Travel Tips for Turkey: 10 Actually Useful Things to Know

Turkey is one of those countries where you can easily get overwhelmed trying to plan a trip. What are the Turkey highlights? What is the vegetarian food like? Which ATMs won’t rip me off? What should I wear as a woman?

We spent six weeks travelling independently through Turkey, using public transport only. We explored some of the touristy spots but also ventured well off the beaten path to locations where we were literally the ONLY non-locals.

With all our experience, we have put together this guide of actually useful travel tips for Turkey to help you plan your trip.

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Useful Travel Tips for Turkey

Intercity Buses are Great

Turkey has large coach buses that shuttle around the country. They’re comfortable, the drivers are good, the road conditions are good, you’ll likely be served complimentary tea on board, and they’re affordable.

Turkish cay in tulip glasses, Ephesus. Travel tips for turkey

The Turkish Currency Constantly Fluctuates

Turkey’s currency is the lira: TRY, and its value fluctuates significantly. We visited Turkey before the earthquake hit in southeast Turkey.

Back then £1 was about 20TRY; and as of the end of 2024, £1 is about 44TRY. This however does not mean that you will suddenly be getting amazing bang for your buck in Turkey: prices have been hiked up to cover the gap.

When we were in Turkey, we would often order a coffee that showed as 20 TRY on the menu, and when we came to pay, the price had gone up to 25 TRY to account for the fluctuating value.

So, just bare this in mind. There is not really anything you can do, this is more of an FYI.

Traditional Food is Meat-Heavy, but the Veg Options are Good!

A lot of traditional Turkish food is heavy on the meat, especially the further east you travel. But, we found plenty of great veg options that did not skip on the flavour.

We gave Turkey a 6/10 on the vegetarian-friendliness rating.

Must try food:

  • Serpme kahvaltı – full Turkish breakfast spread of many small dishes, sweet and savoury
  • Çiğ köfte – spiced bulgur with tomato, chilli, onion, and herbs, with pomegranate molasses dipping sauce.
an elaborate turkish breakfast spread with many many small plates

Must try drinks: sahlep, menengiç coffee, Bomonti beer, Efes beer, Rakia

Coffee Country or Tea Town: Turkey is coffee country and tea town. Thick, dark Turkish coffee and sweet Turkish çay served in tulip-shaped glasses are both really popular throughout Turkey.

turkish coffee
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Tipping Culture

Tips aren’t expected or requested, but equally aren’t considered offensive if you do wish to tip.

Cash is King

Cash is king in a lot of the country. Larger businesses in the bigger cities will likely accept card: hotels, supermarkets, etc.

But the good news is that we found an ATM that charges ZERO withdrawal fees!

So, ignore those articles you’ve read where people are complaining about having to pay huge fees; they just hadn’t found our info 😉

Halk Bank is the one!

We have an exclusive list of fee-free ATMs across Eastern Europe, Asia, and a little South America. If you want to get your hands on it for free, click below!

💷 Grab your ATM list 💷

Turkish is the Language Spoken in Turkey, Surprisingly 😉

English is understood in larger cities and touristy spots. Make sure you learn these phrases for your Turkey trip:

  • Hello: Merhaba
  • Thanks: Teşekkürler
the gorge which creates the border between Turkey and Armenia

The Best Tourist SIM Provider

We bought our SIM card with TurkCell and the coverage was great across the whole country: Istanbul, West coast, close to the Syrian border and Georgian borders, and everywhere in between.

Highlights of our Trip to Turkey

Definitely try to incorporate these into your Turkey itinerary:

Balat's colourful houses, Istanbul
fairy chimney of Love Valley, Cappadocia

Appropriate Dress in Turkey as a Woman

Turkey has a majority Muslim population, but is not a hugely conservative country in terms of dress. In the west of Turkey in particular, you’ll find many people in shorts, bikinis, etc., but the further east you travel the more conservative it becomes.

In southeast Turkey, I dressed with shoulders and knees covered.

For religious buildings, bring a covering for your head. If you do forget, there will likely be scarves you can rent for free.

Turkey can get very cold, particularly close to the border with Georgia in what is nicknamed ‘Little Siberia’: Kars. Do not just assume that Turkey is a hot country!

Is it Turkey or Türkiye?

‘Turkey’ is the anglicised version of the Turkish spelling for the country name. Turks have called Turkey, ‘Türkiye’ since their independence in 1923, but have recently requested that other countries also call them by the Turkish name instead of the anglicised version.

Both are pronounced similarly. Türkiye has an extra syllable on the end of Turkey sounding a little like ‘yeah’.

In a Nutshell

  • Turkey is a beautiful country full of rich history, otherworldly natural landscapes, and decadent coffee! So many tourists just head to Istanbul or the coast and take a tour to the Instagram hotspots like Pamukkale or Cappadocia.
  • But the rest of Turkey is spectacular too! Independent travel is pretty simple and affordable, and with a bit of planning, you can experience a lot of what this country has to offer in your allotted annual leave.
  • Take a look at all our Turkey blog posts to help you plan your trip.
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