Turkey holiday

[Desperatetime]

Posting for traffic but in the shops and restaurants do they all take lira as I've heard alot are pricing in euro.

Just come back. Yes, Lira, sterling and euros are accepted but sterling is generally preferred

Most places preferred pounds, euro or US dollars when I last went. One shop guy told me that people tend to wait until the exchange rate is good and then change it to lira as and when they need to.

Okay thanks are thier prices in lira

Yes, most prices are in Lira

Justcallmebebes
Thanks for your responses I've booked some excursions and they are saying they can't give me the actual prices in lira until day of the tour due to exchange rates is this normal do you know.

So basically I could be paying more or less

For excursions, I have always paid in sterling, same with shops (clothes etc). For bars/restaurants and supermarkets, always in lira.

Not sure which part of Turkey you are going to but I have never been anyway there likes euros or US dollars. I usually go to Fethiye area.

Side near Antalya

I never even realised you can pay by sterling in Turkey.

Yes you can pay in sterling or Lira. The excursions we did last week, I paid in sterling as the exchange rate is pretty favourable atm, but you can also pay in Lira. I took approx £300 worth of Lira and in the shops, I paid in Lira

Also, don't book any trips until you get there because you can shop around and the costs vary wildly. I.e. a boat trip being sold by a rep in the hotel was nearly £50 pp but we bought from a stand on the sea front for a lot cheaper

We go to Turkey often. I take a revolut card to pay in supermarkets and restaurants, and take sterling cash to pay for excursions and things like market purchases. I change some sterling cash for lira once we're there to pay for small things like taxis, tips, ice creams etc - you get a better rate for lira once you're there or via revolut than you ever do by exchanging for lira before you go.

I go to Turkey regularly. In Antalya area (including Side) many of the tourist shops/excursion providers have prices in Euro, whereas in other areas (eg Fethiye) tourist shops etc seem to price in £. I assume this is because Fethiya more British tourists and Antalya has more tourists from the rest of Europe. When I have been to Side, other than in non-tourist shops and for very small sums (eg for buses, icecreams etc) most places are more than happy for you to pay in whatever currency you like. You might get a slightly better deal in Euros but unless you are buying very expensive items it's probably not worth worrying about.

As pp mentioned, I wouldn't book any excursions in advance and definitely wouldn't book excursions via one of the UK holiday companies as they offer the same excursions as the local companies but for a lot more money. If you go to a local excursion provider when you arrive you will be able to talk to them about what you want and they will often throw in a free trip/give you a discount if you book a few trips. Even in peak season I have never had any trouble finding availability for the trips I want. As an example, last year I looked at boat trips i advance and to pre-book would have been £30 per person. In resort the same trip was offered in several places for £20 each but as there were 5 of us they offered us a discount and we paid £18 each.

Not what you asked, but if you are staying in Side, I'd recommend visiting the amphitheatre and the museum. You can get a joint ticket on the door for both that costs next to nothing and they are really interesting.

The Turkish economy has been pretty unstable in recent years hence why stuff is priced in Euros- as it's a stable currency. You generally pay in Lira once out there

If you are using a UK debit/credit card always pay in the local currency. Don't opt for euros or pounds as the shops exchange rate will be higher than your bank. They use this to make money.

Depends where you go. We generally go to resorts in Antalya, we take lira and euros. Most tourists there are German or Northern European, and all the prices are in euros. Places where more Brits go tend to take sterling.

Blimey I wasn't clued up on it all I have exchanged already to lira and have already booked my trips. Think I'm gonna get confused if everything priced in euros as well😩

I went to Side with my OH last summer and everything was priced in Euros and most markets/restaurants/shops expected you to pay in Euros.
We took Lira and the workers actually seemed to get annoyed when we asked what the prices were in Lira as everything was priced up in Euros.

If we went back to Turkey we would only take Euros.

Ps. Everywhere and everyone in Side expected a tip!! Just beware you will need quite a bit of cash to offset the expected tips

That being said we had no issues paying with Lira. Just got confusing having to convert everything all the time!

Awww that's what I was bothered about the hassle of asking for price in lira or trying to convert it whilst I'm on the spot with the goods in my hand but now I've bought all lira.😫