter sauce), bamya (okra) in a tomato-olive oil sauce, meat stew, and baked chicken with rice. The menu also includes soups, grilled meats, and vegetarian dishes. Alcohol is not served.

There are several Irish- and British-style pubs as well as other noisy drinking establishments along Barlar Sokak, not far from the harbor.

If you're looking for beaches, either head north from Kuşadası to Pamucak or travel 33 km (20 miles) south to this lovely national park, which has good hiking trails and several quiet stretches of sandy beach. The İçmeler beach, closest to the entrance, is also the most crowded. Travel 15 minutes to Karaburun for a more low-key atmosphere. To get to the park, take the coast road, marked Güzelçamlı or Davutlar, for about 10 km (6 miles) south of Kuşadası. You can catch a Güzelçamlı-bound dolmuş from Kuşadaşı or nearby transport hub Söke; minibuses within the park shuttle visitors to some of the most popular beaches. In the summer months, there's ferry service a few times a day from the Kuşadaşı Marina to Güzelçamlı. The park also contains the so-called "Cave of Zeus," and an archaeological site from when the peninsula was known as Mycale.

There aren't many sights in Kuşadası proper, but the causeway just south of the harbor connects the town to an old Genoese castle on Güvercin Adası (Pigeon Island). The fortress was once home to three Turkish brothers in the 16th century. These infamous pirates—Barbarossa, Oruc, and Hayrettin—pillaged the coasts of Spain and Italy and sold passengers and crews from captured ships into slavery in Algiers and Constantinople. Rather than fight them, Süleyman the Magnificent (ruled 1520–66) hired Hayrettin as his grand admiral and set him loose on enemies in the Mediterranean. The strategy worked: Hayrettin won victory after victory and was heaped with honors and riches. The castle is currently closed for restorations, though you can still have a nice stroll along the causeway.

Alcohol is no longer served at the cafés at Kuşadaşı's old kervansaray, but you can while away the evening hours smoking nargile (hookah) and drinking çay (Turkish tea) inside its courtyard or along its walls.

Kuşadası's 300-year-old caravanserai, a short stroll from the cruise ship dock, is now the rather over-restored Hotel Club Kervansaray. The building's central courtyard is open to the public but full of touristy shops, cafés, and restaurants.