Is Turkey Expensive to Visit? Budget Breakdown and Tips (2023)
On our trip to Turkey in 2023, we fulfilled several of our bucket list experiences including riding the hot air balloon in Cappadocia, exploring the underground cities, as well as sailing for 4 days on the beautiful Turkish Coast. Our experience was incredibly memorable but a question we get asked often is “Is Turkey expensive to visit in 2023?“.
We felt it would be important to share our experience with you since many blogs we found online do not seem to reflect the recent changes in pricing.
In this post, we’ll go over our experience in Turkey, how much we spent, a breakdown of the costs per category, and our money-saving tips. Finally, we will also highlight our most expensive activities and let you know if they were worth it.
Let’s jump right in!
Is Turkey expensive to visit?
So is Turkey expensive to visit? Overall, we would say it is considered a moderate-budget destination, about on par with typical European destinations like Italy and Portugal.
However, setting the right expectations is key! We were surprised by the costs because it was always advertised as a very cheap destination.
Before traveling to Turkey, we read up on several other blogs and also spoke to many fellow travelers who have visited Turkey in the past and the consensus seemed to be that it is very affordable to visit. We were told that for 10$ per person, they ate huge meals with main courses and appetizers.
They also took the infamous Cappadocia Hot air balloons for around 100$ per person. Other blogs also seem to reflect this.
However, due to the 2023 financial crisis in Turkey and the incredible decline of the Lira, visiting Turkey has become far more expensive than before. We were definitely surprised by the inflated costs during our 16 days traveling through the country.
Instead of 10$ per person per meal, we spent between 20-50$ per person. The hot air balloon price we paid was 3x higher. But we will get to that in a bit.
Travel budget will always depend on your style of travel so below, we will explain how we chose to travel through the country and then provide you with a breakdown of our costs.
Our travel style and Turkey experiences
We call ourselves “smart experience-focused budget travelers”.
We are budget-conscious but will always prioritize trying out experiences that are unique to that country. Our accommodations tend to be between budget to mid-range and we seek out local non-touristic restaurants for our meals. We also minimize booking pre-organized tours as we love exploring on our own, which also tends to reduce the cost of travel.
In Turkey, we visited Cappadocia, Kas on the Southern Coast, blue cruising the islands, and then Istanbul for 3 days.
In Cappadocia, we did the hot air balloon ride, stayed at a cave hotel, explored the open-air museums on our own with our rented car, and did some hiking.
In Kas, we visited the small town and the surrounding archeological ruins and then enjoyed the beautiful turquoise coast.
The Blue Cruise was a 4 day 3 night “sailing” trip around the 12 islands. This was an organized group expedition.
Finally in Istanbul, we did a food tour and then explored the free museums on our own. There are several paid museums but we skipped them.
If you are curious about our main activities and if they were worth the cost, check out below. We have a section near the bottom where we share with you what the most expensive activities we did in Turkey were and if we found them worth it. If you want a full run-through of the perfect Turkey Itinerary, also check out out our 10 Days in Turkey Guide!
This post is part of our series about Turkey. If you want to learn more about Turkey, planning your trip, and some of the best experiences there, check out the guides below:
Cost of traveling 16 days in Turkey (2023)
💡 Note: all prices will be listed in my home currency, Canadian dollars. I will write it as $. I may also display some prices in euros (€) as it is the second most accepted currency in Turkey, after the Lira. The reason why I don’t list the prices in Liras is due to the major and continued devaluation of their currency, which means the value listed one day will be significantly different than that a week later.
The total amount we spent during our 16 days in Turkey, excluding our international flight, was 6,321$ for two people.
This comes out to 395$ per day, per couple, or just under 200$ per day per person.
Of all the expenses, the most money was spent on Activities, which accounted for 51% (3,207$), followed by Transportation at 17% (1,100$), and accommodation at 15% (974.87$).
This overall reflects our travel style since we prioritize the experiences in the country.
Below we will break down the costs per category and give you a general idea of what items were in each. We will also share our experiences and views for each category.
Budget breakdown Turkey
Check out below for our budget broken down into the main categories of spending. We also highlight some common costs in each category that you should expect. This spending was during our 16 days in Turkey.
Activities
Activities accounted for 51% of our total expenses, totalling 3,207$ for the two of us. If we break it down, then it comes out to about 200$ per couple per day. This may sound high but a big portion of it was due to the 4 day blue cruise experience.
It cost us 500€ per person, totalling 1510$ for the two of us, but it was an amazing experience and we would highly recommend it. If you choose not to do this activity, then your activity spending will be significantly less.
