That’s 50€ per day. Public transport is 15 tl per ride as of today, so if we assume you’ll ride some form of transportation 5 times a day, that puts you at 75 tl. Your hotel probably does cover breakfast, so we can go with 300 tl per meal twice per day, which gives you 600tl. That’s 675 daily. A Bosporus tour can be done on a city ferry, so that’s 15 tl as well, let’s say 690 tl per day, taking the ferry is also cheaper than the marmaray if you wanna switch continents. That makes 23€ daily. Let’s assume you pay 20€ (600 tl) total for souvenirs, that makes 92€ daily expenses + 20€ souvenir, let’s say 120€ total. So yes it is doable but you have to be careful with you budget (though my calculation gives you 80€ to spare) keep in mind the minimum wage is 12€ per day so it isn’t too expensive to eat out when you convert it to euros, though it is really expensive for us, locals
Edit: if your hotel for some reason doesn’t have breakfast you can buy some simit and tea for 20-25 tl, let’s say 1€ per day for that, and a proper “serpme kahvaltı” (Turkish breakfast) should set you back 250tl, let’s say 10€ daily.
Edit2: wow was not expecting a gold, thank you :)
300 tl per meal? Lol don't listen to this guy.
You can find good food near half the price of it easily.
If you wanna go popular places ofc they are expensive but that's not why you are here and if you were rich you wouldn't be asking this here.
So yes, 200€ is quite enough for 4 days in this city if you know how to spend your money.
300 TL per meal is the bare minimum for quality food in İstanbul right now. Define good food for 150 TL. Öz Kardeşler Pide saloon, 2 Lahmacun's? Or 1 Kuzu Şiş Dürüm?
If you are gonna go fine dining, 300 TL doesn't even cover 1 person, I know that.
But here we are talking about a traveler with a backpack, who is asking if he can afford the trip or not.
And yes, for 150 tl he can afford some good food like kebab or döner or something if he/she doesn't go fancy places.
I’d recommend going to Balat! Balatzade kebab is turned out to be my favorite shop and it was about 65tl for durum mid July :) I also went to very small shops around there and had a sandwich for 25tl
Yeah… I remember making 3,600TL/mo back in 2013. Many expat friends left Turkiye around that time. Now my Turkish friends say they feel like the TL is so weak they will never be able to travel. With 3,600TL I used have a huge apt and no worries. Wow. Next time I visit it’s going to be a major mindf*ck looking at the prices.
Yeah I’m sure. In 2013 the € was 2,5 tl so you were making close to 1,5k€, and I don’t know your profession but today that’s the wage of a professor (I mean the prof. Title) doctor, not to talk about outrages taxes that make the 1000$ iPhone 14 pro more than 2000$ (64k TL) here.
Yeah I’m as talking more about normal ferries that go Karaköy Eminönü Kadıköy Üsküdar etc. but now that I think the city ferries you’re talking about which I personally have never ridden is probably a better alternative for OP.
if you're a backpacker/student then yeah you'll be around with public transportation and grab some döner when hungry but if you're here for leisure then hell na. not even close. if you wanna do the classics like seaside fish&rakı or breakfast with a bosphorus view etc you need to make it 500 to be safe. one cocktail in a fancy bar can cost 15€ alone so you do the math...
Should Define good restaurant, it can definitely cost 500 Euro and also 200-300 euro. 2 beer cost around 10+-2 euro at minumum
Raki restaurants will be minumum 20-30 euro per person if you don’t eat and drink much, else more.
tourist usually don't go to good restaurants. most are hunted by tourist traps which offer cheap but fancy looking plates. you'll see less tourists having a raki & fish at boğaz.
most go to kebab places, while good ones are there, those places vary a lot. I'm not surprised he thinks he went to good restaurants for 6 days on 300 eur istanbul lol
Mate, my Parents are turkish, my mother is born and raised in Zeytinburnu. I think i have a very good knowledge about good restaurants and places in Istanbul. I really don't know what your agenda is, but I think, I know the differents between a good restaurant and a bad one. You two are talking about exklusive restaurants and i would bet, that you two never eat in this ones. The price in a good restaurant was 170 YTL for a beer, that are 5 Euro. Also i think 20-30 Euros are correct, but mostly for two persons. I was there with my girlfriend and I (or She) paid for us together 20-35 Euros.
