Dikili, on Turkey’s north Aegean coast 30 km (19 miles) west of Bergama (map), is a town spread out around the shore of a broad bay. It’s a distance of at least several kilometers from one end of the town to the other.
The center of town (if there can be said to be a center) is marked by fine old pine trees. In the northern part of town, a rough sand beach stretches for hundreds of meters.
Like most Turkish towns, Dikili (DEE-kee-lee) is growing at an alarming pace, and now big concrete apartment blocks march along the crest of the hill to the east to take advantage of the sunset water views.
It’d be nice to say that Dikili is “undiscovered” by tourism, but that is no longer the case.
Both Turkish and foreign vacationers come to Dikili for its relative calm and quiet, broken in the past by the horn of a cruise ship disembarking hundreds of passengers on their way to visit the ruins of nearby Bergama (Pergamum). However, in 2015 the Port of Dikili closed for an indefinite time.
Still, it’s a pleasant place to spend a few days if you’d like some time by the sea in a place that’s, well, sort of undiscovered.
The village of Çandarlı, 10 km (6.2 miles) due south of Dikili, has its own small medieval fortress, and is even less discovered.
Distances & Travel Times
Ayvalık: 30 km (31 miles), 45 minutes
Balıkesir: 125km (78 miles) NE, 2 hours
Bandırma: 250 km (137 miles) NE, 3.5 hours
Çanakkale: 225 km (155 miles) N, 4 hours
Çandarlı: 10 km (6.2 miles) S, 15 minutes
Bergama: 30 km (19 miles) E, 35 minutes
Ephesus: 210 km (112 miles) S, 3 hours
İzmir: 130 km (62 miles) S, 1-3/4 hours
Troy: 205 km (143 miles) N, 3-3/4 hours
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