Travelling to Turkey in May (from Canada). What do you suggest the best route to go as far as money? Travellers cheques? US Dollars, take Canadian and convert to Lira? So many currencies to deal with; not sure best way to handle. Travelling to Greece for two weeks after that, which we will use Euro.

Use an ATM to obtain Turkish lira.

Weekender:
The problem is the ATM charges us $5.00 every transaction...was trying to avoid these 'extra' expenses each time.
We were told that even travellers cheques, they can charge up to a 9% service fee.

If you take dollars and euro to start with, many of the larger tourist shops and hotels in Istanbul and other tourist areas around the country will take those currencies and then you can ask for lira as change.

I'm Canadian as well and visited Turkey for 11 days last October (had a fantastic time, by the way).
I took Euros and just changed them into YTL (New Turkish Lire) as needed. I found that I got the best exchange rate for euros, and you'll be needing them in Greece as well. If you run out of Euros then use Canadian or USD. There are money changing booths with electronic rate boards everywhere in Istanbul and other major Turkish cities and towns. Don't exchange at the first one you see, but go to a few to check if they have better rates. Some of them do; the difference won't be much and the advantage will depend on the amount you are changing.

Have a great time.

We used HSBC ATM's while in Turkey. Didn't have any problems with their ATMs, and our credit union charged $1.25 USD per transaction.

Since we were with a group, prices were some times quoted in USD or New Turkish Lira. We did not have any Euros with us, so I can't remember being quoted prices in Euros.

When you get your first Turkish money from a bank, examine it closely to see what the "real" Lira feels and looks like. We got a 20 Lira from a vendor that was "HP" money. There is a big difference in the real money and the HP printer money. Their 20's are frequently counterfeited because most foreigners sort of assume that counterfeited bills would be larger. It is very easy to tell the real thing if you take the time to look at your change. We were just too trusting, and we did not examine the money we got in change. After that experience, we always examined the money before leaving the vendor or place of business. Some were annoyed that we did not trust them.

You should hoard your small bills and coins for special occasions such as taxis and toilets. The taxis that we rode in never had change even though some one just got out of the taxi. Yes, you will need to pay for using the toilets, too.

Have a wonderful trip.

With the ATM, you will get a good exchange rate, but your bank will charge you $5 - so 5% exchange fee on $100, 2.5% on $200, and so forth. If you take out higher amounts at once, the percentage of your exchange fee decreases. On the other hand, if you have cash to exchange, the exchange rate may be less favorable in place of an actual set fee. Either way, there will be a cost.

I think it comes down to what you are most comfortable with because I don't think that the difference in fees for changing money or getting it from the ATM will be significant, esspecially if you make a habit of taking out a couple hundred dollars worth of cash at a time.

I think that travelers checks are probably the highest cost option because of the fees.

I got a letter from WaMu their TCs will be free. Just FYI. Other banks may follow the example.

If you withdraw about $300 worth of Turkish lira each time from an ATM, that's still less than 2% that the $5 is going to cost you. I can't imagine any other type of currency exchange that will be less. TC's are the worst -- as they will eat you alive with what they will give you for the exchange.

Faina may be right that the TCs are free from one source or another, but that doesn't prevent whoever cashes them for you in Turkey (if you can find anyone who will) from keeping up to 10% or more for himself.

Mathieu,
I'm curious when you say you got a better rate using Euros vs Canadian dollars. Do you say that because you got more Lire per Euro, or was the net rate better after factoring in the 1.55 CAD-Euro exchange rate? I've always just assumed it was always cheaper just to convert money once by any method rather than going through the process twice (CAD - Euro, then Euro to Lira)

You also might want to check what the current visa status is in Turkey. When I was there about 5 years ago, you couldn't get into the country without U.S. $40 in cash to get your visa.

The rules may have changed, but just to be safe, check it out first.

Actually when we visited Turkey (about 5 years ago, though) a number of hotels advised us in advance that we'd get a 10% discount for paying in US dollars -- and yes that was 10% below the actual current exchange rate.

The best thing ever is a Travellex Cash Passport card - I have used it in ATMs everywhere from outback Peru to the centre of London. It worked perfectly in Turkey and gave me money in Turkish Lira or US dollars