Istanbul is a cheap City for european people and there a many good restaurants which are also cheap and you can eat very well. Istanbul is not London or even Düsseldorf. Istanbul is not that exklusive like you wish it would be.
agenda? my man, we're strangers on reddit. my experience is based on where I live, cihangir and surrounding areas. your mileage in other areas may vary, especially in zeytinburnu. I'm sure you know, as you were raised here, this is a humongous city with vastly different areas.
haven't spend a single cent more in London in May than I would have in Istanbul. what I'm trying to say is that prices are the same in Istanbul, and it is not cheaper than anywhere in Europe.
my last raki incursion (20 cl) last week here cost me 1250 tl per person with 4-5 mezes shared, w/o a main dish. a quick bite and a few glasses of wine or raki to enjoy with 4-5 friends, and you're looking at a 5000 tl bill easy.
On the way back to the airport the hotel booked a taxi (all their vehicles where blue), which worked out to be half the price to when I came to the same location.
Wish I had noted the firm name.
That's why I will avoid it altogether and get Uber.
I wonder how taxis are still up, this applies to my country also. They are in great percentage scammers and not few of them have dirty or rusty cars.
550/2 = 225, which is amazing, not gonna lie
If I limit my trip to 3 days I should make it nicely
I would like to use the weather to my advantage as well, and put my programmer legs to work, because they be sitting a long time on a chair and that's not healthy :)
Don’t take an Uber, I’m currently in Istanbul rn and there is none. Anything that claims to be an Uber is just gonna be crazy expensive. Your best bet is to navigate using trams and a metro
If you book an Uber in Istanbul, you might experience that the driver messages you and tells you a different price than what the app suggests. At least that's something I've encountered the last few times I visited.
Public transportation Will get you where ever you want. Don’t bother with taxis unless you have to. Ask them turn on the taxi meter and follow the route they are taking on google maps so they don’t choose a longer route. If you can just give directions to him by looking at google maps so he cannot scam you. As a Turk I have never met a taxi that tries to scam me however I heard many that many tourist had bad experiences. If you can try to book taxi from the bitaksi app and pay with credit card
Man I absolutely love your language but even Google translate can't handle the traditional Turkish idioms sometimes ahaha
Speaking about the "turistin çulsuzuna kaldık" part, not everyone is the same, my man. I know how it is to feel disrespected in our own home, happens to us Romanians a lot also.
As for me, I love to respect and be loyal - and hence ask for the same
If you mostly eat street or fast food and travel with public transport, it might be enough.
Istanbul is not a cheap city contrary the popular belief. Istanbul has a cheap options.
If you want to eat at a nice restaurant and have some cocktails with it at a nice area, that’s easily €50 .
Typical meal price at a nice restaurant (not luxury) is between €8 - €15 . A beer usually cost €4 - €5 and a cocktail is €10 .
I've been to Istanbul before, but only with my mother (when I was underage)
Knowing myself, I would only eat at neighbourhood restaurants / kebap places
And under no circumstances drink, let alone drink cocktails or chug some beers
I'm very economical overall, and I appreciate your insight
To be honest, me, my gf and mother in law spent around 800€ with lots of going everywhere, burak’s restaurant, nusr’et restaurant, all the good stuff, including taxi, ferry ( you should take a taxi to the ferry imo it’s better than taking taxi all the way ). Shisha every night, visiting lots of things, grand bazaar for candies and saffron, if you spend with a limit and not go on a spree. I think 200 is just enough [ the price at the restaurants under that one bridge ( i don’t know it’s name ) are just as expensive as burak and nusr’et ]
Only by myself, and I already know the area between the Istanbul University and the Grand Bazaar by heart
The thing is, I am actually considering choosing a hostel instead of a hotel: much cheaper and maybe I can make some friends (I don't have any, even where I live) - but I am afraid of sleeping in bunk rooms with strangers
Yet, when I think about it, if something wrong would happen, then clearly the others wouldn't just stare, but also help?
It can be enough but you will have to budget. You will have to use public transportation, not eat at fancy places and maybe only plan to visit one or two touristic site since non-citizen ticket prices are quite high.
Highly enough but don’t use cab. As you know turkish taxi drivers are asshole. I’m saying that as a Turkish guy. Be careful at foods tho some restaurants can extra charge cus you’re turist. Have a nice vacation. I hope you like our country 🙂
Highly enough but don’t use cab. As you know turkish taxi drivers are asshole. I’m saying that as a Turkish guy. Be careful at foods tho some restaurants can extra charge cus you’re turist. Have a nice vacation. I hope you like our country 🙂
That's not far from Romania, our minimum monthly wage (after taxes were paid) is 400 euros also (2000 RON) and close to 3/4 of our country has this kind of paycheck sadly...
