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Travel to Turkey Tips
- dylanmyers1993
- Feb 5, 2023
- 7 min read
Updated: Apr 23, 2023
Discover here all the advice you'll want to know before traveling to legendary Turkey.
Like a whirlpool, Turkey tempts you, drawing you to its edge, and only when you teeter does it yank you to its core, tossing you around and spitting you out, dizzy but in awe.
The handshake between Europe and Asia, Turkey is culturally loud. A conglomerate of Eastern European and Middle Eastern cultures wrought by centuries of strife between Muslims and Christians, its cities, sites, and history will fascinate you.
We visited Istanbul and Cappadocia during the New Year's Holiday and early January 2023. Below, I've compiled a list of recommendations from our ten days in Turkey:
First impressions are deceiving: Our first nights in Istanbul and Göreme (Cappadocia) felt underwhelming. To the worn-out traveler, Turkey does not show its best face. Shouting, traffic, pollution, littered streets, stray dogs, cats, and people everywhere—in short, chaos.
Employees positioned at the storefronts or restaurants call after you (Hello? HELLO! Yes, please!) as if you were a walking ATM. To the outsider looking in, Turkey seems vast and uninviting. However, my trip to Turkey became one of my favorite vacations ever. It will overwhelm you, but it will not disappoint. The best spots in both Istanbul and Cappadocia are hidden in pockets amongst never-ending city streets or deserted landscapes (some underground.)
You have to work to discover the treasures of Turkey, but once you find them,
they will forever enchant you.
The Currency: In October 2022, Turkey hit a 24-year record high in inflation, at 85.5%. By December, it had eased down to 64.3%, but needless to say, prices change constantly. The fluctuations decrease the value of the Turkish Lira and increase the value of your Euros or Dollars. In turn, restaurant, transportation, and ticket prices can vary daily, and the prices you research online are unreliable. In this article, I’ll stress that the prices were relevant as of January 2023.
When looking for the most recent prices, I recommend using an official website, such as the Turkish government website for palace tickets: https://www.millisaraylar.gov.tr/en.
When checking out places on Google Maps, filter by the most recent reviews or photos.
Exchanging money: Most blogs caution you against exchanging money at the airport. However, during our travels, the rates at the airport were only slightly lower than the best rates in Istanbul. We landed at SAW (Sabiha Gökçen Airport), where they offered 19.3 Turkish Lira per euro. The best rates in the city at the time were 20.1. So, had I exchanged €100 at the airport instead of in the city center, I would have lost about four euros.
If you're pinching pennies, exchange just enough at the airport to get you into the city, then compare the rates of several exchange offices (Döviz Bürosu) before handing over your cash.
The best rates we found were on the streets across from the Grand Bazaar.
Lastly, before taking off for Capadoccia, exchange the cash you need in Istanbul first. There are loads more exchange offices to compare rates in Istanbul, whereas in Göreme (the tourist hub), we only saw one.
Credit Cards: Always carry cash just in case, but most restaurants, palaces, museums, and hotels accept a card. I used a U.S. debit card for palace tickets and was charged a three percent international fee. Later, I used a Spanish credit card and only paid the exact price at the current exchange rate. Find out your specific international usage fees before your travels.
ATMs are abundant in Istanbul and Capadoccia, concentrated in long rows along the street. I never used one, as the fees are usually more expensive.
Some establishments will accept euros or dollars since exchanging is so common. Our first hotel refused to take a card (even though they claimed to take it on their booking.com profile) but accepted cash in euros. At the next hotel, we paid in euros because their card reader was broken (again, first impressions are deceiving.) The only caveat for paying in euros or dollars is that you may pay more than you would in Lira.
booking.com: Turkey is one of the few countries that restricts access to Booking. The restrictions block you from making reservations for Turkish hotels when you are already physically IN Turkey. Users can only reserve stays at Turkish hotels outside of the country. While in Turkey, there are no constraints on booking rooms abroad.
We had no issues opening the app, messaging our hotels through the app, or checking our reservation details. Most hotels shared their WhatsApp number with us as an easy line of communication.
The limitations also block hotels from charging guests through the app's platform. One manager complained that Booking owed him over three years of charges. The hotels can charge your card at the front desk or use the card information you uploaded onto the Booking reservation.
Hotels: We stayed at five hotels over ten nights. They generally cost less than European or U.S. hotels, but prices surge over holidays. €40 to €50 a night will get you a standard and comfortable room in Istanbul. In Cappadocia, your money goes even further.
