Turkish food combines culinary traditions from the people's nomadic past in Central Asia with influences of the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine. Guests are usually able to go into a kitchen and choose from the pots if they cannot understand the names of the dishes. A wide range of international cuisine is also available in the major cities, and standard German and British dishes along the coasts.

Things to know: Turkey is a secular state and alcohol is widely enjoyed, although during Ramadan it is considered polite for visitors to avoid drinking alcohol in public. Some local restaurants do not serve alcohol.

National specialities:
• Köfte (spicy sausage-shaped meatballs made of minced lamb).
• Shish kebab (pieces of meat threaded on a skewer and grilled).
• Pide (the Turkish equivalent of pizza topped with cheese and eggs).
• Dolma (vine leaves or vegetables stuffed with pine nuts and currants).
• Lokum (Turkish Delight - originally made from dates, honey, roses and jasmine bound by Arabic gum and designed to sweeten the breath after coffee).

National drinks:
• Raki (anisette), known as 'lion's milk', which clouds when water is added. Drinking raki is a ritual and is traditionally accompanied by a variety of meze (small savoury appetizers).
• Ayran (a refreshing yoghurt drink).
• Çay (tea - usually drunk black and strong and served in small tulip-shaped glasses).
• Strong black Turkish coffee (traditionally brewed over hot coals and served very sweet).
• Turkish beer, red and white wines.

Legal drinking age: 18.

Tipping: A service charge is included in hotel and restaurant bills. It is customary to leave a small tip (10 to 15%) for barbers, hairdressers, Turkish Bath attendants and waiters in smarter establishments.  In inexpensive cafes and restaurants a small gratuity is appreciated. When using taxis, passengers should just round up the fare.

Turkey's newfound economic prosperity and cultural shift to the West has stimulated many new nightclubs to open for business in recent years. Istanbul has the largest variety with an abundance of clubs in the Taksim Square area that stay open until the early hours. Some clubs have a strong Turkish character, with live Turkish music, while others are fairly indistinguishable from those in western Europe and play anything from house and techno to heavy metal. Istanbul also has quite a few jazz bars. Cover charges tend to be on the high side.

Belly dancing is a Turkish tradition but these days it tends to be put on mostly for the tourists. Shows are often staged at large hotels. The tradition is to tip the dancer by placing a folded note in an appropriate part of her costume.

Turks like to dine in tavernas called meyhane, where traditional food is accompanied by folk music and dancing. Traditionally these were all-male, rather sleazy establishments but most modern-day meyhane are comfortable places for foreign visitors of either sex to visit.

There are theatres with concerts in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir and most towns have cinemas, although the recent advent of home DVD payers is now taking its toll. Turkish baths (hamam) are popular and a Turkish institution. Even the smallest town will generally have a hamam and larger towns and cities usually have one for each individual neighbourhood. Baths are either designated specifically for men or women, or a single hamam will have separate opening times to accommodate males and females.

In July 2009, Turkey introduced a ban on smoking in public places including restaurants, bars and cafes.

Istanbul's Kapali Carsi Bazaar has jewellery, carpets and antiques for sale. There are also a large number of shops selling carpets and Turkish handicrafts in the Sultanahmet district. The Egyptian Bazaar near Galata Bridge is a good place to buy food products. Turkish handicrafts include a rich variety of textiles and embroideries, articles of copper, onyx and tile, mother-of-pearl, inlaid articles, leather and suede products, jewellery and, above all, carpets and kilims. Nargiles (water pipes) and musical instruments also make good, reasonably priced souvenirs, as do spices like saffron and sumac.

Outside Istanbul, most other cities and larger resorts have a market area where visitors can buy souvenirs and handicrafts. Often this is a covered bazaar area where the goods on sale are manufactured in workshops adjacent to the shops that sell the produce. Bargaining is essential, although you are unlikely to reduce the asking price by all that much unless it was completely unrealistic to start with. Begin bargaining at a price somewhat below what you are genuinely willing to pay. If buying an old carpet or kilim, it is important that the seller issues an invoice (fatura) that states the carpet's estimated age and purchase price in order to satisfy customs that it is not an antiquity. Beware of so-called ‘antiques' peddled at some archaeological sites like Ephesus. These are of very doubtful antiquity and, besides, would be illegal to export if they were genuine.

Shopping hours: Daily 0930-1900 in tourist areas. Closing hours vary, with some shops staying open until midnight. Outside tourist areas shops may close at lunchtime and on Sundays. Istanbul covered market: Mon-Sat 0800-1900 (closed Sunday).