Royal Bowling Gokart Balçova

In Balçova, on the İzmir coast, Royal Bowling offers an indoor karting track within a leisure centre that also brings together bowling lanes. The sheltered layout can be driven whatever the weather, which makes it an easy outing all year. You can string together a few laps of karting and then a game of bowling, in a format built for families and groups of friends out to have a good time without worrying about the weather outside.

Karting stays open to all, with no licence or experience: a briefing, a helmet, and you head off to find your best lap on the covered layout. The short format suits beginners as much as regulars, and the bowling lets you vary the fun through the evening. Everyone tries to set the best time, and people happily come back to beat it. For opening times and prices, it is best to check before coming, as it gets busy at weekends.

Balçova, on the bay of İzmir, is known for its thermal springs and its cable car, which climbs to the heights with views over the gulf. The İnciraltı area, its seafront and its green spaces make it a pleasant district, a short walk from the centre of İzmir. Turkey's third city, a major Aegean port, also opens onto the ancient sites of Ephesus and the beaches of Çeşme, less than an hour away. Balçova is easy to reach by tram and metro, which makes it a handy base for combining leisure, spas and discovering the Aegean coast.