Only In Izmir: Exploring The Seaside City’s Culinary Traditions

Asli was a delightful guide who showed my husband and I a delightful tour filled with wonderful food through the old markets in Izmir. The day was every bit as good as the day spent visiting Ephesus

We had wonderful time with our tour guide and the amount of food exceeded our expectations. Definitely worth out time!!!

Our guide, Nukhet, was fabulous! She is friendly, knowledgeable and thoughtful. Everyone in the market seemed to know and adore her. The food was delicious and a great sampling of what Izmir has to offer. We never would have found the places without her. It was an easy trip from our cruise ship in Kusadasi.

Nuket guided us through several neighborhoods in old town Izmir. We tasted a large variety of great food while also learning about their cultural origins. Nuket also could answer all of our questions about the ingredients and preparation of the foods we tasted or saw. If you enjoy food specific to the region this comprehensive tour is a must!

This tour is without a doubt the best introduction to Izmir, and a must-do for anyone who loves food - it really showcased the best food in a city full of culinary delights. Friends recommended we do this tour, and we’re so glad we followed their advice. Our guide, Asli, was so friendly and knowledgeable - she took us to the spots even the locals wish they knew about - the kinds of places any tourist would walk past a hundred times without knowing how amazing their food was. Every dish was accompanied by an explanation of its significance, or the history of the business serving it. The tour even included a Michelin Star establishment. Finally, Asli also provided excellent advice and recommendations for our time in Izmir, and did we mention she was friendly and made great conversation too? 100% worth it.

Great tour, fantastic guide, helped us all buy presents in the markets as we explored some hidden gems in Izmir. Would recommend it to anyone. Could not eat anything for rest of day though. So full!

We absolutely loved this tour and our guide Asli. She is a native of Izmir and so proud of her culture. The tour was primarily focused around the market and the vendors and chefs at each location obviously know Asli well and greeted her and us with enthusiam. We tried so many wonderful foods and also made a few culture stops. She was also so patient with our many questions about Turkish culture. We had a lot of laughs ans even exchanged recipes. We are highly recommending this tour to anyone we meet who is heading to Izmir.

This experience was fantastic!! Nuket was a knowledgeable and engaging guide who took us to so many shops, cafes and stalls where we sampled the highest quality foods and interacted with such friendly owners. We came away will full stomachs and full hearts!

Nuket was fantastic! Other folks ended up not showing up, so it was just Nuket and I -- I was so grateful to have experienced the tour in depth with local insights, history of the neighborhoods, delicious food not only rich on the taste buds but the culinary backstory and cultural influence. She even read my Turkish coffee grounds as a fortune! While the tour spanned several hours with 5+ stops, it was well worth the investment for such a special tour to learn about Izmir and Turkiye.

I booked and paid for this tour twice for two people - which is exactly the stated minimum number of participants. Both times it was cancelled without any explanation. On TripAdvisor, the dates were clearly shown as available, yet after booking everything was cancelled. Only after repeatedly asking did I receive a vague reply, still without a clear reason. Extremely unprofessional and disappointing.

It was burning hot, still, our guide gave it all. Great food, great stories, great people. We loved it as always! The best culinary tours in the world.

Excellent day exploring the sights of Izmir. Well organised and a great variety of traditional food. We had 14 stops and each was well coordinated and our guide seemed to know everyone! Good insight into local customs and traditions and an excellent way to spend a day. You certainly don’t need breakfast or lunch if you take this tour.

Our guide Nuket Franco was terrific. She educated us on food and culture. We experienced the real Izmir - away from tourists and ate lots of delicious food. We loved Izmir because of her and miss her!

Great way to get to know the city, if you want to see more than images on touristic posters and taste more than food on touristic menus. You will hear stories, learn some history, meet loveliest local people, have a wonderful walk, and, of course, taste some fantastic food. I was priveleged to have Nuket as my guide, a very knowledgeable and super friendly lady, who walked me through unique places and answered my countless questions. I was very happy with the experience and would highly recommend it.