Positive patterns: All our hotels provided disposable slippers, shampoo and body soap, a fridge, bottled water, and a kettle with tea and instant coffee.
Negative patterns: The rooms were constantly stuffy. Despite winter temperatures or turning off the radiators, the rooms always stayed too warm for our taste. Consequently, they provided only one comforter on the beds, with no extra blankets. The sun peeks through the windows early since most rooms lack shutters or black-out curtains. None of the hotel doors had peepholes, which could impact your sense of security. The walls were often quite thin and you could hear guests in the other rooms. Finally, the WiFi was distractingly bad. Some websites load while others do not, the signal disappears altogether at times, and the connection is overall slow.
On a final positive note, all the toilets have built-in bidets, an unexpected happy convenience.
SIM cards: If unreliable WiFi alarms you, you might consider using a Turkish SIM card during your stay. We planned to, but ultimately never purchased one. Using the hotel WiFi was enough to plan our days and to pin the spots we wanted to visit. Traveling without service helped us disconnect and painted the experience as an adventure.
Remember, you can download maps from Google for offline use.
If you opt for a SIM card, the primary providers in Turkey are Turkcell, Vodafone, and Turk Telecom. These three offer variations of a Tourist SIM Card, which can include at least 20GB of data lasting for 30 days, with 200 minutes and unlimited WhatsApp. As of January 2023, Turkcell quoted us 450TL (around €20) at two locations in the city. Many blogs claim you can find it for less. Another option includes renting a pocket WiFi once in Turkey.
Keep your phone on airplane mode when you arrive to avoid hefty roaming fees. Turkey is not a part of the EU. Check with your at-home provider for specific deals or roaming allowances.
Level of English: Most Turks have a basic level of English, or even Spanish, in the regions with high levels of tourism. Numbers, basic directions, and phrases are usually understood. When in doubt, gestures and pictures come in handy. Usually, the nicer the hotel, the better the staff speaks English. We also discovered the level was much lower in small shops or grocery stores and on the Asian side of Istanbul.
Electrical plugs: Turkey uses two types of electrical plugs, type C and type F. Type C is used across most of the EU and consists of two round pins.
Drinking Water: In principle, tap water in Istanbul exceeds regulations and is perfectly potable. However, the city is over 1,000 years old. Treated water can sit for extended amounts of time in old pipes and rusty water tanks, giving it a hard and metallic taste. Exploring the city will leave you constantly parched and dehydrated, so your best bet is to buy bottled water. Especially considering a 5-liter jug can cost less than five cents. Some locals refuse to use tap water even for boiling tea or coffee, claiming it ruins the taste.
The same goes for Cappadocia. While the water is safe for brushing teeth or cooking, most people prefer bottled water for its taste.
Eating times: While traveling, knowing the local eating times helps you plan your day and protects you from showing up for dinner when the restaurant is closed.
In Turkey, lunch is between noon and 1 P.M. while dinner is around 8 P.M. If you missed a meal or need a snack, Istanbul is full of street vendors selling corn on the cob, roasted chestnuts, wet hamburgers, döner kebabs, or simit (a thin bagel coated in sesame seeds.)
Traffic: Similar to the U.S., cars seem to have priority over pedestrians in Turkey. Unlike the U.S., adherence to regulations is lacking. Traffic is fast, congested, noisy, and risky. Istanbul has an extremely high incidence of traffic-related deaths and injuries. Keep to the sidewalks, and do not expect cars to stop for you at crosswalks. Exercise caution.
Americans need visas: Turkey allows a long list of countries a free and automatic tourist visa upon arrival, with a duration of 90 days. Unfortunately, the United States is not one of these countries. You can apply for a tourist visa easily enough online at any time before your travels. Upon completion, you receive a PDF which you can show at Passport Control. The cost as of January 2023 was $50.
Winter is coming: Lastly, while you may expect the cold in the rocky, stranded region of Cappadocia, Istanbul also gets chilly during the winter. The Bosphorus Strait and Sea of Marmara protect Istanbul from the worst of the season but dress warmly at night and on overcast days. The average daily high is around 10°C in December and January (50°F), with lows dropping to 3°C (37°F). A jacket is enough to explore the city on a sunny day, but coats, scarves, and gloves are a godsend once the sun sets.
Cappadocia, on the other hand, really knows the cold. The air is crisp during the day but bitter at night. Average temperatures in the winter are 5°C (40F) high and -5°C(23°F).
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