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The most convenient way
to get money in Turkey is by using
your home bank ATM/cash card or
a credit
card in a Turkish
ATM/bancomat/cash machine.
Of course, these things are run by banks, so
there will be not just fees, but significant
fees, perhaps 2% or 3% or more of the
money you receive. ATMs are an easy,
but expensive, way to get money.
If you want to exchange cash,
plenty of places will do it for you,
and it can be cheaper.
Currency Exchange Offices (Döviz
Bürosu) are
found in tourist and market areas.
They offer better exchange
rates than most banks, and may
or may not charge a commission (komisyon).
Offices in market areas tend
to offer better exchange rates than
those in tourist areas.
Besides exchange rates, a good gauge
of the price you'll pay to exchange
money is the Buy
and Sell spread that
an office uses. The spread is
the difference between what an office
pays to buy a unit of your currency,
and what it sells that unit for to
someone else. A big spread means the
office
makes a lot of money on the transactions.
A small spread means it makes less,
and you get more.
Buy
US$1 = TL1.5556 |
You
get 1.5556 Turkish liras for
every US dollar you change. |
Sell
US$1 = TL1.5788 |
Someone
else has to pay 1.5788 liras to
buy
that dollar. |
Spread = 0.0232 |
The
office keeps TL0.0232 |
So if you change US$100, you get TL155.56
in return, and the office will make
TL2.32 (1.5%) on the business.
But what if the rates are Buy TL1.5700
and Sell TL1.5780, a spread of only
0.008? You get TL157.00 for your US$100
instead of only TL155.56. The office
keeps only TL0.008 (only 1/2 of 1%)—a
much better deal for you.
—Here
are today's exchange rates.
The best spreads I've found in Istanbul are
in the gold dealers' section of
the Grand
Bazaar near
the Mahmutpaşa entrance (map).
This is Istanbul's unofficial "spot
gold market," foreign exchange
is carried on big time, and exchange
rate spreads can
be truly minuscule.
Most currency exchange offices post
their Buy and Sell rates prominently,
so look for both the rates—which may
change by the hour—and the spread.
Few offices charge commission (basically,
a service fee) these days. Don't use
an office that charges commission.
Here's
a map showing the location
of the Zeki
Döviz Bürosu near
Istanbul's Egyptian
(Spice) Bazaar—it
usually has better rates than offices
in touristy areas, but offices in the
Grand Bazaar may have better rates
still.
Post Office (PTT):
Most post offices will exchange cash US
dollars or euros,
and the bigger post offices may also
exchange other major currencies such
as UK sterling (but no
Scottish notes!)
Bank (Banka): these
have the worst rates, the biggest commissions
and the most cumbersome procedures,
but a few specialized branches may
be willing to exchange currencies lesser
known than the US dollar, euro, sterling,
and yen.
—Here
are the Turkish names for
various currencies.
The Turkish
Lira is divided into
100 kuruş (koo-ROOSH). Turkish
Lira notes/bills...
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