My wife and I stayed at the Izmir Palas two times in mid-June 2007. The weather was unusually hot, but the air conditioning worked well. We had a room overlooking the harbor one time and on the other side of the hotel overlooking the city the other time. Definitely get a room on the harbor side if possible. The view is excellent, and there is much less noise than on the street side. The hotel is well located for seeing the old part of Izmir. Most of Izmir is new and of no interest to the tourist, but the old part has some interesting things to see and do. This hotel is just about centrally located for seeing those things. There is an outstanding seafood restaurant on the first floor on the harbor side (a little expensive but with quality to match the price). There are other restaurants all along the promenade that runs along the harbor for several kilometers. Not far away are various parks, museums, old sections of town, the wonderful bazaar (the Kemeralti), and lots of restaurants with a great variety of specialties. The bathroom facilities in our room were excellent, the best we had during a month in Turkey. The staff was friendly, and the desk clerks all spoke good English. The internet service was free. The router for our floor was broken, so I had to take my laptop down to the lobby, but once there I had no trouble connecting. The hotel is not cheap but also is not unreasonably expensive, especially given the general quality of the hotel and it excellent location.
- Palas Hotel Izmir
