Ayvalık & Cunda 2026: Seafood & Stone Houses

Ayvalık is the largest surviving 19th-century Greek-Ottoman town on the Türkiye Aegean coast — the architectural twin of Lesbos's Mytilene, 19 km across the water. Cunda Island (Alibey Adası), connected to Ayvalık by a 700 m causeway, is the seafood capital of the North Aegean. Together they form the most atmospheric food-and-architecture stop on the Türkiye coast, two hours south of Assos and four hours north of İzmir. Why Ayvalık and Cunda exist Ayvalık was a Greek-Orthodox town called Kydonies (modern Greek Aivali ) for 400 years until the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne population exchange. The Greek inhabitants were relocated to Lesbos and Macedonia; Cretan Muslim Turks were resettled in their houses. The result is a town where every stone-built mansion, neoclassical church (now a mosque) and arched cobbled street is original 19th-century Greek architecture, preserved because the new Cretan population kept living in them. UNESCO has had Ayvalık on its tentative World Heritage list since 2017. Getting to Ayvalık in 2026 From Istanbul : bus from 15 Temmuz Otogarı, 7h, ₺700–₺850 (€20–€25). Daily. From İzmir / ADB airport : 150 km, 2h drive on the O-32 / D550. Havaş airport bus to İzmir Otogarı (1h), then bus to Ayvalık (2h30). From Edremit-Körfez airport (EDO) : 50 km, 45 min — direct domestic flights from Istanbul SAW with Pegasus. From Çanakkale / Assos : 150 km / 50 km, 2h / 50 min by car. Cunda Island and the 700 m causeway Cunda (Alibey Adası) is the only Aegean island accessible by car from the mainland — the 700 m causeway was built in 1965. Crossing it takes 5 minutes. The island has 5,000 permanent residents (40,000 in summer), one main port village built entirely in Lesbos stone style, and the spectacular Taksiyarhis Church (1873), now an art museum. The island's Patriça Bay viewpoint and the Sevim ve Necdet H. Kent Library in the restored Greek school are both worth 30 minutes each. Where to eat seafood — the locals' list Ayvalık-Cunda is the seafood capital of