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  • 🇹🇷 Turkey: bunq Community Travel Tips

✈️ Heading to Turkey? We've gathered some tips from the bunq community to make sure your trip is the smoothest it can be. 😎

Check them out below! 🌈 👇


Using your card

💳 Do I need cash in Turkey, or can I use my card everywhere?

Cards are accepted in most places, but it is a good idea to carry some cash on you just in case.

💰 What currency do they use here?

The currency here is Liras. The symbols are TRY, TL, ₺

🏧 Which ATM’s can I use for free?

The bunq community has reported free withdrawals at these ATMs.

  • Akbank
  • Ziraat Bank
  • Yapı Kredi
  • ING

💵 If I want cash, how much should I take out of an ATM?

300 TRY should be enough for a few days, since you can use your card for nearly everything.

💳 Should I choose local currency or Euros when paying?

If you're asked to choose between local currency and Euros, always choose local currency.

That way bunq does the conversion for you, and you get to take advantage of the best rates with bunq ZeroFX.


Staying connected

📱 Can I roam, or should I get a local SIM?

Most EU mobile plans will charge you for roaming in Turkey.

Wifi is readily available in Turkey, especially in coffee shops.

If you want to get a local SIM card, you can learn about your options here.


Useful things to know

💁‍♀️ How does tipping work?

If you feel the service was good, you can leave 10 - 15% of the bill.

🍺 How much does a 0.5L beer cost?

€2,50

🍽 How much does an average meal cost?

€4,00

🚨 What’s the emergency number?

112

🔌 What type of plug do they use?

This one! It’s the standard European plug.

🚗 What side of the road do they drive on?

They drive on the right side of the road here.

🗺 How do I navigate my way around?

Google and Apple Maps both work well in Turkey.

Otherwise, we recommend Rome2Rio as the best way to find out how to get anywhere. It even tells you the cost of each option. 🙌

👀 Any other good tips?

Other currencies are accepted, like Euros or Dollars, but the exchange rates won´t be great.


Travel Perks

🎢 Visit famous attractions with 10% off

We've partnered with Tiqets to bring you discounts on attraction tickets in Turkey 🇹🇷. To get your discount, simply follow the link here and use our coupon code BUNQTIQETS10 at checkout. That's it! 🎊

If you've been to Turkey 🇹🇷 share your experience! The following would be really useful for other bunqers to know:

  • Which ATMs are free to use?
  • What card should I use and where?
  • Any other info you think may be useful.

Share your experience with us in the comments below! 🌈 👇

    a year later

    I have withdrawn To from Yapi Kredi and was charged 5% cost. This was in Mahmutlar, Alanya.
    Vakif bank has been the lowest sofar with 3% here in Mahmutlar

      3 months later

      J’ai pu retirer sans frais à l’aéroport d’Istanbul au guichet de Ziraat Bankasi. Parfois il est préférable d’utiliser le système sans contact pour lire la carte, votre code PIN vous sera demandé après et vous permettra de effectuer le paiement.

        4 months later

        The information provided here is not accurate!
        Akbank charged me 4 LYRA more for take 50LYR when I chose local currency, if I wanted to use the ATM currency convertor I had to pay around 1 euro more.

        the other bank YAPKREDI ATM just charged me 2 LYR more. for withdraw 50LYR.
        But if you pay by card you just pay the Mastercard currency exchange.

        BE CAREFUL!!!

          4 months later

          Ziraat Bank has charged me 6% for converting the currency.
          2 years ago this was free.

          Also be aware that when paying with your bunq card the cassiere selects TL instead of EUR or USD. This will cost you extra. And somehow paying with maestro nfc is cheaper than paying the usual way.

            2 months later

            Withdraw from akbank cost me 5 euro something for withdrawing 1000 lyra.

              6 months later

              Does the Maestro card work, or should I order the Mastercard version?

                16 days later

                @New-Rose-Mare-3623636579#241032 Wenn du sicher sein willst, dann nimm Mastercard. Da hatte ich immer gute Erfahrungen.

                  When you pin money at Halk bank it doesn’t charge anything extra

                    We were able to buy our sim cards at the airport very quickly without any complications. We only had to pay for the use of one month of sim card use and that’s it; No other registration fees. Perfect!

                      @Susan-Cyan-Unicorn#244020 We are flying to Antalya next month. Can you recommend a certain provider?

                        Nee helaas, wij zijn hier met eigen vervoer.

                          @Johannes-Red-Panda-463593470#244339 Turk Telekom bevalt ons prima. Goede dekking.

                            13 days later

                            Nog meer mensen die problemen hebben met Apple Pay in Türkiye? Mijn ervaring is echt 50/50 dat het wel of niet werkt, of ik nou Maestro of MasterCard gebruik. In de Bunq app geen enkele melding van de mislukte betalingen.

                              @NS#246565 Misschien ondersteunen veel betaalterminals in Turkije nog geen Apple Pay?

                                @thijsoost#246567 Ik was zelf eigenlijk van de veronderstelling dat overal waar je contactloos kan betalen met een fysieke kaart, Apple Pay ook zou moeten werken. Of maak ik nu een verkeerde aanname?

                                  @NS#246569 Officieel zou Apple Pay inderdaad overal moeten werken waar contactloos met fysieke pas betalen ook mogelijk is, maar uit mijn ervaring was dit met Google Pay aan het begin in Nederland nog niet het geval. Tegenwoordig kan ik in Nederland geen plek meer vinden waar ik niet met Google Pay kan betalen, maar misschien is er iets vergelijkbaars aan de hand in Turkije met Google Pay als in het verleden in Nederland

                                    24 days later

                                    I really recommend opening the Lira local currency account!

                                      @New-Rose-Mare-3623636579#251061 Is that worth it over using ZeroFX for payments? I can imagine that that is easier/less expensive? I am not really familiar with Bunq’s Local Currency accounts myself, just asking… :)

                                        @New-Jade-Mink-2269923671#251104 Just for card payments, it shouldn't make a huge difference. Although, if you suspect that the exchange rate fluctuates a lot, then with a Local Currency account you can kind of "lock in" a rate at a certain time by exchanging that much money. In any case the fees for exchanging are the same.

                                        As for easier, well it could be nice for some people to have an account with the same currency that they spend in. Let's say you have set yourself a 10000 TRY budget for a week, then when you order food or buy something in a store, it might be easier to compare prices when you only think in a single currency instead of doing conversions to Euro mentally. Personally, for me it wouldn't be an issue I think. Especially as the bunq app also has the option to show the balance of your Euro accounts in the local currency when traveling.