Here are the top activities that we spent on, which will give you an estimate of their costs (all prices are listed as for two people, $ is CAD):
- Blue Cruise 4 days 3 nights (all inclusive) = 1000€ (1510$)
- Cappadocia Hot Air balloon flight = 480€ (725$)
- Cappadocia Museum pass (giving you access to most museums in Cappadocia for 3 days) = 138$
- Hammam bath and massage = 240€ (362$)
- Food Tour in Istanbul = 263$
- Entrance into Uchisar Castle (one of the historical sites) = 16$
- Parking at Goreme Open-air Museum = 1.75$
- Entrance into Myra Ruins (archeological ruins in South of Turkey) = 28$
Overall, entrance to museums was around 10-45$. The entrances in the Southern part of Turkey tended to be on the lower end and those of Istanbul were on the higher end. Cappadocia museums were priced in the middle of the range.
We bought the Cappadocia museum pass and ended up visiting 5 of the sites which makes up for the value of the pass but not by much. However, it does allow you to skip the ticketing office lineups at each site, which saves you time and hassle.
We felt the prices of activities and entrances in Turkey were relatively high, even compared to Europe. In recent years, Turkey has been sharply increasing their prices, which I have noticed by comparing the costs of specific activities from fellow travelers in the previous months/years.
For example, just 6 months before we went to Turkey (June 2023), the price of the Cappadocia Museum pass was about 1/3 of what we paid. Approximately 1-2 years before we were in Turkey, the price of the hot air balloon was 122$ per person whereas we paid 360$ per person.
Most of the primary activities were purchased way in advance to ensure preferential pricing. This was particularly important for the hot air balloon which we will explain in our Tips section.
Transportation
Transportation accounted for the second largest expense during our trip at 17% (1,100$). We did not include the international flight in this calculation as it varies significantly.
For Transportation, these were our biggest costs (priced for two people in Canadian $):
- Car rental (including insurance) for 5 days in Cappadocia = 227$ (45$/day)
- Car rental (including insurance) for 3 days in Antalya = 308$ (this cost more because it was a one-way rental, pickup from Antalya and drop off in Fethiye)
- Flight from Kayseri to Antalya = 110$
- Flight from Dalaman to Istanbul = 145$
- Private transport from Istanbul airport to downtown one way = 35€ (52$)
We used Discovercars to rent our vehicle in Turkey. The service was excellent and the process was a breeze. We also loved the fact that you can add on full coverage insurance right away at a very reasonable price.
👉 🚙 To book your rental car with DiscoverCars, click here!
Accommodation
Accommodation was the third largest expense during our trip at 15% (974$). Your accommodation expenditure will highly vary based on your personal standards. We generally go for budget to mid-range accommodations at a good price.
However, in Cappadocia, their cave hotels with the rooftop terrace truly add to the experience so we did splurge a bit on the accommodation there.
Check below for the breakdown of our main accommodation expenses (priced for two people in Canadian $):
- Caftan Cave Suites 4 nights = 374$ (93$/day)
- Caftan Cave Suites 1 additional night = 85$
- Kas Livia Hotel (Southern Turkey coast) 3 nights = 216$ (72$/night)
- AirBnB in Beyoglu Istanbul 3 nights = 248$ (82$/night)
Therefore the average cost of accommodation in Turkey was 83$ for a mid-range. The fancier cave hotels in Cappadocia were priced between 200-300$/night (You can check out this post to see some of our top recommended hotels in Cappadocia). If you go for budget hotel without the cave accommodation and no rooftop terrace, then you can find one for around 50$/night.
We consider this moderate budget, and a bit cheaper than in Europe.
Food
Food was the fourth largest expense during our trip at 12% (768$). Overall food there is considered moderate budget. These are a few average prices that you should expect (priced for two people in Canadian $):
- Breakfast at hotel = 20$
- Simple Kebab restaurant = 41$
- Cup of fresh watermelon juice = 4$
- Cup of fresh pomegranate juice = 6.5$
- Seten restaurant (nicer restaurant in Cappadocia) = 105$
- Simple restaurant in Avanos (less touristic town) = 32$
- Mid-range restaurant in Kas = 72$
- Mid-range restaurant in Istanbul = 70$
- Cup of coffee = 3$
- Glass of wine = 18$
- Cocktail = 20$
This list will give you a good idea of the average spending on food. As per our introduction, you can see how our spending was significantly different than what other fellow travelers shared with me when they went 1-2 years prior.
Our average meal was between 40-80$ for two people, mostly without alcohol. We were also fairly conservative with our meals and ordered one main course each and sometimes one small appetizer to share, no dessert.
We were surprised by how expensive alcohol was in Turkey, which we will explain further below.
Alcohol
The next surprise for us was the alcohol prices. Alcohol in Turkey is heavily taxed, which is why the prices are so high. Turkey is also a mostly Muslim country so drinking alcohol is not as supported.
