Turkish liras
 

How difficult is it to deal in Turkish liras with all those zeros to contend with? Is it easy to use USD to pay for meals and other purchases?

My 11 year old daughters had no trouble managing, so I doubt you will. The occasional USD as a tip is OK but it would be rude to even attempt to use USD"s or even Euro's to pay your bills. Turkey is a modern country with a well established financial system, and it is also one of the most beautifull countries I have ever visited.

Hi Mark and Marsh,

First I will thank to Mark for his thought. You can use any foreign money you like in Turkey BUT small payments. So you may get some change money for your small payment like toilet(500.000TL 30 cent.

Have a nice trip in Turkey

Sinan Akdeniz

Your eyes get used to the zeros. And when you ask what somethinm costs, and people answer "ten", they mean ten million.

I actually found that some (but few) people could only make transactions in dollars. They refused to take anything larger that 10 000 000 liras so preferred to accept smaller US denominations.

Also, here's a trick for quick calculations. Drop the millions (000 000) and just take 2/3 of the amount. That should give people a close enough conversion. Anything smaller than 1 000 000 is only worth under 66 cents so more often than not, it isn't worth calculating.

For Turkish Lira or any other foreign currency, just go to one of the currency exchange sites and print out a cheat sheet. Then mark the corner of the bill with the corresponding USD figure and you'll know what you're paying. When we visited, we got used to the exchange rate real quick, even without a cheat sheet. But look at it this way - where else can you be a millionnaire with just a few bills in your pocket!

Another trick someone taught us as it is easy to confuse 1 million with 10 million etc., when you get a fill, fold the edge back over at where the 6 zeros are so that only the "right" number shows such 1 or 10, etc. It helped us a lot. Enjoy your trip!

Hi every bodies,

You all worry to much so Turkish Goverment decided to DROP 6 zeros in 2005. So your problem will solve.

Have a nice SPEND MONEY in Turkey

Sinan Akdeniz

I believe Turkey is only country in Europe where you can travel with any currancy in pocket. Most places if you are out of TL. you can offer to pay in hard currancy. However I agree to try to pay bills with foreign currancy would be rude and this country has a valuta as well. Touristic places and touristy shops will appreciate hard currancy however not as it used to be at past due to high enflation. Now TL. seems more stable and even dearer to some degree.

Happy travels, happy shopping :-)