Ultimate Edition

Bergama, Turkey

Published for Pergamon, the Bakırçay valley and the Kozak hills

TR Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Guides › Turkey › Bergama, Turkey

The kings’ acropolis, the healers’ sanctuary and a market town below

Bergama is a district town of İzmir Province in the Bakırçay valley, built at the foot of ancient Pergamon, capital of the Attalid kings and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2014. The district had about 106,000 people in 2022, the largest outside the İzmir metropolitan core.

The Ultimate City Desk

Pergamon rose on its steep hill above the valley in the third century BC, when Philetairos, keeper of a royal treasure, made it the base of his own dynasty. His successors, the Attalids, ruled a kingdom across western Asia Minor until 133 BC, when the last of them bequeathed it to Rome, and they built a capital to rival Athens: terraced palaces, a theatre cut into the slope, temples and the great altar of Zeus with its frieze of gods fighting giants. The library was said to be second only to Alexandria’s, and the name parchment, pergamena, recalls the city. Under Rome Pergamon remained a great city; the physician Galen was born here and trained at the Asclepion, the healing sanctuary, and it is named among the seven churches of the Book of Revelation. The Byzantines, the Turkish emirate of Karesi and the Ottomans followed, and the modern town of Bergama grew in the lower city by the river.

The town lies in the plain of the Bakırçay, the ancient Kaikos, about 27 kilometres inland from the coast at Dikili and a hundred-odd kilometres north of İzmir. The acropolis rises sharply on its north side, reached by road or by a gondola from the edge of the town, with the theatre, the Trajaneum and the foundations of the altar on its terraces. The old quarter of stone houses and narrow lanes lies at its foot, around the Selinus stream and the vast brick ruin of the Red Basilica, the Kızıl Avlu, a Roman temple of the Egyptian gods later turned into a church. The Asclepion is on the other side of the town to the south-west, and the archaeological museum on the main street. The district beyond is farmland, cotton and olives on the plain and pine forest on the Kozak plateau to the north, where the stone pines give the nuts the area is known for.

Bergama is a market town that happens to sit at the foot of one of the great sites of the ancient world, and its life goes on largely apart from the coach parties. The weekly market fills the streets with the produce of the valley, and the villages around still weave Bergama carpets, a tradition of red-ground wool rugs with geometric patterns. The food is the Aegean’s, with olive oil dishes and herbs, köfte, and pine nuts from Kozak in sweets and rice. In June the Bergama Kermesi, the town’s long-standing festival, fills the town with concerts, folk dancing and a parade. The town also has a tradition of protest: in the 1990s villagers around the Ovacık gold mine became a national cause in their campaign against the use of cyanide, and the mine has remained a point of argument since.

Bergama lives from farming, trade, the services of a large district town and tourism, which has grown since UNESCO listing but is mostly day visits from İzmir and the coast. The great altar itself has been in Berlin since the 1880s, and its return remains an occasional Turkish demand; the Pergamonmuseum there has been closed for renovation, and is due to reopen with the altar hall in June 2027. Excavation on the acropolis, led by the German Archaeological Institute for well over a century, continues. Like all of İzmir Province, Bergama lies in earthquake country, and the quality of new building is a constant concern.

Where People Live

The neighbourhoods

The acropolis

The upper city of the Attalid kings, with the steep theatre, the Trajaneum, the foundations of the altar of Zeus, the library and the arsenals, reached by the gondola or by the road.

The old quarter

The lanes of stone and timber houses at the foot of the acropolis along the Selinus stream, with old mosques, small workshops and guesthouses.

The Red Basilica

The towering brick temple of the Egyptian gods, the Kızıl Avlu, built over the stream in the Roman era and later used as a church, with a small mosque beside it.

The Asclepion

The healing sanctuary south-west of the town, with its colonnaded sacred way, theatre, sacred spring and the tunnel to the treatment building.

The town centre

The main street with the archaeological museum, the market, the bus station, government offices and shops, the working heart of the district.

Kozak plateau

The high pine-forested plateau to the north, with its villages, stone pines and pine-nut harvest, cooler than the plain in summer.

The Bakırçay plain

The farmland of the valley around the town, with cotton, grain and olive groves, the carpet-weaving villages and the road west to Dikili and the sea.

Airports

Fly Pergamon Sport Airfield 3.8 km to the centre

Bergama, 35, TR

Outdoor

Local transit

Eshot

Bus · Izmir · Schedules & GTFS data (official feed)

Trains & rail

TCDD Taşımacılık

National rail

Living Here

Practical notes for residents

Getting about

Bergama has no railway station on the İZBAN network; buses run frequently to İzmir’s main bus station and along the coast towards Ayvalık and Çanakkale, and minibuses to Dikili.
Adnan Menderes Airport in İzmir is the nearest major airport, about two hours by road.
The acropolis gondola starts from the edge of the town; the Asclepion and the Red Basilica are within walking distance or a short taxi ride of the centre. The Müzekart covers the sites but not the gondola.
Summer heat on the acropolis is fierce and shade scarce: go early, with water and a hat.

Health

Bergama has a state hospital and local health centres; the large teaching and private hospitals of İzmir handle serious cases.
Dial 112 for any emergency. Pharmacies post the nearest duty pharmacy (nöbetçi eczane) for nights and holidays.
Visitors should carry travel insurance; private hospitals expect payment. This is earthquake country: know the assembly area nearest your accommodation.

Work & study

Farming, trade, the services of the district and tourism are the main employers; carpets, pine nuts and olive oil are the local products.
There is a vocational school in the town; students go to İzmir’s universities, Ege, Dokuz Eylül, Katip Çelebi and others, for degrees.
Foreign residents need a residence permit, applied for online, and a work permit for employment. Turkish is necessary for almost all local jobs.

Money & manners

Turkish lira. Cards are accepted in most shops and at the sites, but carry cash for the market, the village shops and taxis; prices change often in a period of high inflation.
Bergama is a conservative country town. Dress modestly away from the coast; mosques require covered shoulders and knees, women’s hair covered, and shoes off. Respect for Atatürk is expected.
Haggling is normal for carpets; ask how a rug was made and dyed. Summers are long and very hot, winters mild and rainy; spring and autumn suit the ruins best.

Sources

Everything above is checkable