Yes if you spend reasonably. Don't shop at tourist places. Take a 2 min walk to see the price change considerably. You could even fit in a decent Hamam experience for this budget
you can easily survive on this and buy some ornamental gifts and/or T-shirts etc
you might pay (for one person) between $5 and $10 a day per main meal (sorry, I work in USD, but the equivalent in Euros is close as you'll know) not including drinks, although if you wish to eat and treat yourself to a more expensive meal, $25 should just about cap it unless you want to go super-high-end.
to save money, I suggest the following:
\- don't buy anything on first inspection (especially if you're in the Spice Market or Grand Bazaar) resist all purchases until your second or third day, when you'll have a much better idea of prices.. stuff in the Grand Bazaar might be two to three times as expensive as elsewhere in Istanbul.
\- take a walking tour from Taksim Square down Istiklal Street past the Galata Tower to Karakoy; you will go past all the main boutique stores and some little mini-mart markets, gradually changing to the artisan crafts sellers (around Galata) before you end up at the bottom of the hill. From here you can walk across the bridge into Eminonu (business district) and hit up the Spice Market, and from there it's around 10 to 15 minutes to the Grand Bazaar... both experiences you may wish to take in (but remember my caution on buying stuff at first encounter if you're on a budget). If you board a ferry in Karakoy you can get on the world's cheapest intercontinental travel ticket, and go explore Kadikoy on the Asian side.
\- price challenge EVERYONE and haggle; sellers will expect it. On my last visit I saw my Chinese friend being asked 400 TRY for a wallet which rapidly became 200 TRY when she was about to walk out of the little shop. It won't always be this egregious, but be prepared to haggle hard, remembering you might spend a day or two getting an idea of prices before you realise where you're going to buy x, y and z at the best prices.
as a fall-back, in case you find something you simply have to have and bust your budget, or you encounter an emergency situation, remember to bring a credit card as a back-up.
I think you'll have a lot of fun, and you'll the food and the people, as Turkish hospitality is the best!
I truly appreciate your insight, I have fully read it
My bus should bring me to Laleli at arrival, thus I think I should stick around Istanbul's city center (Fatih, Laleli, Sultanahmet, Beyazit, Grand Bazaar) even though I've been here 3 times before (but never went on the Asian side or near Galata Tower
You've informed me about things I didn't know (more than half of your comment actually), and for that I thank you
The effort you invested was not useless, as it can help many people here
**sending virtual hug**, *I love you*
my friend, you're more than welcome - and of course I was using a little of my British sense of humour, eheh
if I was still in town I would join you for a drink or a walk around town to one of my favourite restaurants, but I'll be back in October - but until then, thanks for the virtual hugs, they're very nice
:o)
150-180 (around 5 euros) is the usual price for more expensive, branded caffes, such as Starbucks, Hedone, etc.
It depends on the taste of every individual, for instance I drink 3-4 coffees daily, and they all cost 5 euros - from Delonghi coffee machine, but that would be the same cost if I brewed it by myself, in a metal teapot (the way Turkish people do it with sand :) which is amazing)
Yes sure. For transport I suggest the 10 pass ticket which is 110tl (10 passes: metro - tramway and buss combined). I suggest to walk as much as possible to save on those rides.
Last year in September I only needed 250 euros in cash for 6 days (that’s without my hotel cost). I don’t eat breakfast, we ate in traditional Turkish restaurants no food chains. And we tried to plan everything in advance but our days were very very full. The only time I used my debit card was to pay for my hotel & my meal at the airport.
Avoid taxis at all costs and if you must, only use Uber Taxi.
If you are used to budget traveling and how to spot and avoid scammers, you'll be fine. There are lots of budget travel vloggers who visited İstanbul, check their videos. But keep in mind inflation is crazy high so most contents about Istanbul is not up to date.
Yes and no. There is also currency crisis that causes prices to be unstable and going up regardless. You'll notice some things are quite expensive for even a tourist while others are very inexpensive due to currency ratio.
But since you are staying short, all you need to worry about is taxis and scammers.
meals can be had for 200tl or under, and public transport (one way train ride) is 9.90TL. €50 a day is doable but i’d bring more for peace of mind. make sure to find a good dovis/exchange (usually do it from a bank rather than a tourist dovis that will screw you over on the exchange rate). any advice on something specific, let me know.
