Currency in Turkey
 

I am planning to withdraw Euros as soon as I arrive in Istanbul as I noticed that the hotel quotes, entrance fees, etc. are quoted in Euros. But, I also wanted to have some Liras for transportation, restaurants, etc. and I don't know if I have to make another withdrawal for Lira. If I pay the entrance fee in Euros, will the change be in liras or euros?

I paid for almost everything in Turkish lira a couple of years ago..I withdrew these from ATMs. I did not use euro once during 2 weeks in Turkey. The Four Seasons and hotels of that ilk billed in dollars.

Correct that lira is the currency. I was there last August, used US$ to pay for entry visa at airport, after that local currency for everything else...except...

Once I bought some fruit from a vendor in Eastern Turkey and he said he's take euros also.

Stayed at Sheraton in Antalya where the rooms were quoted and paid in US$.

Also, when looking at carpets at Grand Bazaar they were quoting us in US$.

I would assume hotels, admission fees, etc. are quoted in euros as it is more stable but upon actual payment it is then converted into lira? If so, I would then withdraw liras instead euros. Thanks ekscunchy and Michael.

The only thing that I remember that was quoted in dollars was my hotel and high-priced things like carpets, as Michel wrote..not admission fees. Vendors in the bazars will take dollars and lira and euro, but I see no advantage to withdrawing euro unless you will pay your hotel bill in cash.

All admissions and meals were paid in lira

Hi

Use lira. Turkish merchants are better at converting than you are ;)

I've booked directly with 3 hotels for our trip to Turkey. All quoted the price in Euros and offered significant discounts if we paid in cash, one as much as 25%. Until this week the Canadian dollar has been fairly strong against the Euro ... certainly a lot better than it had been. I've been buying euros to pay for hotels and a couple of other things ... at considerable savings. I'll use an atm ... lira ... for small items purchased on a day to day basis and credit cards for larger purchases.

In July, I paid $25 USD for visa at IST. I used the new Turkish Lira for everything else. Once or twice, for example, a street vendor would quote "10 lira or 10 euro." Uh, that's not the same. Don't fall for that one. Use lira. Don't get me wrong, that happened rarely on a two week trip all over the country. I found the Turkish people warm, friendly and eager to do business with you.

"I am planning to withdraw Euros as soon as I arrive in Istanbul" - do they have ATMs in Istanbul where you can choose currency? Not the language, but currency?

The LIRA is the correct currency for Turkey, not the euro. There are small hotels in Sultanahmet that will accept euros, but everywhere else with few exceptions will demand payment in lira.

I am very knowledgeable about Istanbul.

Tina from da Bronx

We did have some euros with us last month in Turkey, but had no trouble withdrawing from ATMs for liras. ATMs were everywhere in IST and not hard to find in other places we visited on our tour. Quite often at various tourist sites, in small shops, they quoted both the euro and lira, but would even take US $$. Near the Blue Mosque is an ATM spot with at least 4 different banking choices: Cirrus, etc. They included enough info to know which buttons to push--according to my husband. Ciao!!mhm

Hi NYC88- three weeks ago all spending I did in Turkey, with one exception, was YTL. There is no problem drawing YTL from ATMs. The exception?...paying for a visa on the way in to Istanbul, we had to use US$ Enjoy your visit- it's a great place to holiday sandra

We were quoted in euro but paid in lira. ATMs do not dispense euro currency.

Michael,
Although not many DenizBank and some Ziraat ATM's does give Euro & Dollar bills from ATM's too. But in general YTL which is the currency of the country naturally.....
Happy spending :-)