Well- Should I holiday in Greece??!!

Itismehonest

Take plenty of low denomination Euro in cash. It's a cash economy & many places won't accept cards.

jhe

good advice given about changing £-euros at home into low denomination notes incase greece reverts back to drachma, that way you wont be stuck with greek euros

dont think i explained above to well.
radio expert advised to change £- euro at home, but not into greek euro notes (with serial beginning Y). low denomonation so you wont be paying in greece with say a 50 euro note and getting change in greek euro notes

mai-tai

We are going to one of the islands in 4 weeks, for 2 weeks.
I had planned on taking all euros with us, with a tiny bit of £.
Would you guys recommend taking more £'s just incase?

jhe

i would take some euros,if you exchange at home i wouldnt accept euro with serial number beginning Y. then take rest in sterling

mai-tai

This is probably going to sound very blonde... but I had no idea that the Letter at the begining signified a country... you live and learn. I'll check what I already have at home!

Thanks for the advice.

Itismehonest

I'm not sure how you'd get on with currency exchange in Greece if trying to change from sterling to a new Greek Euro should it go down that route.
One of the first things to happen when a currency collapses is that the banks close.

I was watching Simon Calder talk about Greece this morning & he gave an example of what happened to him while he was touring Russia at the time the SU came apart.
He said that, if the same were to happen in Greece he would expect them to initially continue using the Euro but that it would be stamped in some way to show it was a new Greek Euro. Obviously, this would mean that the value of that particular note would be much lower than a normal Euro.
So, don't take large denominations of Euro because any Greek Euro you are left with will be worth less than a normal Euro.

jhe

http://www.almanzoraforum.com/index.php?topic=1935.0
also if you change at home ask for low denomonation notes so you are not changing a high note in greece and getting greek euro notes in change

Doshwaster

Even if Greece (or any other country) were to drop out of the Euro it is not going to happen overnight. The government would have to print new currency, they would have to re-establish a central bank, businesses would have to prepare and goodness knows what else you need to do when you change a currency.

The main problem is that since no country has dropped the Euro, nobody knows what will happen since there is no legal mechanism or precedent for doing so.

But as others have said: Go! There are small businesses owners and their staff who will be desperate for your holiday money, regardless of what currency it is in.

mai-tai

I'll ask for low notes, with no Y if poss. Then also take pounds, just in case.
Failing that sell the ot's body for a gyros lol

travelgran

We are holidaying in Greece at present and while no-one can foretell the future we feel very safe and are having a great time. We travelled on election day in both rural and urban areas and wouldn't have known there was an election on. People have been pleased to see us as tourism is obviously down. I know it's still low season but in some campsites we've been the only visitors and many tourist buses at the main sites are only half full.
The mood at present seems to be one of resignation, and some embarrasment, rather than anger but our conversations are admittedly limited by our lack of ability to speak Greek!
As for Greek euros those I have at present, most from ATMs, start with a variety of initials so I don't know how identifiable they are. I just spend them! Some bigger businesses take cards but cash is easier and we've found at least a couple of garages that have refused cards so be aware.
We held back from coming last year because Greece had difficulties, decided to go for it this year and I'm so glad we did.