Turkish Lira

[rknight10]

I just called my bank and my ATM card will not work in Turkey. We will be visiting both Ephesus and Instabul on our cruise in a few weeks. We have a private tour with EKOL in Ephesus and I know they will take credit cards - I had read on a thread a while back that the entrance fees have doubled in Turkey and that they will only accept lira now. Does anyone know if the sites will accept credit cards? Thanks for any information.

[Jade13]

I just called my bank and my ATM card will not work in Turkey. We will be visiting both Ephesus and Instabul on our cruise in a few weeks. We have a private tour with EKOL in Ephesus and I know they will take credit cards - I had read on a thread a while back that the entrance fees have doubled in Turkey and that they will only accept lira now. Does anyone know if the sites will accept credit cards? Thanks for any information.

 

You need to pay in lira for the Terrace Houses.

[seakat76]

The entrance to Ephesus and the terrace houses within both required YTL (we did not go to Istanbul.) I am reasonably sure that you can exchange USD or Euro for YTL at an exchange, your rate would just be better if you used your ATM card. Ours (Charles Schwab) worked fine.

[dbteach2]

We toured Ephesus and Istanbul with EKOL last month. Entrance fees to all things (Topkapi, Terrace Houses, etc) were included in the price we paid EKOL (with a credit card at the end of the 2 days) The vendors at the Grand Bazaar are happy to take your euros or American dollars ( lol!) and we ate lunch outdoors at the House of Medusa in Istanbul (nice- next to the Underground Cistern, which was awesome) and paid by credit card. We really didn't need turkish $ at all.

[CoralReef]

Ephesus is not an issue if your site admission is through a tour company that takes credit cards. The merchants there will certainly take credit cards or euros.

 

However, most of the Istanbul non-merchant sites (Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofya, cisterns, some taxis, tram, Blue Mosque donation if you want to contribute, etc.) require Turkish lira. You can probably find a merchant or exchange bank who will change Euros to lira, although you'll pay a little extra for the service.

 

You might consider opening a bank account with an ATM that will work in Turkey, just for the convenience. It seems odd to me that your ATM card wouldn't work in Turkey. I think it's a smart idea to have more than one ATM card, anyway. One of my banks recently stopped accepting ATM transactions in Greece for a couple of days, because of a handful of fraudulent transactions. Luckily, we weren't there at the time... I only heard about it because I happen to work at that bank. But what if we'd been in Greece at the time? I would always want a backup option.

[Broch]

I just called my bank and my ATM card will not work in Turkey. We will be visiting both Ephesus and Instabul on our cruise in a few weeks. We have a private tour with EKOL in Ephesus and I know they will take credit cards - I had read on a thread a while back that the entrance fees have doubled in Turkey and that they will only accept lira now. Does anyone know if the sites will accept credit cards? Thanks for any information.

 

I do not wish to question your bank because I do not know which bank it is. However as a suggestion - is it the card that won't work or is it your Pin No? In Europe you can use almost any card but you must have a four digit Pin. Your six figure pin will not work, so it might be worth asking your bank re the pin. Hope this helps.

[threeofus]

We got 100.00 worth of Lira from our bank before we left. It only took a few days. Basically the exchange rate is pretty much even with the dollar.

Thank goodness we did, because we ate lunch in a restaurant and found out when the bill came that they didn't take credit cards.

 

Get yourself some lira before you go just to be sure. Your bank most likely won't have Lira on site, but they should be able to get it for you pretty quickly.

[dtraveler2006]

We toured Ephesus and Istanbul with EKOL last month. Entrance fees to all things (Topkapi, Terrace Houses, etc) were included in the price we paid EKOL (with a credit card at the end of the 2 days) The vendors at the Grand Bazaar are happy to take your euros or American dollars ( lol!) and we ate lunch outdoors at the House of Medusa in Istanbul (nice- next to the Underground Cistern, which was awesome) and paid by credit card. We really didn't need turkish $ at all.

 

I will be using EKOL in a few months. You did not have to pay EKOL until the end of your two day tour?

[dbteach2]

Yes- I arranged with Nur, from EKOL, to pay for our tours of 11 at the end of our day in Ephesus/Kusadasi. We just stopped at their office on the way back to the ship. We were able to do a few different transactions-- ie: we paid for 4, my brother paid for his family, my parents paid for themselves. They were fine with this. The transportation, drivers and guides were great. In Ephesus we had a 27 person van just for the 11 of us! I would recommend them for anyone. Just be specific on what you want to see, and NOT see. We were, and didn't have any pressure at all, and loved our two days in Turkey.

[rknight10]

Thanks for all your advice!

 

I have also contacted Princess and we can purchase Turkish Lira on the ship from the purser's office - then sell back what we don't use. Not as good a rate as an ATM and probably more than a bank, but it's good to know if you're in a pinch.

 

I am taking advice given and opening another account at a bank that will operate in Turkey. That way we'll have two ATM cards. If I don't have time for that (we're leaving Aug 27th) I will just purchase from my bank in advance and use the ship if I fall short.