Landing late? Rather less has stopped than most guides suggest. The İZBAN train runs to about 23:50 with a few more after midnight, the Çeşme coach to 22:30, Havaş has city departures at 01:30 and 02:30, and the airport buses run through the small hours. Every time below is a departure time, so compare it against when you expect to be out of Arrivals, not when you land. Here's what genuinely still runs, what a taxi actually costs, and when it's worth splitting a fixed-price transfer — so a wrong guess doesn't cost you a night's budget.
The numbers that decide your night, taken from the operators' published timetables. They are schedules rather than live departures, so confirm on the board when you land.
🕛 Still running late tonight
Going to
Mode
Last departure
İzmir city (Alsancak / Basmane)
İZBAN train
Then a few more at roughly 00:04, 00:29 and 00:54. Trains run every ~13 min before that, so a short delay rarely costs you the night.
≈ 23:50
İzmir city (Alsancak)
Havaş coach
The city coach has only a handful of departures, but two of them are in the small hours — they exist to cover the gap after the last train.
01:30 & 02:30
İzmir city (Cumhuriyet Meydanı)
Eshot bus 202
All four airport bus lines run overnight only, every two hours: 200 to Mavişehir at 01:20/03:20/05:20, 202 to the city centre, 204 to Bornova at 01:40/03:40/05:40 and 206 to Şirinyer at 01:30/03:30/05:30. At ₺77 they are the cheapest thing moving at 03:00.
01:00, 03:00 & 05:00
Çeşme / Alaçatı
Havaş coach
Later than most guides claim, and there is a further coach at 02:30. Alaçatı Terminal is served on the same run.
≈ 22:30
Kuşadası / Selçuk (south)
Havaş coach
The Kuşadası coach calls at Selçuk on the way, and there is another departure at 02:00.
≈ 23:30
Selçuk / Ephesus by train
İZBAN via Tepeköy
The Tepeköy–Selçuk branch has a 23:50 departure, but making it depends on the connection — the coach is the safer late option.
≈ 21:50 connection
The late-night decision tree
Find your destination, then follow the branch.
Heading into İzmir city (Alsancak, Konak, Basmane)
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Out of the terminal by ~23:35? The train is still running.
Take İZBAN — ₺40 a head, about 28 minutes to Alsancak, running every 13 minutes or so up to the last one at roughly 23:50, with a few more at about 00:04, 00:29 and 00:54. What matters is when you are actually out of Arrivals, not when the aircraft lands: allow 45 to 60 minutes for taxiing, passport control and bags. Check the platform board the moment you clear customs.
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Missed the last train? You still have a coach before you need a taxi.
You still have two cheaper options before a taxi. The Havaş city coach leaves at 01:30 and 02:30 for ₺220 a head, and Eshot bus 202 runs to Cumhuriyet Meydanı at 01:00, 03:00 and 05:00 for ₺77 with an İzmirim Kart. Only once those have gone is the official rank the answer, at an estimated ₺700 – ₺1,000 · ≈ €15–21 to Alsancak — the same metered tariff as the middle of the day, because İzmir applies one tariff around the clock.
Heading to the Çeşme peninsula (Çeşme, Ilıca, Alaçatı)
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The last coach is 22:30 — later than most guides say.
Aim to be out of the terminal by about 22:15 for the 22:30 Havaş coach, which costs ₺550 a head and goes to Alaçatı Terminal and Çeşme bus station. That usually means a landing before roughly 21:15, because passport control and baggage reclaim take most of an hour. There is also a 02:30 departure if your flight is very late.
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Between roughly 23:00 and 02:00, the coach has gone:
A metered taxi is an estimated ₺2,800 – ₺3,600 · ≈ €60–77 — no night surcharge, the tariff is the same at 03:00 as at noon — against ₺2,850 · ≈ €61 for a pre-booked car, with the driver waiting even if your flight slipped. Those ranges overlap, so we cannot tell you which will cost less: the difference is that one price is certain in advance and the other is not. For four people, the 02:30 coach may genuinely be worth the wait.
Heading south to Selçuk / Ephesus or Kuşadası
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The southern coach runs until 23:30.
The Havaş Kuşadası coach calls at Selçuk, in front of the State Hospital, and has departures at 21:00 and 23:30 plus one at 02:00. That is a far better late option than the train, whose Tepeköy connection gets unreliable in the evening.
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If the coach has gone:
A metered taxi is an estimated ₺2,400 – ₺3,100 · ≈ €51–66; a fixed-price transfer is ₺2,600 · ≈ €55 door-to-door to your Selçuk guesthouse. The ranges overlap, so pick on price certainty rather than on which looks cheaper.
What a taxi or transfer costs at night
Estimated ranges on the meter, with motorway tolls on top where relevant, shown next to a fixed-price transfer for comparison. İzmir sets taxi rates by council decision, and that decision applies one tariff 24 hours a day — so these are the same figures you would pay at midday, and a driver adding a late-night premium is overcharging you.
Taxi figures are our estimates of a metered range, not quotes: the total depends on the route, the traffic and any toll, which the passenger pays. A pre-booked transfer is a quoted fixed price. The transfer rows are a partner option. Before you accept any of them, check what public transport is still running: the figures above are usually several times the cost of a train or coach that may not have stopped yet.
✓The official taxi rank runs 24 h. Use it — and only it. Ignore anyone inside the terminal offering you a ride; the marshalled rank is just outside Arrivals.
✓ATMs and airport wifi work at any hour. Get some lira before you leave — a late coach or taxi may not take cards.
✓Insist on the meter. Night is exactly when "flat price, meter's broken" appears. See the Taxis in Turkey guide.
✓Travelling as a pair or group? Splitting one fixed-price transfer is often close to a single metered taxi — and removes the "is the meter running right?" worry when you're tired.