Note: Türkiye has experienced significant inflation in recent years, causing the lira’s value to change quickly. Because of this, many tourist places quote prices in euros or USD rather than the local currency. For consistency, I’ve converted all costs to Turkish lira, but I’ve also included the original euro prices so you know exactly what we paid.

Essentials

Türkiye E-visa

While most countries don’t need a visa (including European counties, the United States and Canada) visitors from 90 other countries do need one, including Australia. You can check your country’s requirements on Türkiye’s Ministry of foreign affairs website.

It is still possible to get your visa in person when you arrive, but the e-visa is cheaper and makes the process of entering so much quicker.

Our e-visas cost us 4,687.20 TL ($120 USD).

Esim

I always make sure to have a SIM card when travelling, as having data access makes getting around so much easier – in Istanbul we mainly used it for directions and looking up reviews for restaurants we’d passed. I highly recommend getting an eSIM as they’re easy to purchase and you can avoid the hassle of buying one when you arrive.

In total, we paid 1,230.00 TL ($31.49 USD) for our 2 eSIMs (these were 30-day Europe plans as we also visited Greece on this trip).

We chose Airalo (my partner) and Saily (myself), and we both had a good experience. If you are only visiting Türkiye though, I would choose the 5G Turkey eSIM from Klook as it’s cheaper.

Transport

We only used public transport in Istanbul, including our airport transfers, and found no need to catch any taxis. Their transport system was affordable and easy to navigate with an Istanbulkart, which you can top up and use for cheaper rates then using your debit card.

We picked up our card at Istanbul Airport (here’s where to find the Istanbulkart machines) and shared it between us. Overall, we spent 859.05 TL on public transport, including the initial card cost.

Accommodation

Self-catered accommodation is normally our go-to when spending more than two nights in one location. This allows us to save money by cooking meals (though we barely did this in Istanbul, as I will go into in the next section) and they typically have larger spaces where we can relax and spread out.

Where we stayed: We booked an Airbnb in Beyoğlu, which was one of the cheaper options we could find at the time.

Cost breakdown: 4 nights: 12,633.91 TL / per night: 3,158.48 TL

Food

One of our favourite things to do when we travel is to try the local food. I’ve broken this down into two areas: dining out and groceries.

Dining Out

We ended up eating out for most meals, which was a nice change from our usual approach. Typically, we cook the majority of our meals to save money, but Turkish food was relatively affordable and there was so much we wanted to try.

We ate everywhere – restaurants, cafes and street vendors. As expected, touristy areas were pricier so we tried to find places away from the main tourist areas whenever possible.

Some of our favourite meals were:

• Midye Dolma from Kadıköy Midyecisi: 15 TL per mussel
• Lahmacun (170 TL) and Künefe (200 TL) from Gülüm Pide Lahmacun Salonu
• Baklava from Lokum Atölyesi: around 400 TL (we definitely got too much and had to eat it over two days)

In total, we spent 7,696.89 TL eating out.

Groceries

We visited grocery stores four times while in Istanbul. We picked up fruit and yogurt for breakfasts, plus different snacks and drinks to try throughout the week.

If there’s any Turkish snacks and drinks you want to try, supermarkets are definitely the way to go. For example, a cup of ayran costs around 10 TL at the store versus the 75 TL we paid at restaurants.

I’d recommend Şok or BİM – they were the most budget-friendly supermarkets we found.

In total we spent 312.25 TL on groceries.

Activities

Most activities we did in Istanbul were free – visiting mosques, wandering the streets, and exploring the Grand Bazaar and Spice Market. 

We only paid for two activities: entry to Topkapi Palace (4,000 TL) and a visit to Suleymaniye Hamam, a couples-only Turkish bath that I’d highly recommend (6,477TL / €150).

Together these totalled 10,477TL.

Souvenirs

My partner and I are not big souvenir people, but we did find a few things in Istanbul. If you’re looking to pick up souvenirs, I’d recommend choosing stores outside of the Grand Bazaar for better prices and what appeared to be similar quality.

Magnet: We always pick up a magnet for each country we visit. We found a Nazar blue eye magnet at a shop near Galata Tower for 20 TL.

Headscarf: This was the perfect practical souvenir since I didn’t own a scarf to wear to visit Istanbul’s mosques. I bought this from a stall around the corner from Hagia Sophia for 200TL.

Tea Glasses: We fell in love with the small tulip-shaped glasses used at cafes and in our Airbnb, and wanted to buy some for home. Instead of buying from a souvenir shop, we found a set of six at BİM for only 80 TL.

Total cost of souvenirs in Istanbul: 300TL.

Do you need cash when visiting Istanbul?

We found that we were able to use our credit and debit card for almost everything in Istanbul, including restaurants, shops, and the Grand Bazaar. The only times we needed to pay in cash were for our hamam experience and for buying a simit from a street vendor. I have a full breakdown of how much money to take to Turkey for our entire 12-day trip if you’d like to read more.

Total Istanbul trip costs

In total, our 5-day Istanbul trip cost us 38,196.30TL, which works out to be a budget per day of 7,639.26TL for two people.

Remember that these costs are based on our specific trip – your costs will be different depending on how you like to travel, what you want to experience and the time of year you visit. Türkiye also experiences frequent inflation changes, so prices can go up or down regularly. Still, I hope this gives you a good starting point to plan your own Istanbul trip budget.