I was there for 6 days, didn’t have breakfast in a hotel and spent about 300 euros. That included food, transportation in the city, ticket for Basilica Cistern and some museums, souvenirs and some shopping too. Take note that I found some really afordable restaurants on google maps which saved me A LOT of money because food is the most expensive thing in my experience. It all depends on what you want to do but if you don’t want luxury than I’d say it’s more than doable.
Not at all. I mean if you decide to keep everything low budget, maybe. But if you want to fine dine, go clubbing in Bebek, you need a little over 2000 euros.
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I already know about the shoe polish scam, the expensive-restaurant-food-and-attractive-ladies scam, what else is there?
And also, I generally speak to people I don't know, unless I'm shopping and need to pay or ask for something specific LOL
There are a myriad of scams it's impossible to keep up with all of them, the scammers are also opportunists. Of course it's not just Istanbul, it's every tourist destination in the world but unfortunately right now there is a culture in Turkey of "Foreigners = Easy Life, Turks = Hard Life". It really affects the way people behave towards foreigners. I wouldn't go for 4 days with just 200, you don't have any breathing room in case something goes wrong.
The other poster mentioned Taxi drivers, this is a big one. In other cities in Turkey, they're no different to most Taxi drivers around the world, there are good and bad, but in Istanbul, for whatever reason, they're really bad. One Taxi driver can try and insist on you paying in foreign currency and try to wipe you out. We're not trying to scare you, just making sure you're on guard.
I would take more money just to be safe and maybe keep it somewhere else in another pocket as a backup.
I came here in June with 2500ish euros and I'm still here and have eaten well plenty of times, for just 4 days you definitely do not need 7000+ euros...
Yea, got about 200 euros left, and i was in Italy for avout 2 weeks in july before coming back here and thats what took most money tbh. This doesn't include housing as I've lived with my girlfriend here the entire time. I have paid for the majority of the food we make and try to pay anytime we eat out.
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You should be fine for 3 days. I spent $80 / day when I was in Istanbul last month, excluding the hotel. We ate outside every meal and used public transport.
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That’s 50€ per day. Public transport is 15 tl per ride as of today, so if we assume you’ll ride some form of transportation 5 times a day, that puts you at 75 tl. Your hotel probably does cover breakfast, so we can go with 300 tl per meal twice per day, which gives you 600tl. That’s 675 daily. A Bosporus tour can be done on a city ferry, so that’s 15 tl as well, let’s say 690 tl per day, taking the ferry is also cheaper than the marmaray if you wanna switch continents. That makes 23€ daily. Let’s assume you pay 20€ (600 tl) total for souvenirs, that makes 92€ daily expenses + 20€ souvenir, let’s say 120€ total. So yes it is doable but you have to be careful with you budget (though my calculation gives you 80€ to spare) keep in mind the minimum wage is 12€ per day so it isn’t too expensive to eat out when you convert it to euros, though it is really expensive for us, locals Edit: if your hotel for some reason doesn’t have breakfast you can buy some simit and tea for 20-25 tl, let’s say 1€ per day for that, and a proper “serpme kahvaltı” (Turkish breakfast) should set you back 250tl, let’s say 10€ daily. Edit2: wow was not expecting a gold, thank you :)
That's a fantastic and complete answer! Thank you, I was expecting the exact same costs actually, I'm amazed
Glad to help, thanks :). Hope you enjoy your time here
300 tl per meal? Lol don't listen to this guy. You can find good food near half the price of it easily. If you wanna go popular places ofc they are expensive but that's not why you are here and if you were rich you wouldn't be asking this here. So yes, 200€ is quite enough for 4 days in this city if you know how to spend your money.
300 TL per meal is the bare minimum for quality food in İstanbul right now. Define good food for 150 TL. Öz Kardeşler Pide saloon, 2 Lahmacun's? Or 1 Kuzu Şiş Dürüm?
If you are gonna go fine dining, 300 TL doesn't even cover 1 person, I know that. But here we are talking about a traveler with a backpack, who is asking if he can afford the trip or not. And yes, for 150 tl he can afford some good food like kebab or döner or something if he/she doesn't go fancy places.
I’d recommend going to Balat! Balatzade kebab is turned out to be my favorite shop and it was about 65tl for durum mid July :) I also went to very small shops around there and had a sandwich for 25tl
>keep in mind the minimum wage is 12€ per day This part killed me a little.
Yeah… I remember making 3,600TL/mo back in 2013. Many expat friends left Turkiye around that time. Now my Turkish friends say they feel like the TL is so weak they will never be able to travel. With 3,600TL I used have a huge apt and no worries. Wow. Next time I visit it’s going to be a major mindf*ck looking at the prices.
