Antalya Travel Forum

I am thinking about going to Turkey on holiday, but have read that they only want to take Euros instead of Turkish Lira, one of the reasons I was thinking about Turkey is because I thought it would be better value for money as it wasn't in the Eurozone?

Lynda (London)

hotels will ask you to pay in €.Of course if you book through internet there will be in £. In shops you can pay in € as well as TL, no problem.

We were in Turkey for a month last summer and had no problems usings Turkish Lira.

Upto now I don’t clearly understand why euro when the country has its own national currency. The euro has a better exchange rate, so bring it on, that is, if you are coming from a European country. Yet, if you are from the US of A, I don’t think it is reasonable to exchange your $ to euro, because you will again exchange that euro to YTL (Turkish Lira). Then again, if you are not from both countries, and your currency does not fall into one of those popular currencies, then you may just have to buy either euro or $, as other non-pop currencies tends to have lower exchange rates and/or may not be widely acceptable for impromptu payments.

Most hotels in Turkey accepts either of these 2 hard bills, and basically, they use the prevailing currency exchange rates (i.e. XE).

Then again, the New Turkish Lira is the preferred currency in most hotels, and advantageous for you especially if you were able to get a higher rate.

The new Turkish lira is the currency of Turkey, which means what? You know what it means, it is what you use to buy or pay for anything and everything when you’re in Turkey after all you are in Turkey appropriately they have their own currency. Euro is not the official currency, though acceptable in some establishments like hotels, but not practical for others, much more impractical for you as you will end up losing a lot if you’re spending loads of it.

Turkey is a budget destination compared with most european destinations, esp. if you do your assignments first...research!

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/te/1bbcbc/8d5b64ea745b0f1a5b468ad831547f84/

have fun!

Its always handy to have euros with you all over Europe.
But the Turkish Lira is the legal tender in Turkey and all places must accept it as payment. There are plenty of exchange bureaus and ATMs around so just bring a visa card and you'll be fine.
Turkey is not cheap compared with its neighbours but compared to most other parts of Europe it is, especially as soon as you get out of Istanbul and any of the sea side resorts. Although there are good cheap places in Istanbul too.

Hi June
one year in Istanbul the owner of the hotel I stayed did not accept tl or credit card. I payed cash in € , and it was a lot.

Venoquine:

Hello! Believe me, I had a fair share of those euro experience, but if you insist and make them aware that you don't have euro in you, they will be forced to accept your YTL equivalent to your bills, after all it's the official hard currency. Unless, there was a prior verbal or written (booking online or emails) agreement that it had to be paid in euro or was quoted in euro, but then again, your convincing power and bargaining skills (add charm) will be put to the test.

In general though, most of them accepts their own currency.

Thank's june.I just did not want to discuss.We had to pay even before seing the room.I was not the only one.

venoquine, i agree with you, it happens all the time.

Hi June, there was no chance to cancel if we did not like the place; they had the credit card number , so they would have taken the 600€ aniway, which is not fair.