The TRNC (North Cyprus) has a "central bank" but no printed money of its own. The currency here is the Turkish Lira; that's why the paper and coin TL in your pocket works on the island exactly as is — neither the supermarket nor the shared minibus (dolmuş) asks for anything else. The Central Bank's daily job is to publish its own exchange rates for the dollar, euro, pound sterling and other currencies. For visitors from Turkey, the easy part of the story ends here. Opening your wallet causes no problems. The trouble starts when the hotel bill arrives in pounds, or when you spot an unfamiliar deduction on your statement. And if you try to send money to an account on the island, the game changes entirely.
Where Foreign Currency Is Accepted
Hotels, car rental companies, large restaurants and beach resorts take euros or pounds, and for high-value transactions the price itself is often quoted in foreign currency to begin with. In real estate it goes further still. Prices are written directly in pounds sterling; August 2026 listings show rental flats at 500-2,000 pounds a month, and properties for sale are marketed in the same currency. Can you pay in dollars or euros? You can. The business sets the rate; the Central Bank's daily rate doesn't bind them. When you pay in foreign currency, the rate the business applies usually works against you compared with paying in TL. Since the local currency is already the TL, a visitor from Turkey only creates extra hassle by carrying foreign cash. Where foreign currency does come up is in the big bills: the hotel invoice, a long-term lease, a car rental contract. It never reaches down to the supermarket or the shared minibus.
Does a Turkish Card Count as Abroad on the Island?
In town, the chance of stumbling on a place that doesn't take cards is close to zero; Visa and Mastercard work in restaurants, hotels, supermarkets and shopping malls. The cash problem arises at the village coffee house, the beach kiosk and small traders — in other words, the cheapest purchases of the day. POS terminals run in TL. Since prices are written in TL, paying with a TL card produces no currency-conversion line on your statement. An exchange-rate difference only arises when a business that prices in foreign currency — a hotel or car rental, say — converts the amount to TL at its own rate. Even so, in the eyes of Turkey's banking regulator (BDDK), spending in the TRNC (North Cyprus) counts as spending abroad. While instalments on foreign travel spending are banned, a separate exemption was granted for the TRNC by a decision dated 24 August 2023; instalments of up to 3 months remain available for airline, travel agency and accommodation payments. The exemption is limited to those items — you can't put a restaurant bill on the island into instalments. Because of that same "abroad" label, your bank may be applying a deduction to your card under the name of a foreign transaction fee — check your card agreement before you set off. Some cards come blocked for use abroad; have that setting switched on too, just in case.
Getting Hold of Cash
Six banks from Turkey have branches on the island: Ziraat, Halkbank, Garanti, Denizbank, TEB and İş Bankası. The TRNC Central Bank keeps the list on its own website. Don't be surprised if your own bank isn't among the six — Yapı Kredi and Akbank aren't on that list. Alongside them operate fifteen local banks such as Koopbank, Türk Bankası and İktisatbank. In branch and ATM numbers, Ziraat leads them all with 9 branches and 66 ATMs. You'll come across ATMs at Ercan, in hotel lobbies and in city centres. Branches open at 08.15 and close at 16.00 on weekdays, with tellers generally finishing at 15.00; on Thursdays branches stay open until 17.15. None of the banks separately publishes how much is deducted on withdrawals with a Turkish card. The cleanest option is to find your own bank's ATM in the TRNC (North Cyprus). If the machine flashes a fee warning on screen before processing, stop and read it — you have the right to cancel the transaction if you don't like the figure. There's a separate trap for those withdrawing with a foreign card: the machine's offer to "process the transaction in your own currency"; the rate handed to anyone who accepts that offer is usually worse than their own bank's. Sterling and euros can also be withdrawn from İktisatbank's CardPlus ATMs, at a commission of 2-3 dollars per transaction as of 2026.
Sending Money to an Account on the Island
Sending money to a student studying on the island or a relative living there is a very different matter from holiday spending. The two directions don't work symmetrically. Sending money from the island to Turkey is easy: a local TRNC bank sends a TL transfer directly to an IBAN in Turkey. The reverse direction is roundabout. You first deposit the money into that TRNC bank's correspondent account in Turkey. The recipient's account number and name go into the description line. You can't send an EFT or FAST transfer from Turkey to an IBAN starting with CT — the money travels via the correspondent account. And it doesn't arrive instantly. An account at a Turkish bank's TRNC branch, however, works just as it does in Turkey; İş Bankası's TRNC tariff explicitly lists EFT and FAST via İşCep. The island's own instant payment system, EÖS, works only within the island. It transfers TL, dollars, euros and pounds between TRNC accounts in real time, but doesn't touch the Turkey leg.
Exchange Offices and the Rate Spread
For anyone with currency to change, exchange offices are plentiful in central Kyrenia and Nicosia. Xcentum is open Monday to Saturday from 08.00 to 20.00, Moon Star closes at 18.00 on weekdays; Sun Döviz and Kozan are in the same centres. Moon Star says it charges no commission, that its rate is live and varies with the amount exchanged. An office that charges no commission earns from the spread between buy and sell — and no office writes that spread's percentage on its board. Still, who stands where is clear even unwritten: the best rate comes from the exchange office, the worst from the airport counter and the hotel reception. Since the local currency and the money in your wallet are the same, visitors from Turkey have no business in this section. For foreign tourists too, converting currency to TL at an office and paying in TL comes out cheaper than paying by card in foreign currency.
Payment Rules at the Casino
Inside a casino, money matters are governed by the Games of Chance Law (31/2009, as amended by 26/2025). ATMs may not be kept inside the gaming hall — article 14(3) says so; you need to have withdrawn your cash before walking through the door. You can buy chips with cash or by card; credit cards, debit cards and cheques are accepted, as is a transfer from your own account to the operator's TRNC account. The method the law excludes is promissory notes — the hall cannot sell you chips on an IOU. In practice, an account card is opened for you for the slot machines, while chips are used at the tables. The operator sets the currency of the chips and must post the daily exchange rates somewhere visible to everyone in the hall; TL and foreign-currency chips can circulate side by side. The cage opens each day with at least 150,000 euros or its TL equivalent; the rule's purpose is to ensure there's money in the hall's cage when it's time to pay out. Your winnings are paid in cash, by same-day cheque, or by transfer to your bank account in the TRNC (North Cyprus) — the law recognises no other method. There's a 25-year age requirement and ID registration at the door, and those studying in the TRNC cannot enter; we've broken down exactly who can and can't get in, point by point, in our casino guide. Guests staying at a casino hotel enter their own resort's hall free of charge.
What to Leave on the Table
The waiter's share stays on the table in cash even if you settle the bill by card (that's how custom has it). The usual rate is 5-10 percent, but nobody insists, and if a service charge has been added to the bill you're not expected to add anything on top. In a taxi, rounding the fare up is enough. You can check what people pay per person at restaurants in our price guide. At markets and bazaars the price on the tag is the actual price — don't expect haggling as in Turkey. On the currency front, the only preparation a visitor from Turkey needs before setting off is enabling the card for use abroad, which you do in your bank's app. The estate agent talks in pounds, the minibus driver wants small change in lira; within a few days you too will know which money works at which table.
