Tips for travellers
Visiting Istanbul In Lockdown
Visiting Istanbul In Lockdown
Due to the recent increase in new cases, the Turkish government announced further nationwide restrictions besides the functioning ones from the beginning of the spread such as social distancing, mask obligation, and short working hours.
There were no preventive rules for the tourist to visit the country since then and still, tourism appears to be an exception counting the latest enforcements. Tourists are still able to enter the country without declaring a PCR test and Turkey is recently one of the few countries that continue touristic operations.
The Turkish Government announced the latest restrictions on December 1st. Regarding the restrictions, there will be lockdown in the evenings from 9 pm to 5 am in the morning on weekdays, and 24 hours on weekends. People will be able to go out just for basic needs such as buying food from markets, groceries, bakeries, etc. from 10 am to 5 pm.
The good news is the exemption of tourists from the lockdown. Also, most of the museums will continue to be open on the weekends, as well as the weekdays, not to cause any inconvenience for the people visiting the country for touristic purposes or just passing by. Even the public transportation system will fully be operating during the lockdown, which means that the tourist will not be severely affected by the restrictions.
However, as the streets will be vacated and there will be no vibe on the streets, some of the potential tourists reckon these minuses and prefer to postpone their trips.
In addition to this, since the restaurants, cafes and bars are closed for sit-down customers and only operate for take-out service, people do not consider this as an appropriate way of getting the culture, especially the famous Turkish Cuisine. Some think the other way and accept calmness as an opportunity since flights and hotels are extremely cheap in comparison to the normal circumstances. Furthermore, less crowd means more time to make the most of the city.
As Guided Istanbul Tours, we continue operating tours in lockdown as well throughout Turkey. Please kindly reach us if you need more information regarding the tours in lockdown.