Review: Ege Palas Business Hotel, Izmir, Turkey

This review details a stay at the Ege Palas Business Hotel in the Alsancak neighbourhood of Izmir.

Izmir hotel

After a comfortable AnadoluJet flight from Ankara I found myself in Izmir, the final destination of this trip through Georgia and Turkey.

For the next few days the Ege Palas Business Hotel in Izmir’s Alsancak neighbourhood would be my home away from home.

Throughout the last years I’ve stayed at quite a few different hotels in Izmir and the Ege Palas Business Hotel has always been my favourite in the mid-range price category.

Although not everything is perfect about the hotel, Ege Palas does have comfortable rooms and an excellent location smack bang in the middle of the lively Alsancak area, being a short distance away from most of Izmir’s sights.

From the airport, I simply took a direct Izban suburban railway train to Alsancak station, which is just 10 minutes away on foot from Ege Palas Business Hotel.

Check-in 

Ege Palas Business Hotel is located on Cumhuriyet Boulevard, a backstreet directly behind the Alsancak seaside promenade.

If you arrive on foot you can just walk up the stairs into the reception area, while travellers arriving by car can directly drive into the underground parking garage of the hotel.

Check-in by the friendly receptionist was fast and easy.

For my standard double room with sea view I paid 52 euro per night, a rate which included breakfast.

Room

As my sea view room was located on one of the upper floors of the hotel, I took the lift up.

My standard room was fairly large and nicely furnished, even though it felt a bit past its time and some slight bits of wear and tear was visible.

The room was however clean and featured a king size bed, two separate desks, a seating corner, flat-screen TV and minibar.

A kettle with tea and coffee as well as one small bottle of water per day were complimentary provided.

The room also had air-conditioning, although the old air-con system wasn’t that powerful.

However, as the temperature in the room was decent even at the height of summer, this wasn’t much of a deal to me.

WiFi internet had decent speeds and there were plenty of power sockets throughout the room.

Sea view balcony

By far the best feature of my room at the Ege Palas Business Hotel was its balcony with proper sea view.

If you open the doors towards the balcony you can enjoy a magnificent view over the Alsancak seaside promenade, the sparkling blue water of the Aegean Sea and the sprawling Izmir cityscape.

It’s simply a wonderful place to sit with a drink.

Bathroom

The en-suite bathroom of my standard room was fairly large and clean and featured a hair dryer and some basic free toiletries.

Although the shower had good water pressure and was perfectly fine to use, some slight wear and tear was also visible here on the tiles and floor.

Breakfast

Breakfast was included in my room rate and was served buffet style.

It existed out of a fairly standard assortment of Turkish breakfast staples and although the quality was decent enough, the selection wasn’t particularly large.

Location

Apart from the fabulous sea view the central location in Izmir’s Alsancak area is perhaps the biggest selling point of the Ege Palace Business Hotel.

Alsancak is Izmir’s liveliest area and is full of bars and restaurants.

Although you are close to all the action, there is no noise pollution from the surrounding streets as the hotel is located in a backstreet and the rooms are high up in the tower.

Public transport links are great too as the Alsancak train and Izban station, the Konak tram line as well as the Alsancak Ferry Pier for ferries across the bay are all a short walking distance away.

Conclusion

The Ege Palas Business Hotel is a great mid-range choice if you are looking for a comfortable and centrally located hotel in Izmir.

Located right in the heart of Izmir’s lively Alsancak district, the Ege Palas Business Hotel is a stone throw away from a big number of shops, cafés, restaurants and nightlife options.

As the railway and Izban station, Konak tram line and ferry pier can all be reached in 10 minutes on foot, the location of the Ege Palas Business Hotel is also great if you want to explore more of Izmir and the surrounding area.

It’s well worth it to pay the small premium for a sea view room as the panorama over the Alsancak neighbourhood and the blue waters of the Aegean Sea are fantastic.

Although there are definitely some points for improvement (some wear and tear, the hotel feeling a bit past its prime, an average breakfast buffet) I don’t think these slight negatives measure up against the superior location and comfortable room with a great view.

Trip report index

This article is part of the ‘Khachapuri & Kebabs: A Summer Trip to Georgia and Turkey‘ trip report, which consists of the following chapters:

1. Review: Wizz Air Bucharest to Kutaisi (Airbus A320)
2. A Day in Kutaisi, the Charming Capital of Imereti
3. Caves, Churches and Monasteries – A Kutaisi Day Trip
4. Review: My Warm Guest House, Batumi, Georgia
5. Beautiful Batumi – The Pearl of Georgia’s Black Sea Coast
6. From Georgia to Turkey: Batumi to Kars by Bus
7. Review: Kars Konak Hotel, Kars, Turkey
8. A Day Trip From Kars to the Ancient Armenian City of Ani
9. Goose, Cheese and Russian Remnants: A Visit to Kars, Turkey
10. Review: Dogu Express Night Train Kars to Ankara, Turkey
11. Review: AnadoluJet Ankara to Izmir (Boeing 737-800)
12. Review: Ege Palas Business Hotel, Izmir, Turkey (current chapter)
13. Izmir: Turkey’s Most Liberal and Liveable City
14. Ancient Ephesus: An Easy Day Trip From Izmir
15. A Visit to the Hilltop Wine Village of Sirince
16. A Beach Trip From Izmir to Cesme and Ilica
17. Foça: A Beautiful Seaside Town to Visit From Izmir
18. Flying Back Home With Atlasglobal and TAROM