Guide Istanbul - Your tour guide Mine Karahan

Turkish money currency unit is called YTL (New Turkish Lira).

As of January 2005, Turkish Lira omitted 6 zeros from the currency and the Lira will be called “Turkish New Lira”. Therefore 20 million TL is 20 YTL(new lira)

The Coins

(5 kurus)
(10 kurus)
(25 kurus)
50 kurus
1 YTL

The Bills

1 YTL. in pink and blue color,roughly equal to 80 cents.
5 YTL.in yellow-beige note. Approximately equal to 3.85 USD .
10 YTL. in reddish color. Approximately equal to 8 USD
20 YTL in green color (20 YTL)
50 YTL looks like a 50 EURO, orange in color.
100 YTL is blue-dark blue color.

If you want to exchange your currency, there are little shops where you can change money.There is an electronic board where you can see the currencies and their TL.equivalent. Most of the shops, restaurants do accept foreign money, especially USD or EUR in Istanbul.

If you wonder about SHOPPING, you should know where the good place to buy things and most importantly, what to buy. Turkey is a good place for leather, jewellry and of course carpets. Turkish Carpets are world-famous and unique examples of art. Traditional nomadic Turkic life influenced the patterns and designs of the rugs. For small souvenirs, The GRAND BAZAAR can be considered as a heaven. Even if you do not have the intention to buy anything, it’s a MUST place to be seen.