Turkey: good to know
The general-information half of trip planning: how expensive Turkey feels, what is considered polite, what is not, and the everyday practicalities - alongside our 415 written places.
Hospitality is an honour system - tea appears everywhere and refusing all of it is rude.
✓ Considered polite
- Accept tea when offered in shops and homes - it is welcome, not sales pressure
- Remove shoes entering mosques and homes; women should carry a headscarf for mosques
- Haggle in bazaars with humour - it is a social game, not combat
- Learn Tesekkurler, thank you - or the easier Sagol
✗ Better avoided
- Show shoe soles or point feet at people when sitting
- Blow your nose loudly at the table - excuse yourself instead
- Wear shorts or bare shoulders into mosques
- Refuse hospitality flatly - soften every no with thanks
Worth knowing
- The lira is volatile - check rates fresh, pay small things in cash
- Tipping is 5-10% in restaurants, cash preferred even when paying by card
- Dolmus shared minibuses are the cheap local transport everywhere
- Istanbul spans two continents - the Asian side is calmer and very local
Plugs and voltage: Wikipedia, «Mains electricity by country» (after the IEC World Plugs list), read 15 October 2026.
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Keep planning
Customs are living things - regions differ, cities relax, generations shift. Take these notes as a friendly head start, watch what locals do, and when in doubt a smile and a greeting in the local language cover almost everything.