Türkiye Travel Guide

Visitors from the Republic of Cyprus should present their ID cards to supplement their passports since Turkey does not recognize the country.

Visa-free

Turkish visa requirements were relaxed in 2020. Ordinary passport holders of the countries below can enter Turkey visa-free for tourism and commerce, for up to 90 days unless a shorter period is stated. Your passport must be valid for 60 days beyond your maximum stay, so for most visitors that is 150 days beyond entry. That is just under five months: they politely ask for six months validity on entry but it is not a requirement. (Be pre…

The currency of the country is the Turkish lira, denoted by the symbol "₺" or "TL" (ISO code: TRY). Wikivoyage articles will use TL to denote the currency. In 2005, Turkey dropped six zeroes from its currency, thus making each post-2005 lira worth one million pre-2005 lira (or so called "old lira"). Don't be confused if you see the currency symbolised YTL or ytl, standing for yeni lira). Pre-2009 banknotes and coins (those bearing yeni lira and yeni kuruş) are not legal tender, and can no longer be exchanged at banks.

By plane

By European standards, Turkey is a huge country, with mountains impeding the highways and railways, so domestic air travel is well-developed. Especially on routes to Istanbul it's also very competitive, with Turkish Airlines, and low-cost companies AJet, Pegasus Airlines and Sunexpress Airlines fighting for your custom. They operate flights from Izmir and Antalya regions to the Eastern and Black Sea regions. There are flights between Istanbul and Ankara hourly; Izmir and Adana have several flights a day to Istanbul (both IST and SAW) and Ankara, and every city has at least a dai…

The sole official language of Turkey is Turkish. Most English speakers will find the language quite daunting, but it's worth picking up a few key expressions and learning to decode the alphabet, which uses friendly Latin letters but sometimes in surprising ways. For example, "C" is pronounced "J" (so camii, mosque, is "JAH-mee") and "Ğ" is basically silent, meaning yoğurt is "yo-urt".

citadel]] Dial 112 to contact all emergency services, including the police or the gendarme (a military-styled unit responsible for rural safety) from any phone, free of charge. Upon entering some museums, hotels, metro stations, and almost all shopping malls, especially in larger cities, you will notice security checkpoints similar to those found in airports. Don't worry, this is the standard procedure in Turkey and does not imply an immediate danger of attack. These security screenings are also conducted in a much more relaxed way than the airports, so you will not have to remove your belt to…

Dial 112 from any telephone, anywhere, free of charge for an ambulance. Food safety — Food is generally free of biological contamination, but it's best to err on the side of caution. Prefer the places local people patronize and avoid food sold outdoors, at least in summer, when they can spoil fairly quickly without refrigeration. Fresh fruits and vegetables should be washed thoroughly to remove pesticide residue; certified organic produce isn't very common. Some of the ingredients in the east, northeast, and southeast, such as goat or goose meat and heavy spices, might come across as unusual f…

Power

All buses have USB socket to charge your phone. If you want to conserve battery power, take two USB cables and charge both your phone and a power bank.

Emergency

All emergency services can be contacted by the phone number 112, free of charge, from any phone without inserting a calling/sim card. In case you get connected to the odd exchange in which the unified number doesn't work yet, dial 112 for an ambulance, 110 for fire department, 155 for police, 156 for gendarme (a milita…

Things to do

Turks are a very friendly, polite and hospitable people, sometimes even to a fault. Turkish people understand that visitors are usually not aware of Turkish culture and customs, and tend to be tolerant of blunders in this regard by foreigners. There are, however, some which will meet with universal disapproval, and these should be avoided at all costs:

]] There are several holidays that can cause delays in travel, traffic congestion, booked up accommodations and crowded venues. Banks, offices and businesses are closed during official holidays and traffic intensifies during all of the following holidays so do your research before you visit. Do not be put off by these holidays, it is not that difficult and often quite interesting to travel during Turkish holidays; plan ahead as much as possible.