Ilıca is a large resort area near

Çeşme Çeşme () is a coastal town and the administrative centre of the district of the same name in Turkey's westernmost end, on a promontory on the tip of the peninsula that also carries the same name and that extends inland to form a whole with the ...

in the extreme western tip of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, in

İzmir Province İzmir Province ( tr, İzmir ili) is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey in western Anatolia, situated along the Aegean coast. Its capital is the city of İzmir, which is in itself composed of the province's central 11 distri ...

. A township apart in practically all its aspects, Ilıca administratively depends the municipality of the district center of Çeşme, at a distance of 5 km to the west. Ilıca started out as a settlement towards the end of the 19th century, initially as a retreat for wealthy people, especially from

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

, during summer holidays. Today, it is a popular destination for many. Its name makes reference to its famed

thermal springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

, some of which are in the sea. As the thermal waters come out of the sea bed and mix with the sea water adding minerals very close to the Ilica Beach, swimming at Ilica Beach is ideal for the skin. Ilica is also home to mud baths which is known to cure many illnesses such as rheumatism, metabolism illnesses and gynaecological diseases. Mentioned by Pausanias and

Charles Texier Félix Marie Charles Texier (22 August 1802, Versailles – 1 July 1871, Paris) was a French historian, architect and archaeologist. Texier published a number of significant works involving personal travels throughout Asia Minor and the Middle Eas ...

, Ilıca thermal springs are also notable in Turkey for having been the subject of the first scientifically based analysis in

Turkish language Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...

of a thermal spring, published in 1909 by Yusuf Cemal. By his time the thermal springs were well-known both internationally, scientific and journalistic literature having been published in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and in Greek, and across Ottoman lands, since the construction here of a still-standing

yalı A yalı ( tr, yalı, from Greek ''yialí'' (mod. ''yialós''), literally "seashore, beach") is a house or mansion built right on the waterside (almost exclusively seaside, particularly on the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul) and usually built with ...

associated with

Muhammad Ali of Egypt Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha, also known as Muhammad Ali of Egypt and the Sudan ( sq, Mehmet Ali Pasha, ar, محمد علي باشا, ; ota, محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا; ; 4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849), was ...

's son Tosun Pasha who had sought a cure in Ilıca before his premature death. Ilıca also has a fine beach, about 1.5 km long, as well as favorable wind conditions which make Ilıca, together with the neighboring

Alaçatı Alaçatı is a part of İzmir on the Western coast of Turkey, often noted for its architecture, vineyards, windmills, and sea. Alaçatı is one of the most traditional towns in Turkey, with stone houses, narrow streets, boutique hotels and resta ...

, an internationally prized location for

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

. A unique feature of Ilıca Beach is its shallow and warm waters allowing swimmers to wade up to 100 meters out to sea. Image:Looking_southwest_over_Ilica_2007-08-19.jpg, Looking southwest over Ilıca Image:Ilica_on_the_highway_from_Cesme_to_Izmir_2007-08-08.jpg, Ilıca seen from the highway from Çeşme to Izmir Image:Traffic_jam_in_Ilica_2007-08-18.jpg, Traffic jam on Ilıca's shopping mile Image:Sunset_over_Ilica_looking_west_towards_Cesme_2007-08-17.jpg, Sunset over Ilıca looking west towards Çeşme

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilica Populated places in İzmir Province Çeşme District Populated coastal places in Turkey Fishing communities in Turkey