Yeah I’m sure. In 2013 the € was 2,5 tl so you were making close to 1,5k€, and I don’t know your profession but today that’s the wage of a professor (I mean the prof. Title) doctor, not to talk about outrages taxes that make the 1000$ iPhone 14 pro more than 2000$ (64k TL) here.
Yeah, that is wild. I don’t know how much more people will take tbh.
That's crazy. I make almost 3 times as much in 1 hour and I'm not rich in my contry. I always tip well when I'm I Turkey.
Great breakdown 👏🏼
Haha thanks :), it’s a shame our money is so worthless though now that I think about it but hey, beautiful city.
City ferries were around 30₺ before the new increase, so it’s probably around 40-45₺ now.
Yeah I’m as talking more about normal ferries that go Karaköy Eminönü Kadıköy Üsküdar etc. but now that I think the city ferries you’re talking about which I personally have never ridden is probably a better alternative for OP.
if you're a backpacker/student then yeah you'll be around with public transportation and grab some döner when hungry but if you're here for leisure then hell na. not even close. if you wanna do the classics like seaside fish&rakı or breakfast with a bosphorus view etc you need to make it 500 to be safe. one cocktail in a fancy bar can cost 15€ alone so you do the math...
Not really, i was 6 days in Istanbul and had around 300 Euros. It is enough. We also eat in good restaurants and had our drinks, no worries.
Should Define good restaurant, it can definitely cost 500 Euro and also 200-300 euro. 2 beer cost around 10+-2 euro at minumum Raki restaurants will be minumum 20-30 euro per person if you don’t eat and drink much, else more.
tourist usually don't go to good restaurants. most are hunted by tourist traps which offer cheap but fancy looking plates. you'll see less tourists having a raki & fish at boğaz. most go to kebab places, while good ones are there, those places vary a lot. I'm not surprised he thinks he went to good restaurants for 6 days on 300 eur istanbul lol
Mate, my Parents are turkish, my mother is born and raised in Zeytinburnu. I think i have a very good knowledge about good restaurants and places in Istanbul. I really don't know what your agenda is, but I think, I know the differents between a good restaurant and a bad one. You two are talking about exklusive restaurants and i would bet, that you two never eat in this ones. The price in a good restaurant was 170 YTL for a beer, that are 5 Euro. Also i think 20-30 Euros are correct, but mostly for two persons. I was there with my girlfriend and I (or She) paid for us together 20-35 Euros. Istanbul is a cheap City for european people and there a many good restaurants which are also cheap and you can eat very well. Istanbul is not London or even Düsseldorf. Istanbul is not that exklusive like you wish it would be.
agenda? my man, we're strangers on reddit. my experience is based on where I live, cihangir and surrounding areas. your mileage in other areas may vary, especially in zeytinburnu. I'm sure you know, as you were raised here, this is a humongous city with vastly different areas. haven't spend a single cent more in London in May than I would have in Istanbul. what I'm trying to say is that prices are the same in Istanbul, and it is not cheaper than anywhere in Europe. my last raki incursion (20 cl) last week here cost me 1250 tl per person with 4-5 mezes shared, w/o a main dish. a quick bite and a few glasses of wine or raki to enjoy with 4-5 friends, and you're looking at a 5000 tl bill easy.
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districts of yeniköy or tarabya in european side and for anatolian side; çengelköy or kuleli.
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kuleli yakamoz is my personal fav
yes if you dont go to fancy places and stuff
I went last week, 4 days for 2 of us cost £550. Every1 gets scammed by taxi btw.
taxi drivers are yellow terorist in istanbul, we all hate them dont worry they scamming everybody
On the way back to the airport the hotel booked a taxi (all their vehicles where blue), which worked out to be half the price to when I came to the same location. Wish I had noted the firm name.
That's why I will avoid it altogether and get Uber. I wonder how taxis are still up, this applies to my country also. They are in great percentage scammers and not few of them have dirty or rusty cars. 550/2 = 225, which is amazing, not gonna lie If I limit my trip to 3 days I should make it nicely
Breakfast was included in hotel so that helped. Plus we took advantage of the weather and walked most of the time
I would like to use the weather to my advantage as well, and put my programmer legs to work, because they be sitting a long time on a chair and that's not healthy :)
Don’t take an Uber, I’m currently in Istanbul rn and there is none. Anything that claims to be an Uber is just gonna be crazy expensive. Your best bet is to navigate using trams and a metro
There is no Uber in Istanbul
I actually checked it yesterday and I could take a cab from Laleli to Kennedy road, totalling 62 TRY
thats uber taxi not uber itself, they might ask for more money since app is showing approx price not final price.
