Everyday practical information for Turkey

Alcohol rules that catch people out

• Shops cannot sell alcohol between 22:00 and 06:00. Bars and restaurants can still serve. If you want a bottle for the hotel room, buy it before ten.
• Alcohol is heavily taxed and is the one thing in Turkey that is not cheap.
• Drinking in the street is frowned on and in some places prohibited.
• Rakı is the national drink, aniseed, drunk with water and food, and not to be treated as a shot.

Mosques

• Working mosques welcome visitors outside prayer times and there is usually no charge.
• Shoulders and knees covered for everyone. Women cover their hair, and scarves are lent at the door.
• Shoes off, and carry them in the bag provided or leave them on the rack.
• Do not walk in front of someone praying or photograph people at prayer.
• Friday midday is busy and not the time to visit.
• The call to prayer happens five times a day, including before dawn. Ask for a room away from the minaret if you sleep lightly.

Everyday

• Electricity is 230 V at 50 Hz with European two-pin plugs. UK and US visitors need an adapter.
• The country's name is Türkiye, changed at the UN in 2022, and you will see it on everything official.
• Tea is constant and social. Being offered çay in a shop is hospitality, not a sales technique, and refusing is fine but accepting is better.
• Turkish hospitality is genuine and can be overwhelming. An invitation to eat is usually exactly what it appears to be.
• Take your shoes off entering a home. Always.
• Ramadan falls in February and March in 2027. Nothing closes and restaurants stay open in tourist areas, but eating conspicuously in the street during daylight in conservative areas is poor form.
• Public holidays, especially the two religious holidays, empty the cities and fill every coach, plane and coastal hotel. Check the dates before booking.
• Haggle in bazaars, not in shops.
• Toilets are usually western style, with a small hose. Carry tissues, and note that paper often goes in the bin rather than the bowl.