Turkey lets you buy duty-free on arrival, bans vapes at the border, and prosecutes people for carrying old stones out.
- The duty-free shops are in the arrivals hall, before passport control, which is unusual and legal - the allowance is applied to what you buy there as well as what you brought.
- Electronic cigarettes may not be imported. Their sale is banned in Turkey and they are confiscated at the border; travellers have been fined for a vape in hand luggage.
- Taking antiquities out is a serious criminal offence. Old coins, fragments of mosaic and stones picked up at a site have all led to arrest at the departure gate. The rule covers anything that might be over a century old.
- Cash equivalent to USD 10,000 or more must be declared on entry, and the same limit applies to taking it out.
- Personal electronics get registered. A phone used with a Turkish SIM for more than a set period is blocked unless the handset is registered and a fee is paid - a trap for long stays, not for a fortnight.
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