The operator tried to scam us, saying we didn't pay the full amount. We reported them to Viator (including a screen shot of the email requesting the additional funds) and requested a refund because we now could not trust this operator. Viator assured us we would get a full refund, but it hasn't arrived yet, and we may have to go through the hassle of reporting them to our credit card company and get the refund that way. Suggest you stay far away from this company. We have used Trip Advisor tours many, many times during the last 10 years and this is the first and only time this has ever happened!

Nuket was wonderful. She took us to so many places we lost count. She gave us options to try offal and fish(we declined) due to being so full of so many wonderful foods. We wandered the local market like a native and she made us feel like we were just visiting with a family friend. Can't recommend her enough but come very hungry!

We had a great food tour of Izmir with our tour guide Nuket. There was so much food offered that we had to skip some of the items. Make sure you start the tour without breakfast and have small samples in order try everything.

Nuket delivered us one of the best days we had in Turkiye. It was a very cool day where we got to experience the real Turkiye (not the overly tourist side), and it made the day special. We ate amazing food all day, while also learning about the history and social dimensions of İzmir. She was very knowledgeable and took us through places we never would have seen or known about otherwise. Can not recommend this tour highly enough!

We loved the food tour with Nuket. It was just us and her, and my mother was so happy, because she doesnt speak a lot of Englisch, and Nuket speaks almost perfect French. So she made the tour in French, which was really great for my mother. We had a perfect day and I highly recommend this tour. Nuket is a very nice and interesting lady, who has been in Izmir for 40 years, and knows a lot about the history, the food, the traditions etc. Also, she seems to know a lot of people, on market stalls, in shops, in restaurants etc. We ate a lot of tasty food (we in fact had to skip a few places, because we were so full). And finished with a turkish coffee in a hidden lovely place in the bazaar. Do go hungry (dont eat breakfast at your hotel !), as the tour starts with a nice breakfast. The tour is excellent value for money !

Joining a food tour is the most efficient way to get to know the local culture. We had a really good time and the food was delicious. We began with a small snack/breakfast then a full Tukish breakfast, and then have coffee and desserts. We took the ferry to cross the bosphorus and visited the Asia side. We had a small taste of doner kebab, and then lunch at a boutique restaurant with traditional homecook food which was amazing. Then we had ice cream and went to the fish market to try the local fish dishes. And we ended at a pickle store in a wet market. We then took the ferry back to European side where our hotel at. We visited many places, beside restaurants , we also visited other noteworthy places and our tour guide Remziye was very knowledgeable. She had explained to us the history and stories of the neighborhood. Initially I thought the price is on the high side, but then I realized it included not only the food and commute, but also the local insights and it gave me a peace of mind. All you needed is a good appetite for 6 hours and the tour guide will work out everything for you. I rate this tour 10/10.

After having done a Culinary Backstreets tour in Athens and loving it I had high hopes for this İzmir tour, and this tour with Nuket did not disappoint! The food was amazing (and very plentiful -- absolutely do not eat anything beforehand, and maybe even go easy on dinner the night before!) and Nuket was so knowledgeable about the food and culture of the region. Walking around the market with Nuket, you get to peek behind the scenes of local businesses and talk to shop owners, bakers, and cooks, all of whom were very friendly. If you love food and are interested in trying some of the most typical dishes of the city, I would highly recommend this tour!

Our food tour with with the engaging, informative and all around wonderful tour guide Nuket was truly a highlight of our trip to Turkey. Nuket's tour was a perfect mix of exceptional Izmir cuisine with great backround in the city's intriguing history and culture. We truly got "off the beaten path" an interacted with a nubmer of charming local business owners. We were invited into kitchens and really got an in depth experience of Izmir culture. It was hands down the best food tour we have ever done. Highly, highly recomended!