Can I carry £2.5k cash to Turkey?

[cornishblue7]

Hello

I’m travelling to Turkey next month for a few days to have some dental work done, travelling light so taking hand luggage only. Paying cash is going to be the cheapest way to pay for the dental work to avoid bank fees for withdrawing or paying via card whilst there, but I’m a bit apprehensive about travelling with that amount of cash. Will I have any issues at border control when I arrive? Are there any rules on carrying cash does anyone know?

TIA!

You will probably need to have full dentures fitted by the time they finally let you out of the interview room

Only joking, if you have all the relevant paperwork to show some sort of quote & appointment date from the dental team, I would think that would be o.k?

Pretty sure you can take any amount but you may need to declare it. That's a lot of cash to carry around though can you not transfer it?

yellali.com/advice/question/384/how-much-cash-can-i-bring-into-turkey

There is no limit on the amount of cash you can bring into Turkey.

If you come from a non EU country with more than 10,000 EURO you need to sign a declaration form when you arrive to HR Revenue & Customs

Currency rules
Currency Import regulations:
Local currency (Turkish Lira-TRY) and foreign currencies: unlimited. However, passengers should declare foreign currencies on arrival and ensure that this is specified in their passports.

to avoid bank fees for withdrawing or paying via card whilst there

Why not just get a card that charges no fees? Eg: Starling bank account for atm cash withdrawals or paying by card, Monzo, Halifax Clarity etc for paying by debit/credit card.

With Starling and Monzo you just download the app, apply via that and the card arrives within a week. Top up via bank transfer. Any of the others you can apply online, card should also arrive within a week.

No way I would want to walk around with that much cash on me!

Thanks so much for your replies.

No, I’m not keen on carrying that much on me either! I wasn’t sure how else to go about it though, I’m not sure I’d get a credit card with a limit of up to £2.5k as I already have a credit card with a few hundreds pounds on.
I’ve just had a quick look at Starling bank, that might work? Just transfer the money into there and pay using the debit card? Gosh I sound like such a baby - just not done this before!

Yes, that should work fine - I would probably pick Monzo over Starling just because whenever I have had any issues their customer service via the in app chat has been very prompt and efficient. Whereas Starling I don't know one way or the other what the customer service is like as I have never had to contact them. (I have both cards but only really use Starling for overseas ATM withdrawals). monzo.com/

Fair point about the credit card, it might be quite hard to get one with a starting credit limit that high.

With Monzo /Starling you do an online transfer to the card using your current account and then yes, you just pay using the Monzo/ Starling debit card - it's a standard Mastercard debit card so widely accepted and you get the wholesale (interbank) exchange rate too with no fees.

I’m going with Monzo - thanks so much for solving my problem!!