On average, a glass of wine at a restaurant costs between 15-18$. I would say that it is worth trying out some of their local wines as we found them quite delicious!
For an alcoholic cocktail, the average cost is between 18-22$. We found this to be quite high as drinks in Canada are around 13$.
Visas
To enter Turkey, most countries will require a visa. The visa is valid for 90 days.
Our Visa as a Canadian cost 123 USD for the two of us (166$).
To check the price of a Turkey visa from your country, as well as applying for the Visa, check out the official Visa page. (Make sure to get it from the official page as there are several third-party sites that charge you a premium)
8 Tips for saving money in Turkey
After traveling through Turkey, we have gathered some very helpful tips to help you save money! These tips not only increase your chance of having the optimal experience, but also cut down on your costs!
1. Book the hot air balloon far in advance
This is the first and most important tip! In general, booking early saves you money but this is particularly the case for the hot air balloons. Not only will it save you money, but if you book too last minute, you might even miss out on the opportunity to experience it.
Although there are many companies that offer hot air balloon rides, due to its popularity, it tends to sell out. This is exacerbated by the fact that if the weather prevents the flight one day, then all the passengers of that day will be pushed to the available slots of the next day. This ends up creating further saturation and a waitlist of bookings.
We booked our hot air balloon flight about 7 months in advance and paid around 220€ per person with Turquaz balloons, which we would highly recommend. Out of curiosity, I rechecked the prices around 2 months before our departure and was shocked to see that they were now charging 320€ for the same flight. I also noticed that there was no availability for many of the dates.
📌 So it is very important to book EARLY! Check out our recommended Hot Air Balloon company Turquaz Balloons!
2. Book your hotel in Cappadocia far in advance
The same principle of booking far in advance applies to the Cappadocia hotels. One of the amazing experiences in the region is staying at a cave hotel, as well as having the rooftop terrace to witness the balloons. We have all seen those epic Instagram photos with a couple sitting on Turkish rugs and pillows with the backdrop of hundreds of hot air balloons. If you want to experience that as well, then you have to book early!
The hotels that have the nicest views of rooftop terraces tend to book up early! Although there are countless hotels in Cappadocia, I would say there are about 10 with the optimal rooftop views.
In the end, we booked with Caftan Cave Suites and I would HIGHLY recommend them! They have cave rooms, very friendly staff, and epic rooftop views! The breakfast is also plentiful and delicious!
⭐⭐⭐ Book your stay in Caftan Cave Suites here!
3. Rent a car
When visiting Cappadocia, we pondered a lot about whether renting a car is ideal. After spending 5 days there, we would say that having a car is almost a must! Of course, if you plan on just booking pre-organized tours every day, then you won’t need it. But if you are like us, who love to visit more remote spots, on your own time, and spend time at each place, then a car is a must.
The city of Goreme is fully walkable, but all the main tourist sites, apart from Goreme Open Air Museum, are beyond walking distance.
If you don’t have a car, then you’ll have to book organized tours, which each cost minimum 100$. They also visit only a section of the main sites so you would need to do 2 or 3 of them to see the main sites of Cappadocia. For example: This is the red tour of Cappadocia.
Having a car permitted us to drive to beautiful sunrise and sunset spots. One of the most epic sunsets was at Crazy Ali cafe where you can overlook the red and rose valley. This was a 15-minute drive, so way too far to walk.
You can take a taxi but taxis are not always available, especially if you go to the more remote spots.
Car rentals are also quite affordable at around 30-40$ per day.
We booked our car through DiscoverCars and the process was a breeze! We rented it from Kayseri where our flight landed. This saved us from having to pay for a taxi to get to Goreme, and then pay for the taxi to get back to Kayseri at the end of our trip.
4. Eat in local towns
If you saw our post about if Cappadocia is worth visiting, then you will have undoubtedly seen that we were not very impressed by the food in Goreme. The food there was overpriced and we did not particularly find it tasty.
We then ventured out to Urgup and Avanos where the locals were and the food was not only far more affordable but also delicious!
I feel like this tip applies to every country we go to but it was particularly important in Cappadocia.
Make sure to venture out into the local towns for your meal!
5. Take advantage of their huge Turkish breakfast
One of the most famous meals in Turkey is their breakfast. Imagine having 10 different options of cheeses, spreads, jams, honeys, salads, fruits, breads, and much more! What is great is that the breakfast is oftentimes included in the hotel price.
So another money-saving tip is to eat a very large breakfast, and then skip lunch and eat an early dinner.
For us, we would wake up early for sunrise to take photos, then go back to the hotel at around 9-10am to eat breakfast, and then eat dinner at around 4-5pm. This worked great, saved us the price of a meal, and we didn’t ever feel hungry missing lunch either.
