Upcoming Istanbul visit

Hello there, will be staying 3 days pre-cruise in Istanbul next month,was wondering what kind of currency is being used most in Istanbul....more turkish lire or Euros???

The Turkish will take pretty much anything ;) including your first born (jk)

 

But you will not get a great exchange rate using euros or $US$.

 

We find it easier to pull lira off an ATM. You can choose the little British flag for English ….. then ask for say $200.00 US and it will give you the equivalent of Lira. I then figure the rate for that transaction…….

 

that way when I buy something (and I am a big shopper) I know what I am spending. Also, for smaller purchases such as street food or a soda or…… it just makes sense to have lira on you. To take the tram you need lira to purchase tokens or a taxi will USUALLY need lira.

 

BTW - there are ATMs EVERYWHERE !!! so no problem finding one.

As the Texan's post, you'll need lire for the tram (but the machine does give change) & perhaps elsewhere. And for ferries.

 

Yes, most places accept euros but usually at a poor exchange rate.

For instance, bar/café/restaurant menus & many goods & services are priced only in TL so if you use lire you're not going to get stung.

 

Have USD or euros & a credit card for back-up but draw as many Turkish lire as you're sure you'll get through. Over three days you can monitor your spend & draw more as needed.

 

If you tender your credit card & the vendor offers to charge your card in its own currency rather than TL, decline that offer - your card supplier will give you the best exchange rate.

 

I do take a slightly different view when bartering in the bazaars.

Your mental arithmetic is much less likely to foul-up if you're bartering in a currency you know well, and the merchants are exceptionally good with figures & exchange rates. They'll drop their prices as low as they have to in order to get a sale, regardless of the currency.

 

JB :)

Edited July 31, 2015 by John Bull

I have spoken to someone here who had just come back from Turkey a couple of weeks ago, (presumably from one of the tourist resorts commonly visited from the UK). She said the Turkish lira was plumeting and they wanted $US rather than their lira.

 

Obviously some lira will be needed (trams etc.) but we are thinking of leaving ours until we get there and find out more about that. We will have Euros with us (we will need them for greek ports anyway) and British pounds obviously. Do not think it sensible to loose on an exchange to $US unless we hear there is a very big advantage with them. We do not go until 23rd Sept so not in a rush to get currency at present.

 

Anyone got experience of Turkey in the last month or so and able to comment on this please?

Edited July 31, 2015 by tring

I have spoken to someone here who had just come back from Turkey a couple of weeks ago, (presumably from one of the tourist resorts commonly visited from the UK). She said the Turkish lira was plumeting and they wanted $US rather than their lira.

 

Anyone got experience of Turkey in the last month or so and able to comment on this please?

 

Yes. We were in Istanbul pre-cruise from 7/16-7/19. Upon arrival we took a cab to the hotel and paid in lira because we had gotten some at an airport ATM. We had a dinner tour and a half day sightseeing tour the next day with the same company and they wanted lira. They said they would take euros or US $, but their preference was lira. Lira are required for the tram, as mentioned previously, and we used lira when getting bottled water from street vendors, and when paying another guide for tickets to the Haggia Sophia. We used a credit card for our hotel.

 

So, our experience was completely different from your friend's. Everyone seemed happy to take lira or even preferred it.

Does anyone know the smallest amount of lira that can be withdrawn from an ATM? We will only need enough for the tram and some lunch.

 

And that said, does anyone have a suggestion how much we should withdraw to cover that?

 

I'm not worried about figuring conversion because I carry a traveler's cheat sheet from Oanda.com for every foreign currency I'll be using. Just don't want to take out too much but I guess I can always buy bottles of water to take back to the ship. :D

Yes. We were in Istanbul pre-cruise from 7/16-7/19. Upon arrival we took a cab to the hotel and paid in lira because we had gotten some at an airport ATM. We had a dinner tour and a half day sightseeing tour the next day with the same company and they wanted lira. They said they would take euros or US $, but their preference was lira. Lira are required for the tram, as mentioned previously, and we used lira when getting bottled water from street vendors, and when paying another guide for tickets to the Haggia Sophia. We used a credit card for our hotel.

 

So, our experience was completely different from your friend's. Everyone seemed happy to take lira or even preferred it.

 

Thank you very much for that information which is very useful as we have 5 ports in Turkey so will need a fair amount of cash.

 

The person who I spoke to was standing next to me at an exchange bureau and not a friend who I could go back to for more information. At the time I had no thought of going to Turkey, but we booked a very good late offer a couple of days after that. I got the impression she had been on a land based holiday, so she would likely have been in a tourist resort on the south coast, rather than Istanbul or the main towns/cities that cruise ships dock. Perhaps the fall in the Lira has stabilised or perhaps there was something else affecting the preference which she experienced.

 

Cheers and thanks again

 

Barbara

Edited August 1, 2015 by tring

Thank you very much for that information which is very useful as we have 5 ports in Turkey so will need a fair amount of cash.

 

The person who I spoke to was standing next to me at an exchange bureau and not a friend who I could go back to for more information. At the time I had no thought of going to Turkey, but we booked a very good late offer a couple of days after that. I got the impression she had been on a land based holiday, so she would likely have been in a tourist resort on the south coast, rather than Istanbul or the main towns/cities that cruise ships dock. Perhaps the fall in the Lira has stabilised or perhaps there was something else affecting the preference which she experienced.

 

Cheers and thanks again

 

Barbara

 

Hi, Barbara.

I don't follow exchange rates, but the advice you were given doesn't really make much sense.

Turkish isn't a closed currency & there's no "official" exchange rate, only the market rate. So there's no black-market, or black market rate, for foreign currencies. If the value of the lira falls, you'll get more lire for your dollar & you'd lose out if you paid in dollars at a historic exchange-rate.

 

If the lira is falling, best to draw as you go rather than in one big lump. Except that of course it may recover while you're there & you'd lose (more accurately, you'd fail to gain) if you bought as you went. But the difference either way is unlikely to be significant over a few days.

 

JB :)

Edited August 1, 2015 by John Bull

Hi, Barbara.

I don't follow exchange rates, but the advice you were given doesn't really make much sense.

Turkish isn't a closed currency & there's no "official" exchange rate, only the market rate. So there's no black-market, or black market rate, for foreign currencies. If the value of the lira falls, you'll get more lire for your dollar & you'd lose out if you paid in dollars at a historic exchange-rate.

 

If the lira is falling, best to draw as you go rather than in one big lump. Except that of course it may recover while you're there & you'd lose (more accurately, you'd fail to gain) if you bought as you went. But the difference either way is unlikely to be significant over a few days.

 

JB :)

 

I think there is a misunderstanding. In my first post about the Lira (#4), I had said that I had spoken to a lady who had just come back from Turkey about two weeks ago. She had said that the local people did not want Lira as the value was going down quickly. Hence, they preferred to be given dollars which would keep a better value than lira.

 

On our return home my husband looked up the recent historic value of lira and indeed it had been going down before that, so the story sounds very viable. My concern was whether the locals were still taking lira, or whether they were shunning it for hard currency, (dollars being a widely accepted currency of course).

 

I do not know the current exchange rates, but will keep an eye on it nearer the time we visit in late September.

Edited August 1, 2015 by tring

I think there is a misunderstanding. In my first post about the Lira (#4), I had said that I had spoken to a lady who had just come back from Turkey about two weeks ago. She had said that the local people did not want Lira as the value was going down quickly. Hence, they preferred to be given dollars which would keep a better value than lira.

 

 

Yes, I do understand where she's coming from.

But if those local businesses think that USD will hold their value better than lire, they can go to a bank or exchange bureau, & exchange the lire that they're paid into any foreign currency - it takes only minutes.

And any other Turk can do the same, even with their life-savings - I'm not aware of any capital or exchange controls in Turkey.

But in the main they don't, because it's a gamble - no different to the stock market. Mis-time it and they can lose money.

Remember, Turks pay their bills in lire.

 

You can see from this typical chart that against the similarly-weak euro there has been a mix of rises & falls over the past 60 days, but it's worth practically the same at the end of the period as it was at the start.

http://www.exchangerates.org.uk/EUR-TRY-exchange-rate-history.html

 

By contrast, the US dollar has indeed soared against the lira, here's a typical chart over the last year

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=TRY&view=1Y

But a big part of that is down to an increase in the value of the dollar against all major currencies, including the euro, the Japanese yen, & sterling.

And that's history. As any stock or currency trader will tell you, past performance ain't no guarantee of future performance.

 

With open currencies like the dollar, the euro, sterling & Turkish lire, folk make a living out of predicting trends.

But they know a lot more about it than you or I or Turkish tourist operators & shops ;)

 

JB :)

Edited August 2, 2015 by John Bull

This question has been coming up since I first joined Cruise Critic.

 

Turkey's currency isn't going anywhere -- Turkey is a stable country. The lira goes up and down against other currencies just like all world currencies fluctuate. Just a few years ago the dollar was incredibly bad value against the euro. Doesn't mean I was looking to hoard euros.....

 

I also think some people mistake the Turkish merchant's willingness to take other currencies with a preference for other currencies. In my experience, they take other currencies to facilitate a sale, but not because they are concerned about their own lira.

 

You can see from this typical chart that against the similarly-weak euro there has been a mix of rises & falls over the past 60 days, but it's worth practically the same at the end of the period as it was at the start.

http://www.exchangerates.org.uk/EUR-TRY-exchange-rate-history.html

 

By contrast, the US dollar has indeed soared against the lira, here's a typical chart over the last year

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=TRY&view=1Y

But a big part of that is down to an increase in the value of the dollar against all major currencies, including the euro, the Japanese yen, & sterling.

 

JB :)

 

I do appreciate the information given here, so I am reassurred that Lira does seem to be the thing to take to big cities like Istanbul and other cruise ports. That particularly makes sense when realising that much of our spending over there will be to pay for Museums, transport, super markets and, for hygeine purposes, probably the larger cafes etc. that will be big businesses.

 

The person I spoke to had taken Lira to Turkey at the begining of July and the vendors where she was staying did not want to take them and asked for dollars, which were looking a better bet at that time, (note the word 'bet'), as you have pointed out in your post. Looking at an area with large hotel complexes spread along a coast stretching for miles, with nothing else other than tourist cafes, restaurants and tourist shops, It could be difficult for local vendors to get to a proper bank. I do accept there will be ATM's present and the big, mostly internationally owned AI hotels will supply Lira to holidaymakers in exchange for their own currency at very poor exchange rates, but those facilities would not be of large use to a local trader. I also wonder how much cash taken by the small traders goes though banks and other formal processes as well.

 

I am only reporting what I was told and asking what the current situation is in Istanbul. I got the impression that lady was queuing to change her unused Lira back in GBP, so it is understandable she was offering to help someone else who may be going to Turkey, so queuing to get Lira. Her first approach to me was to ask if I was going to Turkey, and two weeks ago we had no plans to do so. Her advice was to take US$ which is what the local traders had a strong preference for.

 

Thanks again for the replies to my question.

Edited August 2, 2015 by tring

I got the impression she had been on a land based holiday, so she would likely have been in a tourist resort on the south coast, rather than Istanbul or the main towns/cities that cruise ships dock. Perhaps the fall in the Lira has stabilised or perhaps there was something else affecting the preference which she experienced.

 

 

Or perhaps she was like some on these message boards regarding Greece, who like to play up the perceived drama from the news media. You have gotten the impression she was staying at a coastal resort, you assume she was exchanging lira she hadn't needed....no offense, but it sounds like a reasonable amount of guessing on your part, based on impressions you got from someone you don't know from Adam. Maybe everything she said was accurate, or maybe she is the type of person who enjoys taking a misleading tidbit from the news and playing it up as though she has first hand knowledge of it when she doesn't. Take the info you got from her, take the info you've gotten from posters here, perhaps check out Trip Advisor for recent trip reports if you are still uncertain, and make the decision you are most comfortable with.

Looking at an area with large hotel complexes spread along a coast stretching for miles, with nothing else other than tourist cafes, restaurants and tourist shops, It could be difficult for local vendors to get to a proper bank. I do accept there will be ATM's present and the big, mostly internationally owned AI hotels will supply Lira to holidaymakers in exchange for their own currency at very poor exchange rates, but those facilities would not be of large use to a local trader.

Don't worry about the local traders, they can change money whenever they need to and the absence of proper banks in the vicinity is a non-issue. I would worry less about their troubles and look out for your own interests. Speaking very cynically, a vendor who detects a British accent and then insists on payment in USD may simply be trying to destabilize the customer. A trustworthy vendor will let you do your bargaining in whatever currency you are comfortable with, and they will not rush you, so you have plenty of time to do any necessary calculations.

Hello there, will be staying 3 days pre-cruise in Istanbul next month,was wondering what kind of currency is being used most in Istanbul....more turkish lire or Euros???

 

Thank you for all of your responses, decided to buy some more Turkish Lira!:)