BootsnAll Travel Community

with a turkey travel guide such as the one written by joe ehrlich about how much should one budget for? say around january? how inexpensive is turkey?

Turkey's not as cheap as it used to be, apparently, though this is my first trip here, this has been a steady complaint from those whove visited before (and cost was a big shock to us, too, after Syria). I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but my girlfriend and I have probably been spending - following something not entirely dissimilar to Joe's suggestions, though we haven't been to İstanbul yet - close to 70 YTL per person per day, I'd guess that's around $45US.

This admittedly includes some new clothes, and we've been staying in private doubles, usually with en suite, and eating at slightly nicer than average restaurants, but even meeting that budget does still require missing out on some of the more expensive activities (hot air ballooning: €160-€220 per person depending on length of flight a quality of pilot; paragliding, depending how booked, ranges from 120YTL when booked in Olüdenız with a group of 4 or more to €100 booked from a pension in Kaş; even horse back riding we skipped out on, the best deal we found was 30YTL for 2 hours in Göreme, we thought we could do better, but everywhere else has been outrageous, most recently quoted €50 for 2.5 hours).

Staying in dorms might save you 5 YTL or so per night, but if you have a travelling partner the difference is pretty small. Kebabs for every meal might also save you another 10 YTL.

Oh, and if you do the blue cruise, bargain them down. When they advertise a price, it's either £89, £99, or €150, which could mean paying as much in real money as 300YTL per person...with some good luck on our side, we got a cabin for 150 YTL each. If you're booking the night before and they have empty space on a boat that's going anyway, it's almost free money.

Hope that helps.