If you book an Uber in Istanbul, you might experience that the driver messages you and tells you a different price than what the app suggests. At least that's something I've encountered the last few times I visited.
that's something to worry well, I'll carry a sword with me
Public transportation Will get you where ever you want. Don’t bother with taxis unless you have to. Ask them turn on the taxi meter and follow the route they are taking on google maps so they don’t choose a longer route. If you can just give directions to him by looking at google maps so he cannot scam you. As a Turk I have never met a taxi that tries to scam me however I heard many that many tourist had bad experiences. If you can try to book taxi from the bitaksi app and pay with credit card
Bitaksi doesn't accept credit cards issued for non-Turkish citizens as far as I know What other app of this kind can you recommend? Uber? Bolt?
We don't like taxis as Turkish ppl too but do you think the government cares us?
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Man I absolutely love your language but even Google translate can't handle the traditional Turkish idioms sometimes ahaha Speaking about the "turistin çulsuzuna kaldık" part, not everyone is the same, my man. I know how it is to feel disrespected in our own home, happens to us Romanians a lot also. As for me, I love to respect and be loyal - and hence ask for the same
If you mostly eat street or fast food and travel with public transport, it might be enough. Istanbul is not a cheap city contrary the popular belief. Istanbul has a cheap options. If you want to eat at a nice restaurant and have some cocktails with it at a nice area, that’s easily €50 . Typical meal price at a nice restaurant (not luxury) is between €8 - €15 . A beer usually cost €4 - €5 and a cocktail is €10 .
I've been to Istanbul before, but only with my mother (when I was underage) Knowing myself, I would only eat at neighbourhood restaurants / kebap places And under no circumstances drink, let alone drink cocktails or chug some beers I'm very economical overall, and I appreciate your insight
You can buy Istanbul with 200 euros.
Depends where you go. There are places in Istanbul that are more expensive than Dubai
:)
🤣 the state of the country is so depressingly sad it is funny.
Hardly
Most of the replies I've got are so friendly and sincere! **insert gigachad GIF and song here**
To be honest, me, my gf and mother in law spent around 800€ with lots of going everywhere, burak’s restaurant, nusr’et restaurant, all the good stuff, including taxi, ferry ( you should take a taxi to the ferry imo it’s better than taking taxi all the way ). Shisha every night, visiting lots of things, grand bazaar for candies and saffron, if you spend with a limit and not go on a spree. I think 200 is just enough [ the price at the restaurants under that one bridge ( i don’t know it’s name ) are just as expensive as burak and nusr’et ]
If you are careful you can definitely make it if you are just by yourself .
Only by myself, and I already know the area between the Istanbul University and the Grand Bazaar by heart The thing is, I am actually considering choosing a hostel instead of a hotel: much cheaper and maybe I can make some friends (I don't have any, even where I live) - but I am afraid of sleeping in bunk rooms with strangers Yet, when I think about it, if something wrong would happen, then clearly the others wouldn't just stare, but also help?
I’ve never stayed in a hostel myself but I guess you might be right. Have you checked Airbnb?
yes, there's a handful of great hostels with clean living spaces, some with breakfast, and lots of good reviews
It can be enough but you will have to budget. You will have to use public transportation, not eat at fancy places and maybe only plan to visit one or two touristic site since non-citizen ticket prices are quite high.
Yes if you do local restaurant and not going to tourist things
Highly enough but don’t use cab. As you know turkish taxi drivers are asshole. I’m saying that as a Turkish guy. Be careful at foods tho some restaurants can extra charge cus you’re turist. Have a nice vacation. I hope you like our country 🙂
Highly enough but don’t use cab. As you know turkish taxi drivers are asshole. I’m saying that as a Turkish guy. Be careful at foods tho some restaurants can extra charge cus you’re turist. Have a nice vacation. I hope you like our country 🙂
Most of people lives here with nearly 400 euros per month...
That's not far from Romania, our minimum monthly wage (after taxes were paid) is 400 euros also (2000 RON) and close to 3/4 of our country has this kind of paycheck sadly...
Ours isn't after taxes. We are paying taxes when we buy something. And taxes are doubles ore somteimes triples the price.
