Ankara

Cost of Living in Ankara

Budget roughly $1,260 a month as a solo remote worker in Ankara, which makes it appreciably cheaper than Istanbul for a similar standard of city living. A one-bedroom apartment in Cankaya, Kizilay or Bahcelievler runs about $300 to $450, and the newer districts out towards Cayyolu cost about the same for more space and a longer commute. Groceries land around $180 to $250, helped by neighbourhood pazar markets that undercut supermarkets on produce by a wide margin. A lunch of doner or pide is $3 to $5, a proper restaurant dinner with drinks $15 to $25, and a monthly transit pass about $25. Utilities run $60 to $110 and spike in winter, when Ankara's continental climate makes heating a real line item rather than an afterthought. Rent increases on a continuing tenancy were capped by law through the worst of the inflation and the cap has since lapsed, leaving a wide gap between what a sitting tenant pays and what a newcomer is quoted, which is why so many flats change hands quietly between people who already know each other. An agency takes its commission on a new let. A deposit of a month or two is standard and comes back slowly if at all, so expect to argue for it.

Where to Work in Ankara

Ankara is a government and university city rather than a tourist one, and its working spaces reflect that. Coworking clusters around Kizilay, Cankaya and the technology parks attached to METU and Bilkent, where rates run about $90 to $150 a month and the other members are more likely to be Turkish founders and engineers than visiting nomads. Cafe culture is strong and laptop-friendly, particularly in the student areas around Bahcelievler and Tunali Hilmi, and third-wave coffee has arrived properly in the last few years. Fixed-line internet is fast and cheap, and mobile data is good, though foreign SIM cards get throttled after 120 days unless the handset is registered, which is a well-known and expensive piece of Turkish bureaucracy worth planning around. The defence and aerospace industry is concentrated in this city and nowhere else, and the engineering firms attached to it are the reason the technology parks exist at all. None of that work is open to a foreigner without clearance. What it does produce is a city full of engineers, a serious supply of technical meetups, and a professional culture that starts at half past eight in the morning and means it.

Getting Around Ankara

Ankara has a metro with four lines plus the older Ankaray light rail, and between them they cover the spine of the city from Kizilay outwards. Buses and shared dolmus minibuses fill everything else, and an Ankarakart smart card pays for all of it at roughly $0.40 a ride. The city is spread out and hilly, so walking works within a neighbourhood rather than between them. Taxis are metered, plentiful and cheap by European standards. The high-speed train to Istanbul takes about four and a half hours and to Konya under two, both from Ankara YHT station, and is much more pleasant than flying. Esenboga airport is 28km north with a frequent Havas bus. Traffic is heavy at rush hour and driving is not recommended for newcomers. The fast rail network keeps extending east from here, with a line to Sivas opened a couple of years ago, which makes the city the hinge of the whole system rather than one end of it. Journeys that used to mean a flight are now a morning on a train. Within the city the hills mean a metro station can sit a long way below the street, and the escalators at some of them take longer than the ride between stops.

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Visas for Ankara

Turkey grants most Western passports a 90-day stay in any 180-day period, with EU, UK and Canadian citizens entering visa-free and some nationalities needing an e-Visa bought online in advance. Turkey does have a Digital Nomad Visa, which starts with a Digital Nomad Identification Certificate for graduates aged 21 to 55 earning $3,000 a month from abroad, and for anyone outside that scheme the short-term residence permit, the kisa donem ikamet, is the standard route for staying longer. It is applied for online through the e-ikamet system, requires proof of address, health insurance and funds, and has become noticeably harder to obtain in Istanbul in recent years. Ankara is generally reported as more straightforward. Turkey also has a well-known citizenship-by-investment property route. Anyone planning to stay should start the residence process well before the 90 days expire. Every embassy in the country is in this city, which matters more than it sounds: applying for a visa to somewhere else, having a document legalised or replacing a lost passport all happen here rather than in the bigger city on the coast, and people travel up for a morning appointment. That is a real practical advantage of basing here. Appointment systems are online and the slots go quickly, so book before travelling rather than after arriving.

Best Time to Visit Ankara

Ankara sits on the Anatolian plateau at about 900 metres, which gives it a genuinely continental climate and four distinct seasons. Spring, April to early June, and autumn, September to October, are the best: warm days, cool nights, clear light and comfortable walking weather. Summer is hot and very dry, with highs in the low thirties, but the altitude keeps nights cool and the humidity is low, so it is far more bearable than the coast. Winter, December to February, is genuinely cold, regularly below freezing, with snow and grey skies, and air quality dips as heating ramps up. There is no tourist season to speak of, so accommodation prices are stable year-round, which is one quiet advantage of a city that does not live on visitors.

Pros and Cons of Ankara

Ankara is cheap, functional and largely undiscovered by remote workers, which is either its main appeal or its main problem depending on what you want. It has a real metro, excellent and inexpensive food, a serious university and technology sector, fast internet, and a central position that puts the whole of Anatolia within reach by good trains. It is far calmer and less crowded than Istanbul. It is not a beautiful city, the tourist sights amount to a strong museum and a hilltop citadel, and there is almost no international nomad community here at all. English is limited outside the universities and technology parks. Winters are cold and the air quality suffers. Anyone arriving expecting Istanbul's drama will find a working capital instead.

Who Ankara Is For

The point of the place is living in Turkey properly rather than passing through it, which means learning some Turkish and valuing low costs and a functioning city over scenery and easy company. Anybody building ties to the Turkish technology sector has business here, and the rail network makes this the obvious base for working through Anatolia. A good many people arrive because Istanbul turned out to be either too much or too expensive. It is a reasonable choice for families, with safe neighbourhoods and good private schools. An English-speaking environment, an existing nomad crowd, a beach and nightlife on any scale are all missing here, and no amount of patience will produce them. Those wanting Turkey with all of that should look at Istanbul, Izmir or the coast.