Costs, Money and Banks in Turkey

Costs, Money And Banks in Turkey

Turkey is a relatively inexpensive for travellers, the costs and prices has been keeping low. Travel costs are highest in Istanbul and at Turkish beach resorts in July and August; lowest in the small towns of eastern Turkey, and off-season (November through March).

Travel Costs in Turkey can be estimated according the type of services like accommodation, transport and meals that the traveller will get. Travellers can spend among €20.00 to €35.00 per day using buses and trains, staying in pensions, and eating one restaurant meal. Among €45.00 to €50.00, travellers can travel on more comfortably by bus and in overnight trains, stay in one and two-star hotels and eat most meals in restaurants. For more than €50.00 travellers can stay in 3 and 4-star hotels, dining in restaurants all the time, riding buses, trains and low-fare airline flights.

Turkish Currency

Turkey's currency is the New Turkish Lira (Yeni Türk Lirasi) simbolized as YTL. Introduced on January 1, 2005 to replace the old Turkish Lira dropping six zeros from it. The changeover to New Turkish Lira was necessary both for the prospective positive effects on the Turkish currency reputation and for technical reasons.

The New Turkish Lira is equivalent to 1,000,000 Turkish old lira, divided into 100 new kurus.

The denominations for YTL banknotes are: 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100.

The denominations for coins are 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 New Cent and 1 YTL. The sub-unit of YTL is YKr (Yeni Kurus) and 1 YTL = 100 YKr.

As a recommendation avoid carrying large bills/notes for small payments, some people do not accept them, and be careful with old notes with six zeros because they are no longer legal for payments.

Turkish Currency Exchange
Turkish currency is easily obtainable at banks, exchange booths, post offices, airports and ferry ports. The easiest way to exchange money is using the change offices, although they have higher rates than Banks, they do not charge commission, therefore, always offer a better rate than banks. Something to consider is to be careful exchanging money in the street because it could faces some problems, especially getting old notes instead the actual.

US dollars or Euros are preferred. Some shops and hotels in the most popular destinations accept US dollars and Euros as payment.

There is no limit to the amount of foreign currency that may be brought into Turkey, but not more than $5,000 worth of Turkish currency may be brought into or taken out of the country.

Banks are open mainly from Monday to Friday, but some are open until Sunday in tourist areas. ATMs are widely available in major cities and tourist areas. Most bank branches have ATMs which accept Cirrus and Plus.

It is recommended being careful exchanging the money to Lira the rates can vary at anytime.

ATMs & Credit Cards

In turkey major credit cards are widely accepted at almost all hotels, most restaurants, department stores, grocery stores, and big retailers. Visa, MasterCard are the most accepted, also American Express and Diners Club but less often.

ATMs are conveniently located everywhere in Turkey, even in small towns. Almost all banks have ATMs and there are a huge number of free-standing ones at strategic points operating in the same way as those throughout the USA and Europe. There is available an option to choose the language and in some cases to choose Turkish Lira, US Dollars or Euros. To avoid any problem or difficulty is best to use an ATM machine from the same credit card company.

Traveller Cheques

Traveller cheques can be exchanged at banks, post offices, change offices with a rate of the 3%, but also there are places that charge 9%. Although, traveller cheques could be convenient for travellers they are no as welcome as cash in Turkey, indeed there are some banks that consider a hassle to exchange traveller cheques. Other options to exchange traveller cheques are the four and five star hotels that can exchange them for Turkish currency although the rate is generally poor.

Be advised to take traveller cheques in Pounds Sterling or US Dollars and keep the receipts as you may need this when you are exchanging Turkish money back to your currency at the end of your trip.