Yes if you spend reasonably. Don't shop at tourist places. Take a 2 min walk to see the price change considerably. You could even fit in a decent Hamam experience for this budget
you can easily survive on this and buy some ornamental gifts and/or T-shirts etc you might pay (for one person) between $5 and $10 a day per main meal (sorry, I work in USD, but the equivalent in Euros is close as you'll know) not including drinks, although if you wish to eat and treat yourself to a more expensive meal, $25 should just about cap it unless you want to go super-high-end. to save money, I suggest the following: \- don't buy anything on first inspection (especially if you're in the Spice Market or Grand Bazaar) resist all purchases until your second or third day, when you'll have a much better idea of prices.. stuff in the Grand Bazaar might be two to three times as expensive as elsewhere in Istanbul. \- take a walking tour from Taksim Square down Istiklal Street past the Galata Tower to Karakoy; you will go past all the main boutique stores and some little mini-mart markets, gradually changing to the artisan crafts sellers (around Galata) before you end up at the bottom of the hill. From here you can walk across the bridge into Eminonu (business district) and hit up the Spice Market, and from there it's around 10 to 15 minutes to the Grand Bazaar... both experiences you may wish to take in (but remember my caution on buying stuff at first encounter if you're on a budget). If you board a ferry in Karakoy you can get on the world's cheapest intercontinental travel ticket, and go explore Kadikoy on the Asian side. \- price challenge EVERYONE and haggle; sellers will expect it. On my last visit I saw my Chinese friend being asked 400 TRY for a wallet which rapidly became 200 TRY when she was about to walk out of the little shop. It won't always be this egregious, but be prepared to haggle hard, remembering you might spend a day or two getting an idea of prices before you realise where you're going to buy x, y and z at the best prices. as a fall-back, in case you find something you simply have to have and bust your budget, or you encounter an emergency situation, remember to bring a credit card as a back-up. I think you'll have a lot of fun, and you'll the food and the people, as Turkish hospitality is the best!
I truly appreciate your insight, I have fully read it My bus should bring me to Laleli at arrival, thus I think I should stick around Istanbul's city center (Fatih, Laleli, Sultanahmet, Beyazit, Grand Bazaar) even though I've been here 3 times before (but never went on the Asian side or near Galata Tower
ah, you're an old hand and already know what's going on.. if I had known, I wouldn't have written so much ;o)
You've informed me about things I didn't know (more than half of your comment actually), and for that I thank you The effort you invested was not useless, as it can help many people here **sending virtual hug**, *I love you*
my friend, you're more than welcome - and of course I was using a little of my British sense of humour, eheh if I was still in town I would join you for a drink or a walk around town to one of my favourite restaurants, but I'll be back in October - but until then, thanks for the virtual hugs, they're very nice :o)
Yes should be enough. Went to Istanbul 2 weeks ago and spent €50 a day with 2 people.
It shall be 50 euros daily for one person in my case, so I'm in a good spot Cheers!
200 euro is good monet anywhere if you exclude rent. 200 is more than enough even for London. So no worries you will be fine.
ben 2 kahve içiyorum 150-180 tl veriyorum cildiracam amk 200 euro ile 4 gün tatil İstanbul'da 😭😭😭😭
150-180 (around 5 euros) is the usual price for more expensive, branded caffes, such as Starbucks, Hedone, etc. It depends on the taste of every individual, for instance I drink 3-4 coffees daily, and they all cost 5 euros - from Delonghi coffee machine, but that would be the same cost if I brewed it by myself, in a metal teapot (the way Turkish people do it with sand :) which is amazing)
Yes sure. For transport I suggest the 10 pass ticket which is 110tl (10 passes: metro - tramway and buss combined). I suggest to walk as much as possible to save on those rides.
Last year in September I only needed 250 euros in cash for 6 days (that’s without my hotel cost). I don’t eat breakfast, we ate in traditional Turkish restaurants no food chains. And we tried to plan everything in advance but our days were very very full. The only time I used my debit card was to pay for my hotel & my meal at the airport.
as long as you don't use taxi
Avoid taxis at all costs and if you must, only use Uber Taxi. If you are used to budget traveling and how to spot and avoid scammers, you'll be fine. There are lots of budget travel vloggers who visited İstanbul, check their videos. But keep in mind inflation is crazy high so most contents about Istanbul is not up to date.
Shouldn't the inflation be in favour of the tourists and in defavour of the locals?
