The old Greek quarter of Ayvalık has accumulated a cluster of small cafes and bars in converted stone buildings over the past decade or so. The atmosphere leans bohemian without being aggressively hip — worn wooden furniture, Turkish coffee made properly in a copper cezve, local music playing at a volume that allows conversation.
Several cafes in the neighbourhood occupy buildings with original 19th-century fittings: arched ceilings, stone walls, floors of old tile. A few have courtyard gardens. These are good places to sit through the heat of the afternoon. Most also serve wine, beer, and raki in the evening; the transition from afternoon cafe to evening bar is gradual and informal.
In the evenings, the waterfront promenade in town itself also comes alive: tea gardens and simple meyhanes open onto the water, and the walk along the harbour front in the cooler hours after sunset is part of the daily rhythm of the town. Ayvalık doesn't have a nightlife scene in any conventional sense — it winds down relatively early — but the evening hours before 11pm are pleasant and sociable.