Cunda Island: Ayvalık’s Island of Fish and Cretan Kitchens

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1. What is Cunda Island?
2. How do you get to Cunda Island?
3. When is the best time to visit Cunda Island?
4. What is the history of Cunda Island?
5. What is Cunda Island famous for?
6. What can you see at Cunda Island?
7. Frequently asked questions about Cunda Island
8. What do the official records say about Cunda Island?

What is Cunda Island?

Cunda, officially Alibey Adası and in Greek Moschonisi, is the biggest island of the archipelago off Ayvalık. A causeway and the Ayvalık Strait Bridge link it via Lale Island to the mainland, so you can drive or take a bus across, though many people still arrive by the little ferries from Ayvalık harbour.

The village on the island’s southeast shore is a cluster of stone houses climbing from the waterfront, crowned by a windmill on the hill above. Its harbour is lined with fish and meze restaurants, and most of the rest of the island is olive groves, pine woods and coves.

How do you get to Cunda Island?

From Ayvalık, frequent buses and small ferries run to Cunda, and the road crossing takes a few minutes by car or taxi. Ayvalık itself is reached by coach on the Çanakkale–İzmir coastal road or by flying to Balıkesir Koca Seyit Airport (EDO) near Edremit, within an hour’s drive. In high summer, parking in the village is tight, so the ferry is often easier.

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When is the best time to visit Cunda Island?

Late May, June and September are best: the coves are warm enough to swim and the harbour is lively without the August crush. Summer evenings, especially weekends, are very busy. In winter many restaurants close or shorten their hours, but the village is calm and good for walking. If you want a harbour table on a summer weekend evening, book ahead or eat early.

What is the history of Cunda Island?

Cunda belonged to the group of islands the Greeks called Hekatonisa or Moschonisia, and until the 1920s its population was Greek Orthodox. The island’s monastery of Agios Dimitrios was built in 1766 with donations from the islanders; it was wrecked by treasure hunters in 2020.

After the Treaty of Lausanne and the 1923 population exchange, the remaining Greek islanders had to leave for Greece, and Muslims from Crete and Lesbos were settled in their place. The Cretan families brought their dialect and their cooking, which is why Cunda’s menus are full of wild greens, herbs and olive-oil dishes. The causeway to the mainland was built in the late 1960s.

The large Taksiyarhis church, abandoned and decaying for decades, was restored and now houses one of the Rahmi M. Koç Museums.

The island’s history runs in parallel with Ayvalık’s. The Greek town on the mainland grew rich on olive oil and soap after the Ottoman government granted it virtual self-government in 1773, and Cunda shared in that trade. Greek forces landed at Ayvalık on 29 May 1919 and Turkish forces retook the area on 15 September 1922, a year before the exchange that changed the population of both.

What is Cunda Island famous for?

• Harbour restaurants serving fish, octopus and Cretan-style meze.
• The Taksiyarhis church museum, run by the Rahmi M. Koç Museum.
• Stone houses and lanes of the old Greek village.
• Coves and olive groves on the island’s north and west sides.

What can you see at Cunda Island?

The harbour. The waterfront restaurants are the reason most people come. Expect fish of the day, octopus, and Cretan-style meze: wild greens, herbs and vegetables cooked in olive oil, a legacy of the families who arrived from Crete after 1923.

Rahmi M. Koç Museum, Cunda. Housed in the restored Taksiyarhis church in the village. Opening hours change through the year, so check them before you visit. Koç Museum).

The village. Walk up from the harbour through the lanes of stone houses towards the windmill for a view over the strait to Ayvalık.

The coves. Bays around the island, including Paterica (Patrica), have small beaches; a car or scooter helps, as public transport around the island is limited.

The islands by boat. Day boats from Ayvalık harbour take in the smaller islands of the nature park that surrounds Cunda. The inventory explains that the islands are the tops of hills left above water when the Aegean basin sank in the Pleistocene, which is why the sea floor around them is so varied and why some islands are bare rock while others carry only thin vegetation.

Across the strait. Ayvalık’s own Taksiyarhis Church, built in 1847 and opened as a monument museum in 2013, is known for icons of saints painted on fish skin. Şeytan Sofrası, the sunset viewpoint, is a short drive south of Ayvalık. See our Ayvalık guide.

Frequently asked questions about Cunda Island

What do the official records say about Cunda Island?

The 2002 inventory lists Alibey (Cunda) Island among the places on the Balıkesir coast suitable for sea tourism, alongside central Ayvalık, Sarımsaklı and Erdek, and it names Alibey Island as a place for camping and caravan holidays.

Describing the Ayvalık Islands, the inventory says the area has recreational potential. So that this potential could be used and its use kept under control, maintaining a balance between protection and use, 17,950 hectares of the area were set aside as a nature park in 1995. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Balıkesir Provincial Tourism Inventory, 2002)