6. Take the public transport in Istanbul
If you saw our post about Uber in Istanbul, then you will already know that we don’t recommend taking taxis or Ubers in Istanbul. Instead, get an IstanbulKart and take the public transport.
It is not only very efficient but also cheap! With the IstanbulKart, each ride costs around 1$ per person. This includes taking the Tram, bus, metro, and ferry on the same pass! Taxis and Ubers on the other hand, would’ve cost 20-30$ one way.
If you’re wondering why we don’t recommend Uber or Taxis, then check out this post where we explain our experience with Uber in Istanbul.
7. Inform yourself about the Turkey tipping culture
Tipping standards are different in every country we visit. We come from Canada so a tip of 15% is practically mandatory, regardless of the quality of service.
So when we arrived in Turkey, we wondered what is the tipping culture. Make sure you inform yourself about how much you should tip in Turkey depending on the service provided.
8. Use ATMs that do not charge foreign transaction fees in Turkey
When traveling abroad, we often recommend bringing your Debit card and then using the ATMs to withdraw the local currency of that country. Oftentimes, you will get a very good exchange rate and it is far more convenient than bringing a large sum of cash to be exchanged there. However, you need to be mindful of foreign transaction fees that the ATMs might charge. The amount sometimes is small at around 2-3$ but can even go up to 10-15$.
For that reason, we would highly recommend going only to the bank ATMs that do not charge these foreign transaction fees. Here is a list of ATMs in Turkey that charge no fees or are very minimal (under 2$):
- Ziraat Bankasi
- Halkbank
- PTT bank
- ING bank
- Şekerbank
- Fibabanka
The banks in bold letters are the ones that I had the most success with. If I were to recommend just one bank ATM with no/minimal fees, it would be Ziraat Bankasi. They are also one of the most readily available.
Bonus tip! ⬇️
💵 Bonus tip: Use a debit/credit card that minimizes foreign exchange fees as well as withdrawal fees when traveling abroad.
Check out WISE card here!
ℹ️📅 Planning your trip to Turkey? Make sure to check out our Complete Turkey Itinerary Guide where we share what places to go to, what to do there, where to stay, how to get around, and many essential tips!
Review of our most expensive activities in Turkey
When we travel to a new country, we are after unique experiences that really have an impact on us. Sometimes these activities can be quite expensive so it is important to figure out if they are worth it. Check out our views below!
Turkish Blue Cruise
The Turkish Blue Cruise sailing the 12 islands was one of our favourite parts of our Turkey trip. It lasted 4 days and 3 nights and cost 500€ per person, all-inclusive. During the 4 days, we sailed along the Turquoise coast, ate fresh food, went paddleboarding, hiked on some of the islands, and totally unwinded.
We felt like this experience was really worth it and if compared to doing a cruise in other European destinations, it would cost WAY more!
As an example, in Italy, we rented a boat to tour around the Amalfi coast for around 7 hours. It cost us close to 500€ for the boat with nothing else included.
Hot air balloon flight in Cappadocia
Despite the inflated prices, we still feel like the hot air balloon is worth doing. There are really not many places in the world where you can do a hot air balloon over such a unique landscape! There is also something truly magical about having so many balloons in the air with you at the same time.
At 220€ per person that we paid, it was the borderline of what we felt would be “worth it”. I believe that if we looked at the prices 2 months prior to our departure where it was 320€ per person, we might’ve skipped it.
🛑 Make sure to book early! Click here to reserve your Turquaz Hot Air Balloon!
Cappadocia Cave hotel
This is definitely worth it! The rooftop terrace can be enjoyed both during sunrise and sunset and really adds to the magic of Cappadocia. The price of staying at a cave hotel with a rooftop terrace is also not much more than a standard hotel.
For example, a standard hotel would cost around 40-50$, whereas cave hotels around 80-120$. For 30-50$ more a night, the added experience is really worth it!
Food tour in Istanbul
Overall we would say that the food tour is worth it and was included in our 3-day Istanbul itinerary! The experience of the tour was great and we really learned a lot about the culture and history of Turkey. Prices are around 130$, you get to eat close to 11 courses, many of which you would not have found without the help of the guide.
To learn more about the experience and some most know tips about the food tour, check out this post here!
Final verdict: Is Turkey expensive to visit?
Overall, we would consider Turkey a moderate-budget destination, similar to other European destinations. We certainly found it far more expensive than what was reported to us by fellow travelers who visited Turkey 1-2 months prior. This is likely due to the soaring inflation as well as the devaluation of the Turkish Lira.
We hope that this budget breakdown will give you a good idea of how much you should expect to spend during your next trip to Turkey!
Ready to start planning your vacation to Turkey? Here are some posts that will really help:
