TURKEY e Visa TRAVEL LOCKDOWN Update (December Update) - Is Turkey on a FULL Lockdown? | Turkey Travel 2021

 We were actually updating our travel to turkey plans based on the new regulations that came into effect on December 20th, but yesterday there  are further regulations that came into effect starting from today in Turkey. So unfortunately cases have been rising from 4 500 sick people with Covid, to now 6,500 and that number now  even includes people showing no symptoms for a total of 30,000 Covid cases a day. and  we  wanted to discuss again what it means to us and how it would affect your travel plans to Turkey  starting from today. Well how will that exactly  impact you and we're going to start with the first new regulation and that is going to be  a weekday curfew. Beginning January 1st there  is going to be a curfew beginning at 9 00 pm local time lasting until 5am the next morning  and that affects Turkish citizens and residents. That means it's going to affect me, but  it won't affect Steve because he's not a Turkish resident, so he can go party with the  street cats after 9pm.

The second new regulation that  is coming into place now is a full weekend  lockdown for Turkish citizens and residents, from 9 00 p.m January 4th , through 5  a.m local time Monday morning and every weekend going forward there will be a full lockdown for Turkish citizens and residents. Of course there  are some exceptions, for example you can go to the grocery store or vegetable store, butcher in your neighborhood. If you're a tourist you're probably not going to obey (need to comply with) these rules anyways. Right, we don't want to scare you, likely this time as the December 20th regulations, tourists will not  have to comply, they're able to go out and about  after the curfew times during the lockdown times, but keep in mind, there are going to be a lot of  limitations on what is going to be open now on weekends, only essential services so we're going to  talk exactly about how that will impact your trip if you're coming to Turkey. 

Restaurants and cafes will remain open, but unfortunately you cannot dine indoors. This actually came on December 20th so ever since December 20th we've been picking up food or ordering it for delivery from  the restaurants. This will continue except on the weekends, Turkish citizens will not be able to  go pick up their food from the restaurants, but yet again tourists should be fine. And pickup will actually only be available 10 a.m to 8 p.m on the weekdays for even tourists, so if you're  arriving after 8 pm like a friend of ours just did you're going to need to know about the Yemeksepeti app. Yeah Yemeksepeti has both Turkish and English versions, it's so easy to navigate around. It's like  seamless for Americans who might be familiar, as long as you have a Turkish phone number you will  be easily signed up and start using it immediately . 

If you're going to stay at a hotel though and your  hotel has a restaurant, as of now those are going to continue to stay open even after 8 pm. So then the next thing you're going to want to know about is tourist attractions and last time we spoke Basilica Cistern was already closed it's going to remain closed and now museums and things like that  are not going to be deemed essential services, so even those will be closed during the weekend. But of course, we don't know about the open-air museums like Pamukkale, (or) Ephesus yet. I actually gave a call to Pamukkale as well, they haven't gotten any kind of restrictions yet, but that may come into effect. Of course, so going forward shopping malls are also going to be under new regulations  for Turkish citizens and residents they're going to need to show their "HES" code in order to  enter your shopping malls and now shopping malls are only going to be open from 10 a.m to 8  p.m on weekdays. They're going to even be closed on weekends for tourists as well. And in terms of the Grand Bazaar since it's not considered as a mall you don't need a "HES" code in order to enter  the Grand Bazaar, but unfortunately it will be also closed on the weekends as I just found out  over the phone with them as well.

There is also  limitation on the streets and touristic places, so if you're planning to visit just be aware that there might be some limitations coming from  the police, but we don't know the size of it yet, they haven't declared those kind of limitations  officially yet, but pools spas massage salons and turkish baths will be closed, so if you were  looking forward to have some turkish path experience unfortunately you won't be able to  do so until the further announcements will be made for the regulations I guess, that's really unfortunate, yeah. But my favorite regulation so  far was coming into effect on December 20th that you  cannot smoke outdoors, because some people used to pull down their masks and smoke. It was just  not helping the situation, so I'm glad that is actually not allowed anymore in Turkey. 

Then, we're going to come up to I guess the most important question for people who are thinking of  coming to Turkey and traveling within Turkey is, how is travel within the country impacted, travel  to the country impacted. There are some minor restrictions as far as Turkish citizens and residents go as they are  coming into place with these January 1st regulations but they should not affect tourists. 

For Turkey citizens though, it's not allowed to cross the cities by car anymore, unless they  have some sort of legitimate excuse that is outlined in their rules, but Turkish citizens will  also be allowed to travel within Turkey by plane, by buses, or trains, limitations (are only) on the private cars unfortunately. Right and of course you'll need your "HES" application in order to travel as a Turkish citizen or resident. Tourists we believe still are not required to get a "HES" application, but in  the event better be safe than sorry we're going to talk about how to get that in just a second. 

But really quickly, the services at the airports are actually open, so if you're traveling you will  be able to pick up food at airports. You can also use the restaurants or places on the highways if  your transportation is stopping by, say if your bus is stopping by the restaurant you will be still  able to dine in there as far as we know. Right and  the curfew and lockdown time we believe still does not apply to tourists as far as catching a flight or catching a bus, so you could still get to  the airport after the 9 pm curfew time or during the weekend, to catch the flight into or out of the  country don't worry so much about that. But, how to  get the "HES" code? You can actually download it on your  android or apple phone, it's called "Life Fits into Home" in english on the store there and you can put  in your basic tourist information and within five to ten minutes you'll have your "QR" code through  the application. If for some reason it doesn't work on the application there is a number "2023", that you could text upon entering Turkey and provide the information and they should send  the "QR" code directly to your phone. As long as you have a Turkish (phone) number.

Yeah, that's the one kind of caveat that we've noticed, which is why we don't think that foreigners are absolutely required  to have it, but some places may still ask for it anyway so if you could get one we recommend  doing so. And if you want more information  on that, you can also check out the Coronavirus  guide article.

Ultimately, is it worthwhile to come to turkey right now?

It is ultimately your decision. It really depends on the way that you are traveling new places,  if you care about dining in, and if you care about going to museums at any time you want, or malls,  that might be a little bit difficult. Right now, if you want to come to Turkey, it's still possible, you just have to plan accordingly and if you want to hold off and come when coronavirus calms down,  we don't blame you at all. It's a beautiful country though and you should absolutely come. If you ask us what we're gonna do next, honestly we don't know right now we are discussing and we are evaluating  a lot of different options. It could be continuing traveling within Turkey as much as we can, or maybe  taking different steps. We will definitely update you on that very soon. We are right now trying to  get our Turkish article out of the door, we are a little backlogged because of these updates.

And if you decide to come to Turkey soon, hope  to see you around. Thanks for the time, take care! For more Information about <a href= "https://www.turkey-evisa-gov.org/.org/">e visa to turkey </a> travel then contact us.