Turkey e visa As you may already know that we've been in Istanbul for weeks now and we've been traveling and exploring this beautiful city. But since ever we write our Coronavirus Guide article back in December, unfortunately the daily new cases of Coronavirus increased from 2,000 to 6,000 a day in Turkey. To stem the rising tide of those cases the Turkish government has actually announced new coronavirus related regulations, beginning at 8 pm Istanbul time. and that's why we decided to discuss how these new regulations are going to be affecting us, and may affect your travel to Turkey plans.
Is it worth visiting Turkey in 2020-2021?
So, of course the big question that some of you may have on your mind is "Is a lockdown coming back to Turkey and what has the government decided in an effort to stem the coronavirus spread?" The solution is; It is a touch of curfew and a bit of partial lockdown. So the new rule basically states on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m to 8 p.m. you're ALLOWED out of your hotel, your apartment, wherever you're staying and you're allowed to explore the city. Before 10 a.m and after 8 pm though, you have to stay where you are and that starts 8 p.m Friday, and lasts until Monday morning 5 a.m and it affects everybody. Right, and in this case of course, there are a lot of places closed.
Can I dine out?" and the answer is "Unfortunately, no
The cafes and restaurants are going to be open, but they won't allow dining experience. You can only either pick up your food or have it delivered to your house, but on the curfew times you can't pick up your food and it will be only delivery. We hope that you'll be able to pick up and then still enjoy your food by the Bosphorus or somewhere else that there's beautiful scenery, if you're going other places in Turkey, but we aren't sure just yet how that rule is going to be enforced, they may not even allow you to eat out during the times that you're allowed out by the Bosphorus, so we're going to update that in our description as soon as we hear more information from the government or from any source.
Yeah and of course it's a little upsetting because when you're traveling to somewhere dining out is actually a part of an experience and of course Turkey is as beautiful as the beautiful nature and history, but also the food is a very important part of the reason why you'll be traveling to Turkey. Absolutely, I love my Turkish food, but moving on the next question that I'm sure is on some of your mindsis now that this curfew is in place and restaurants are closed what is going to actually be open if you come to Turkey or if you're currently in Turkey, and we're going to start with the main tourist attractions we actually reached out to a bunch that Gokce did of course, and asked in Turkish, because you'll probably get a better answer that way and that's why we have her around!
The Basilica Cistern and other indoor museums are going to be closed or are already closed. We called this morning and they're already closed. Some other museums and other places are going to remain open. The rule is if the museums are indoors, generally there's a good chance that they will be closed, but you can proactively reach out to them to make sure that they are open, and like Steve said, I called Dolmabahce and Topkapi Palace, and they both confirmed that they will be open. Besides Topkapi and Dolmabahce, we're not sure right now on Hagia Sophia and Sultanahmet the two mosques, as of now we haven't heard anything about mosque closing, so we'd assume those two places are open in the old town area of Istanbul.
besides Basilica Cistern. We believe as of now things will be staying open during the non-curfew times, and if it changes after we post this article we'll definitely update you on that in the description of this article. So what about shopping malls? Shopping malls will be open for shopping purposes, but you still cannot go to the cafes at the malls, so if you want to take out, if you want to just grab coffee and walk around while you're drinking your coffee, you will be able to do so. But you can't have the experience of sitting at a cafe or restaurant at a mall and in between your shopping. If you want an e visa to turkey within 3 days, then we will help you with it. Visit us.
And that includes Grand Bazaar. As of now, we believe it's open even though it's enclosed. That said, if anything happens we'll update that in the description as well. So besides that; hairdressers, spas, Turkish bats are actually open. I actually reached out to a couple of Turkish Baths as well to confirm that they were going to be open and I got that confirmation for thumbs up, but I will definitely update you on that as well in the description and they're going to be open 10 a.m to 8 p.m. Just something to keep in mind there will be stuff open and there's gonna be stuff to do just the indoor museums are looking like they're going to be closed at this point.
Can we travel within the country or outside of the country right now?
The answer is right now, it looks like we will be able to travel outside Turkey and we can travel inside Turkey, but the rules can change very quickly. We don't know yet, we are trying to figure out ourselves and what we're going to do next as well. So, just a little context when they locked down last time in March through June, they restricted travel within the different provinces within the different cities of Turkey So if you were in Istanbul, you couldn't go to Cappadocia or Antalya or wherever you had to stay put in Istanbul. That may come back into place, but as of now that has not happened.
it's just some context to understand what next steps the Turkish government might take place, if coronavirus numbers don't go down. Now, as far as traveling within Istanbul, and getting your Istanbulkart, there is a new regulation So if you have an Istanbulkart which is the card that you use in Istanbul when you're traveling around on the ferries and the buses and all the transportation, right now they were talking about adding the HES code information personally on that card in order to make sure that you're not at a risky place or you're not risking other people. if you have any other questions on that please don't hesitate to ask us we will do our best to answer you here on the next article, you can also reach out to us on Facebook as well.
So then there's other restrictions that are currently in place within Turkey itself, anyone under the age of 20, or over the age of 65 needs permission to go out, unless it's within certain set times currently, So we're not sure if that applies to citizens and residents or tourists as well The rules are applied to Turkish Citizens and probably the residents like Steve, but luckily he's over 20. and not just 65 just yet...and Turkey actually just switched to online education as well, if you're worried about coming during crowded school days Now that students are going to be back at home again, the streets should be a bit less crowded another regulations they have, which is my favorite actually, it's no longer allowed to smoke outdoors. We assist you to get an e visa application to Turkey, then do apply for your e tourist visa Turkey within 24-72 hours.
People are using an excuse of smoking cigarettes and putting their mask down and smoking outside Right now, it's legally not allowed anymore, around the country you can't smoke and walk around, which also makes us think that maybe that regulation may come while when eating outdoors If you're walking and drinking or walking and eating something it may be banned as well We are unsure on that. Finally, the big question on everybody's minds, "Is it still worthwhile to travel to Turkey right now?"
Is it right for us to visit Istanbul and Turkey right now?
And, that's really going to be your decision, it's going to be about making the most informed and best decision for yourself. We are going to continue traveling as much as we will, and we believe that it is still worth it, but it depends on your priorities. If you are not into eating out dining out anyways and if you are being careful about that during the Coronavirus times, then it won't affect you as much. If the way that you're experiencing a country is eating out and dining out at all times and having some coffee breaks in between, then it may change your mind. So, it's ultimately your decision on that and in terms of the tourist attractions, most of them are open, but again it may change.
We're not going to dictate your decisions, because this country is so beautiful and there's so much to do that you can still very much enjoy when you get here. Right, and as of now Turkey's still not requiring a Covid test upon arrival. They're still welcoming American citizens during this time, adhere to those coronavirus rules and regulations, and you'll be completely fine in our opinion. So, that's all we have is an update but we will continuously update the description for this article.
So thank you so much for your time, In short, plan your Travel to Turkey by having an electronic visa turkey system, then contact us. Have a great time!