Money exchange vs ATM withdrawal in Istanbul

Just within the last few days I read that Ziraat Bank ATMs, which were no-fee as of last October, now charge substantial fees. The only thing I can suggest is trying a post office ATM (no-fee as of last Sep), but I don't know how many of those are scattered around.

When I spoke this with an American traveler , I remember, he said that there is no extra charge at TEB atms. (TEB : TURKISH ECONOMY BANK) . But he said that his bank is Bank of America .. check this out.

I just took a quick glance at Google maps. I looked for Post offices nearby my hotel and also ATMs by my hotel. There were ratings for each ATM and post office. Reading the reviews I sure can pick out the ATMs I won't be using. I need to look at it some more, I didn't seem to be getting results for ATMs at post offices. With the reviews, it seems like it could be helpful. I also wonder if it is worth looking at ATMs outside of Sultanahmet.

It looks like there are two TEB banks about a 15 walk from the Blue Mosque, etc.

ADDING: It appears there is a TEB ATM Alemdar, Yerebatan Cd.

There are places in Istanbul where you'll see a long row of ATMs--eight or more. They won't do you any good if they are all charging fees, though. One of those spots may be near the Gulhane tram stop or the Sirkeci tram stop. You might be able to check by using Google street view.

On a short trip I'd ask my hotel's desk staff. If they had no good suggestion, I'd just pay the ATM fee, because saving a few dollars isn't worth giving up an hour of your time chasing down what may not exist as of now--a no-fee ATM.

The other thing I'd suggest is another round of Googling "no-fee ATMs in Istanbul" a week before your trip, because if the situation improves, someone will probanly post about it on TripAdvisor or Reddit.

I see that I marked the location of a post office not far from my first Istanbul hotel on my map. I think that's where I found a no-fee ATM (I'm not 100% sure). It's at Buyuk Postane Caddesi 9, not too far west of Ankara Caddesi,and about a 2-block walk from the Sirkeci tram stop. That ATM was out on the sidewalk, not inside the building. (Maybe they were renovating the building?) If you zoom in on Google Maps you'll see an ATM icon near the location of the post office.

Thank you all so much for your advice. We ended up going to an exchange office and exchanged our US money, it did seem fair, despite all of the warnings. Next time we need TYL or EU, we will look for more options.

Safe Travels,

Julie Kay

Another option to consider: Charles Schwab lets you open an account (brokerage or checking) with no minimum deposit and offers a no-fee debit card to go with it. If you cannot find a fee-free ATM, you can use any ATM and Schwab will refund the fee to your account at the end of the statement period. AFAIK, there is no limit to the number of fee refunds it will provide. We used this for the first time last fall on our 5-week trip to northern Italy, and it worked flawlessly. I believe Fidelity may offer the same type of debit card, but there may be other requirements for obtaining one.

Two other advantages of using this type of debit card:

1. if someone steals this debit card and somehow is able to use it, they only have access to the amount you have in your Schwab account, not whatever is in your regular bank account(s)
2. it's nice to have a separate "travel account" to periodically stash some money in for our jaunts. When it comes time to travel, there is a petty cash kitty sitting there waiting to be used