female tourist clothing in Turkey
 

I am wondering what the dress code is for traveling in Turkey this June. We will be in Istanbul and on the coast, traveling by small sailboat or on the bus. Thank you

I'm sure others who's actually been will jump in here and reply. However, I have friends from Turkey and they've told me that the dress is similar to the U.S. or anywhere else in Europe. In otherwords, not ultra conservative. I'd dress for Turkey the same as I would for Italy, for example. I've seen pics of our friends at seaside towns and everyone was in shorts ( or less! topless beaches) Have a great time! Turkey is on our TO DO list and we'll be fortunate to have our U.S. friends from TR as our guides! Have a great time! :)Melissa

Usual casual summer clothes will be perfectly ok - just show sensibility when visiting mosques and other religious sites.
Make sure you take precautions against the strong sun - temperature can rise well above 40C in the shade.

Agree- casual summer dress. Alot of modern Turkish women dress- dare I say provocatively? However, you will still receive more attention because you are foreign. Nothing will happen to you, but realize if you are wearing a lower cut shirt with tight jeans you will be noticed! Air kisses, marriage proposals, and the like. Don't worry, they're harmless.

Sorry, that suggestion is for Istanbul. I've haven't been to the coast yet- will be there this summer!- but have heard that shorts and whatever is fine. More tourists, plus you're on the beach!

Agreeing with Alec - dress for the weather taking care of the sun. But for visits to mosques and religious sites, cover legs and arms and have a scarf for your head. It's not absolutely required at all sites - but it's a show of respect.

I dressed as I normally do when traveling (I don't wear shorts when traveling so if you do you might want to think about that in the cities. On the boat or coast I would think it's fine)

I did have a scarf in my backpack that i used to cover my head in Mosques. that spared me several times from using the "generic" scarfs that mosques provide (They looked a little grungy to me!) Plus I think at one mosque the reason the Iman took me up to the front and gave me a personal tour was the fact that I automatically removed my shoes and covered up when I wandered in! Respect gets you some "perks" sometime!

The places that are used to tourists don't bat an eye with shorts an tank tops.

However there are some places that are off the tourist map and are more conservative when it comes to dress. If you are travelling by bus you may come across places like this.

Konya comes to mind as a conservative destination (among many others), although it is somewhat on the tourist trail, it is also popular with domestic tourists as a religious site.

Although many previously holy/religious sites are now secular, I think it would be offensive to be dressed for the summer alongside conservative muslims.

Summerwear is ok in Istanbul and the beach cities, more conservative (covered knees and shoulders) inland. Cappadocia may be the exception (i.e. less conservative).