Posted 4 days ago
Turkey (country) some Qs
sorry everyone if its been asked before but possibly going to Turkey in the summer and just wanted some guidance re visa, currency, transport etc in and around Istanbul.
If anyone has a simple bullet points of things I need to consider it would be really appreciated.
Thank you
If anyone has a simple bullet points of things I need to consider it would be really appreciated.
Thank you
Community Updates
34 Comments
sorted by1. Use Revolut/Starling etc...
2. Use Zerat ATMs to get cash (charge no withdrawal fee) (first one after security in arrivals halls, opp. Vodafone store).
3. Walk to metro station, buy Istanbul card (for metro, tram, bus, ferry and toillet use) and board the metro for the city (use city mapper)
4 Most places accepts card payments so you can keep withdrawals to minimal.
Airspace might be an issue.
we're probably doing a multi country holiday and ive found it cheaper to buy the singles to each destination plus the return journey, all as single journeys. dont really want to flout any rules if there is a definate rule against it. (edited)
gov.uk/for…nts
And they do (for comparison) for Spain:
gov.uk/for…nts
I terms of cash, so it's better to take £ and then pay for exchange there for lira?
For taxi, when we went last year our bnb host advised us to use the Uber equivalent 'Bitaksi'.
We only used it to and from the airport. A one way 15 minute ride cost just less than £5 which I thought was quite reasonable, but the taxi drivers didn't speak English at all so we used Google translate.
It's very similar to Uber. You just order the taxi using the app and although our bnb was in a remote neighborhood the taxi driver was able to locate us.
One of our taxi drivers had 3 wives and 9 children so he was quite unimpressed when we told him we're a 1 husband 1 wife couple with just 2 children (edited)
Bank cards are accepted 99% of time.
Useful to have some notes.
Use pre book taxi for transfer less chance of being scammed. I nearly got done but was too smart for the driver, then complained to hotel about their staff who i saw chatting to driver as i knew exactly what was going on! Staff got fired as expected from a 5 star hotel.
Enjoy but be cautious!
After being banned from Istanbul (pressure from taxi drivers), Uber appears to be back so maybe that's a solution. Unless the beggars have devised a scam for that too.