WHERE THE TURKS GO

AYVALIK, NORTHERN AEGEAN COAST

An unspoilt beach resort in Turkey? It may sound like the Holy Grail, but if you head to the northern Aegean coastline, north of Izmir, there are several charming resort towns. The town of Ayvalik is hugely popular with holidaying Turks from Izmir (three hours away) and Istanbul (six); in a country the size of Turkey these are considered short-hop journeys and many city Turks have holiday homes in the town itself or the nearby resort of Foca.

Ayvalik's chequered history gives it a very particular feel; before the collapse of the Ottoman Empire many Greeks lived in the town, and many old Ottoman Greek houses still remain. The old town is dotted with some 2,000 neo-classical buildings and at times it feels as if life hasn't changed that much. Fruit and vegetables are still delivered to restaurants and pensions by horse and cart, and the bi-monthly antiques market is a great place to pick up traditional Ottoman ceramics, artwork and furniture.

The lack of international tourism means that many of the beaches lie undisturbed; the best is Cataltepe, but the small bay at Paterica is also very pretty, backed by olive groves - the source of the region's biggest industry, olive oil. The area is also renowned for having some of the best dive sites in Turkey, along with spectacular snorkelling (particularly at Paterica). The town itself is dotted with simple pensions; try the Kelebek (00 30 266 312 3908; www.kelebek-pension.com), which has comfortable doubles with a sea view from pounds 35 per night.

For the Turks, a holiday tends to be more about eating, drinking and talking than lying in the sun. Breakfast tends to be several cups of cay (Turkish tea) and cigarettes taken behind the pages of the newspaper Cumhuriyet if you're a man, while women tend to organise the children for trips to the beach.

It's really all about the evenings; meals are taken late, about nine-ish, with children in attendance - if they get tired, friendly waiters will pull a couple of chairs together to make a bed and cover them up with a tablecloth. There are plenty of excellent fish restaurants on the harbourfront, but for real Turkish food try a lokanta - where big tureens and trays hold ready-prepared corba (soups), guvec (casserole) and roasted meats, and you just point at what you want.