# Holiday money??



## great gonzo (Nov 4, 2010)

I'm off to Turkey for a couple of weeks and wanted to know how you clever people change your money?

I'm taking 2k. 
Do I take cash ( sterling)?
keep it on my debit card?
Change it to Lira here or in Turkey?
Travers cheque?

I have been told the exchange rate is higher in Turkey than it is in England. 


Cheers for any help 
Gonz.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Never put all your eggs in one basket as they say. 

We always share money and make sure we both have our cards too. It the event of something going wrong, we'd still be OK. 

I've never been to Turkey, but many Eastern European countries would much rather have English Pounds than their own currency. You get a better deal paying for things in pounds and a better exchange too. 

The bank rates are usually good too. I'd maybe mention to your bank that you are going to Turkey just in case they block your card. 

I'd take some English notes and some Lira. I'd never be walking about with £2000 though. Just as much as I'd be willing to lose.


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## Paul08 (Jun 1, 2014)

I've just been to Marmaris for 12 days, came back last week. I exchanged in the UK for 4.13 tl to £1 with m and s. The best rate I saw offered there was 4.04 and there's a lot of exchange shops! £2k seems a very large amount for 2 weeks, I took £650 for 3 of us and came back with £120. We did 7 excursions, ate out a few times and came back with quite a lot!


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## Hereisphilly (Nov 17, 2014)

In Turkey it is always best to pay in lira wherever possible. If you pay in sterling the shop is setting the exchange rate and its always worse than the rate set by the bank.
We went last year, and took £50 in sterling to see us through the 1st day and night. 
For everything else inc cash withdrawals I used my Halifax clarity card.

It's the best credit card by far for travel with no fees for anything. All you do is pay interest on the cash withdrawal from when you draw it out, but its peanuts (about 50p over the course of 2 weeks)

There are reams of cash points all over marmaris, so treat cash there as you so here, draw it out in preparation for whatever event you have coming up, that way you don't get stung on trying to change it back when you leave.

I also had a Caxton cashcard as backup that stayed in the hotel in case the clarity got nicked. Taking all your money there in cash is a bad idea due to the risk of theft


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## great gonzo (Nov 4, 2010)

Some food of thought there guys thanks a lot. 

As said it's mainly Lira where we are going but I think I will take a few hundred £'s with me for the first day. 
2k is a fair amount but there's 4 of us eating out every day and looking to be very active when we are there. 
I will let my bank know when I'm travelling. 

Cheers Gonz


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## Rayaan (Jun 1, 2014)

travelsupermarket has a comparison for exchange rates if that may be useful? It includes credit cards in it too.


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

We are going to Spain in a months time, been thinking of changing some money in to Euro's now and the rest in Spain. What do you all recon?


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## lofty (Jun 19, 2007)

Soul boy 68 said:


> We are going to Spain in a months time, been thinking of changing some money in to Euro's now and the rest in Spain. What do you all recon?


I changed some £ to € today and got 1.41, that's the best I've seen for a long long time, not to say it won't get even better but I'm going next week so I can't really wait.


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## Starbuck88 (Nov 12, 2013)

I went to Paris and I regretted not getting more out here before we went. 

We were silly about it and got Euros at the Airport here (so paid higher than Post Office etc)...then I ended up getting more out when over there which was rediculous.

I ended up just paying for everything on Credit Card and doing it that way.

It'd have been a hell of a lot cheaper if I took out a wedge at the best place I could in the UK before going.

When we went to Egypt, we changed £500 well before we went, worked out a LOT cheaper. However, unlike Paris.... they would accept English money.

Wether you paid Egyptian or English, made no difference really, prices were the same after haggling. We gave away more pound coins to resort staff than anything else! lol


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

Went to Barcelona recently and noted that when I used my Mastercard to pay for stuff, the electronic card reader gave me the option to be charged in either Euros or GBP and showed you what the bill would convert to. Got decent exchange rates every time as well.


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## uruk hai (Apr 5, 2009)

When I went I took Sterling, Lira and travellers cheques and where ever I spent my money they were happy to take Lira but on a few costly spends they gave a better deal when I paid in sterling. It seems to be more stable than their own currency.


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## Kriminal (Jan 11, 2007)

I went last year to Icmeler, and as said £2k is A LOT of money. I spent just over £100 (in Lira) and came back with 6 new designer label t-shirts (cough cough, fake), a pair of designer trainers (cough cough, fake), and went on about 3 trips - eating out quite often, and drinking out most nights.

The cash points over there have the exchange rates marked up, as do a lot of the shops, if you wish to choose between Lira or GBP.

When I bought the trainers, in GBP, I found the exchange rate didn't work out to be in my favour.

Quite a few people I had spoke to before I went said they generally take about £50 (as you need something when you first get there), and then draw the rest out of the cashpoints.

I chose to get Lira before going over, and took about £100 in my wallet (with cards).


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## SteveTDCi (Feb 8, 2006)

Never been to Turkey but when we go to Spain we tend to get £500 worth of euros, then take £100 in sterling. Then we withdraw any extra from cash points out there as the exchange rate is much better, we do inform the credit card companies and if you do use them always pay in the local currency - for us euros as it is a better rate than sterling. You can usually check the exchange rates on the visa website.


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