Travel Advisories

The British Foreign Office provides up-to-date information for travelers to Turkey. They offer information and addresses of British Consular Services Abroad as well as practical tips and health information. They also offer a new service you can sign up for that sends you updates on any country you request!

The U.S. State Department has information on travel safety and precautions. If you plan to drive a car, they also have an excellent Driver Safety Briefing that includes translation of road signs.

Street Crime in Turkey is another important consideration. You can find information at the US Embassy's Ankara website.

The U.S. State Department encourages its citizens visiting in Turkey to register either with the Embassy in Ankara or the consulates in Istanbul or Adana.

• Tourism Information
• Health Precautions
• Traveler's Insurance
• Weather
• Arrival to the city
• Phoning In and From Turkey
• Mail
• Work Hours and Holidays
• OFFICIAL AND RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS IN TURKEY 2008
• Visiting the Mosques
• The Money
• VAT
• Electricity
• Safety & Security

Tourism Information
The Turkish Ministry of Tourism has an excellent site. Although the default page is in Turkish, you can select other languages at the bottom of the page.
For a list of Turkish tourism offices around the world go to Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory, select Turkey from the pull-down menu and click the Display button.

Health Precautions
What immunizations do you need for your trip? The Center for Disease Control (CDC) at has the answers for you and your physician.

Traveler's Insurance
absolutely, positively thinks about travel insurance. Turkish hospitals and physicians do not operate on the Hippocratic Oath, unless you have cash, a charge card, or insurance! Here are a few companies that offer traveler's insurance on-line.

J.N. Grace Online Travel Insurance is a U.S. company that offers insurance to anyone, but travel must originate in the U.S. or Canada.

Travel Guard International is another U.S. company.

The Travel Insurance Agency is a British company that specializes in travel insurance. They offer all types of travel insurance for UK citizens and non-UK citizens worldwide.

BKR Insurance is a New Zealand company.

Weather
If, you're planning ahead, here's historical information provided by the Turkish Embassy, Washington, D.C. It shows average air and water temperatures for Turkey's major cities.
For a four-day forecast, see CNN Weather for information on Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir.

Arrival to the city
Turkey demands an official entry visa from citizens of several countries. Before your departure to Turkey it is better to check with a Turkish consulate in your country to determine if you need a visa. In some cases, you can obtain a visa upon arrival at Ataturk airport for a small fee. After passing from the passport control, it is appropriate to declare your foreign currency and your valuable objects and have it recorded in your passport. As elsewhere too, there are limits on the amount of alcoholic drinks and cigarettes that can be brought in: two boxes of cigarettes, 50 cigars, 200 grams of tobacco and 2.5 liters of alcoholic drinks are allowed.

Phoning In and From Turkey
the cheapest way to make domestic calls is from a public phone using a phone card bought at the post office (PTT). If the PTT is closed, you can usually find local entrepreneurs selling cards at a slight mark up near the public phones.

Your next challenge is to find a phone that is working. Lift the hand set and push the language button for English, German or French and see what it says. If it says, "Welcome," you have a phone that is working. Insert the phone card according to the arrow and you're ready to start dialing.

Inside Turkey numbers outside your area code require a 0+ area code + number. Bodrum and Datca, for example, are in the same area code and don't require a 0 + area code. If you dial an area code when you don't need one, you'll just get a busy signal.

If you use a Control Telephone at your pension or a shop, expect to pay 3 to 4 times the PTT rate. This is not the phone to use for International calls.

To make a long distance international call the Superonline long distance calling cards, HASRETKART, make it easy to make international and domestic calls from any local phones. The card is easy to use and will save you minimum 50% on your calls.

How does the Superonline Long Distance Calling Card work?

What are the advantages of using the Superonline Long Distance Calling Card?

Mail
Post offices are painted bright yellow and have PTT (Post, Telegraph, and Telephone) signs on the front. The central Post office is open Monday through Saturday from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM, Sunday from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM. smaller ones are open Monday through Friday between 8:30 AM and 5:00 PM.

Work Hours and Holidays
Banks are open weekdays from 8:30 AM until noon or 12:30 PM, depending on the bank, and from 1:30 PM until 5.00 PM. However, there are some banks which continue to serve during lunch breaks.

Museums are generally open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30 AM until 5.00 PM or 5:30 PM and closed on Monday. Palaces are open the same hours but are closed on Thursday. For specific information on museums, please visit our museums section.

Shops and bazaars are normally open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 AM to 1.00 PM and from 2.00 PM to 7.00 PM, and closed all day on Sunday. But most stores in shopping malls and crowded streets are open seven days a week, including lunch breaks.


OFFICIAL AND RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS IN TURKEY 2008

Visiting the Mosques
most mosques in Istanbul are open to the public during the day. Prayer sessions, called namaz, last 30 to 40 minutes and are observed five times daily. Tourists should, however, avoid visiting mosques midday on Friday, when Muslims are required to worship.

For women, bare arms and legs are not acceptable inside a mosque. Men should avoid wearing shorts as well. Women should not enter a mosque without first covering their heads with a scarf. Before entering a mosque, shoes must be removed.

The Money
The monetary unit is the New Turkish Lira (YTL), which comes in banknotes of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100. Smaller denominations come in coins of 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50.

In Istanbul, traveler's checks are rarely accepted. ATMs can be found in even the smallest Turkish towns. Most accept international credit cards or bank cards (a strip of logos is usually displayed above the ATM). Almost all ATMs have a language key to enable you to read the instructions in English.

VAT
The value-added tax, here called KDV, is 18%. Hotels typically combine it with a service charge of 10% to 15%, and restaurants usually add a 15% service charge.
Value-added tax is nearly always included in quoted prices. Certain shops are authorized to refund the tax (ask).

Electricity
The electrical current in Turkey is 220 volts, 50 cycle’s alternating current (AC); wall outlets take Continental-type plugs, with two or three round prongs.

Safety & Security
The streets of Istanbul are considerably safer than their counterparts in the United States or Western Europe. Travelers should nevertheless take care of their valuables, as pickpockets, although not as common as in the U.S. or Europe, do operate in the major cities and tourist areas.