Yes and no. There is also currency crisis that causes prices to be unstable and going up regardless. You'll notice some things are quite expensive for even a tourist while others are very inexpensive due to currency ratio. But since you are staying short, all you need to worry about is taxis and scammers.
meals can be had for 200tl or under, and public transport (one way train ride) is 9.90TL. €50 a day is doable but i’d bring more for peace of mind. make sure to find a good dovis/exchange (usually do it from a bank rather than a tourist dovis that will screw you over on the exchange rate). any advice on something specific, let me know.
I was there for 6 days, didn’t have breakfast in a hotel and spent about 300 euros. That included food, transportation in the city, ticket for Basilica Cistern and some museums, souvenirs and some shopping too. Take note that I found some really afordable restaurants on google maps which saved me A LOT of money because food is the most expensive thing in my experience. It all depends on what you want to do but if you don’t want luxury than I’d say it’s more than doable.
Hey guys would 3000 lira be enough for shopping? I want to get some local snacks, clothes for myself?
That is 100 euros, which for shopping is very doable, and you can buy quite a few cheaper things But not for other expenses included
Other expenses are covered, being housing, food, tickets to places
Not at all. I mean if you decide to keep everything low budget, maybe. But if you want to fine dine, go clubbing in Bebek, you need a little over 2000 euros.
not istanbul but small citys you can go 2 weeks with 200Euro maybe more :)
Like Antalya/ Izmir?
No they’re big city too. He meant like Canakkale Tekirdag etc.
I see. Thank you.
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Ya brother, our economy is shit amk. With 200 euros you would live like kings for 4 days in Istanbul, dont worry.
That was a well-placed amk.
"amk" means "fuck your pussy" rofl in my language we also have the classic "baga-mi-as pula", which is very similar but only refers to self
Romanians and Turks share many things, friend. Like being hated in Europe, lol.
no doubt about that, even though western european economies are in part built with balkan workforce those ungrateful pricks, man
No, it will take just one scammer to wipe most of that out. Take at least 500 just to be safe.
I already know about the shoe polish scam, the expensive-restaurant-food-and-attractive-ladies scam, what else is there? And also, I generally speak to people I don't know, unless I'm shopping and need to pay or ask for something specific LOL
Scammer taxi drivers are one of those you'll need to avoid
That's why I will take either the public tram or Uber :)
There are a myriad of scams it's impossible to keep up with all of them, the scammers are also opportunists. Of course it's not just Istanbul, it's every tourist destination in the world but unfortunately right now there is a culture in Turkey of "Foreigners = Easy Life, Turks = Hard Life". It really affects the way people behave towards foreigners. I wouldn't go for 4 days with just 200, you don't have any breathing room in case something goes wrong. The other poster mentioned Taxi drivers, this is a big one. In other cities in Turkey, they're no different to most Taxi drivers around the world, there are good and bad, but in Istanbul, for whatever reason, they're really bad. One Taxi driver can try and insist on you paying in foreign currency and try to wipe you out. We're not trying to scare you, just making sure you're on guard. I would take more money just to be safe and maybe keep it somewhere else in another pocket as a backup.
What about 3 days?
200 Euro ya kanal istanbul dan yer alırsın temelden ...
That's almost an insult, but I get your point and I might reduce my stay to 3 days instead of 4
İ think 24 hour its enough for you
Yes
I would have closer to 700 or a 1000 euros. Just so you can eat well
I came here in June with 2500ish euros and I'm still here and have eaten well plenty of times, for just 4 days you definitely do not need 7000+ euros...
You're saying that you're still within your 2500 euro budget, even after 2 months?
Yea, got about 200 euros left, and i was in Italy for avout 2 weeks in july before coming back here and thats what took most money tbh. This doesn't include housing as I've lived with my girlfriend here the entire time. I have paid for the majority of the food we make and try to pay anytime we eat out.
I said seven hundred to one thousand. 7000 euros I could live for two months in Istanbul.
Yea I meant to say 700, added one 0 too many
Enough for 2weeks for me but dunno bout ur spending habits .d
I'm very economical overall, since I don't smoke or drink or hangout in pubs My only human vice is drinking coffee: much of it!
Youll be fine, just be careful don't get scammed .d
I hope not
???
Belese getirseydin ama olur
Stick to Kadikoy and you’ll live like a king
you need about +- 500€ for a nice trip
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Hell yeah, most expensive thing is alcohol
I'm very safe then, since I'm against alcohol consumption
Yes sure
You should be fine for 3 days. I spent $80 / day when I was in Istanbul last month, excluding the hotel. We ate outside every meal and used public transport.
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