How much we spent: 3 weeks in Turkey 🇹🇷
- Calvin Chan
- Aug 21, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 22, 2024
🇹🇷 Turkey | 📅 23 days in Jun 2024 | ☀️ Summer
This is how much we (2 people) spent during 23 days in Turkey, in June 2024 (Summer). We hit up Istanbul, Ankara, Cappadocia and Antalya in 23 days.
For reference, we're nature-loving, value-seeking 20-something year olds from Australia who think with their stomachs. Hopefully this helps you plan and budget your trip to Turkey! Three money saving tips for Turkey below!
💲How much we spent
Total spend*: 4,310 AUD | 2,888 USD | 2,586 EUR
Daily spend: 167 AUD | 112 USD | 100 EUR
* The above prices are without international travel and shopping costs (i.e. arriving in country and souvenirs)
🛏️ Accomodation: 66 AUD /day 1,515 AUD | 1,015 USD | 909 EUR
Accomodation in Turkey turned out to be quite affordable. Though Cappadocia was more expensive, everywhere else was very reasonable, even in Istanbul! You can see below that we stayed in 4 different places in Istanbul. This is because we had Istanbul penned as a possible place to live short-term in the future and we wanted to test a bunch of areas. We would personally recommend Kadikoy. It's not only more affordable, but more local, less noisy and has better food than the other "touristic" areas we stayed in, and where most tourists stay. Our favourite stay though was Flaneur Hostel in Antalya, great hostel with an awesome kitchen and super comfy private rooms.
🍽️ Food: 47 AUD /day 1,081 AUD | 725 USD | 649 EUR
Food in Turkey is amazing. From Baklava to Kebabs and the homey Lokantasis serving up cosy, warm hug inducing food. We spent most of our time... and money eating out. Our favourite Baklava was hands down Hafiz Mustafa 1864, and for the best cheap eats around the country, eat at Lokantasis! More on that in our money-saving tips below.
🚶🏻♂️ Activities: 19 AUD /day 447 AUD | 300 USD | 268 EUR
Tourist activities in Istanbul can get really expensive! Tickets to Tokapki Palace for example were 70 EUR each when we went! If you're on a budget, you can do what we did and enjoyed ourselves roaming around the free sights of the city (i.e. Blue Mosque) and eating, or you can bite the bullet and get the tickets.
Outside of Istanbul, prices of activities become much more affordable. Our favourite activity we did was Whitewater rafting + Mud buggies + Zip-lining in Antalya. So worth it for only 60 AUD each, with lunch included! A peak of what that looks like here!
🚌 Local transport: 23 AUD /day 518 AUD | 347 USD | 311 EUR
Local transport within cities in Turkey is super affordable, especially if you get the local city's transport card. Inter-city buses are also super affordable, typically costing 30-40 AUD per person for 3-6 hour bus rides. The buses are also really comfortable, with aircon, reclinable seats and their very own bus-stewards! Staff on board who pass around water and snacks. And yes, there are toilets on board.
🧺 Misc: 12 AUD /day 268 AUD | 180 USD | 161 EUR
This category encompasses anything and everything outside of the other categories, and shopping below. Typically this includes laundry, pharmaceuticals, buying replacement for things, and in this case ATM fees 😢.
🛍️ Shopping: 0 AUD /day 0 AUD | 0 USD | 0 EUR
We did no shopping during our 23-day trip in Turkey.
🧠 Tips on saving money in Turkey 🇹🇷
Skip the tours and expensive sights! Some sights in Turkey, especially Istanbul, can be super expensive. Don't feel obliged to pay the 70 EUR for the Tokapki Palace, instead enjoy roaming the streets. Or for guided driven tours like the Green tour in Cappadocia, rent a car and do it yourself for cheaper!
Eat at Lokantasis! They taste so good, are amazing value and are what locals eat day to day, if you’re after the authentic Turkish taste - you can't miss it.
Get the local city’s public transport card for amazing value and easy public toilet uses. Istanbul, Ankara and Antalya each had their own and the savings add up!
✨ For Turkey 🇹🇷 itinerary inspo, check out our blog posts:
Istanbul 3 day itinerary
Cappadocia 3 day itinerary
Antalya 2 day itinerary
5 things we wished we knew: Turkey
📔 For budgeting and planning your trip to Turkey, check out our FREE resources:
🧮 Travel Budget Tracker ⬅️ The screenshots from this article used this!
📕 Travel Adventure Planner ⬅️ This is how we planned our year+ adventure!
🪨 More travel resources:
📱 Our favourite global travel eSim ⬅️ Use "KIMNCAL30" for 30% off!!
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