hugarian forint

beverleyjohn282

any help going to budapest for 2 nights 3 in prague. best way to take money ie there currency or euro also roughly how much . or card for atms any advice would be greatful

Louisdf

AWAY from the touristy bits of Budapest in Buda (the side where the castle is), there are many good exchange places. Shops/restaurants which take Euros often take them at a poor exchange rate.

benjus

Your best bet is a fee-free card like Halifax Clarity, or a Metro Bank debit card if you can get to London. Failing that, a good prepaid card (such as Kalixa) would be a good option. Whatever card you take, make sure it's denominated in GBP as using a Euro card would involve 2 currency conversions.

sgun

Actually by far your best bet is just getting money out of an ATM. They are regulated and the rates are the same at any ATM, it is only your own bank that will charge you more depending on who you bank with. The ATM at the arrivals in Budapest will give you the same rates as in town so if you bank with someone reasonable (see the guide on this site) it is much better and much less hassle to get your forints from an ATM. I would never dream of trying to get Forints either here or in Hungary, there is simply no need. Avoid paying in Euros you will get a bad (not too bad any more the Forint is stronger than it was) exchange rate, the only time I would pay in Euros is for an apartment and even then I would try to get them to accept Forints.

sgun

....pre pay cards simply do not make sense with the Forint/Pound exchange rate if you bank clever.

Louisdf

sgun wrote: »

Actually by far your best bet is just getting money out of an ATM. They are regulated and the rates are the same at any ATM, it is only your own bank that will charge you more depending on who you bank with. The ATM at the arrivals in Budapest will give you the same rates as in town so if you bank with someone reasonable (see the guide on this site) it is much better and much less hassle to get your forints from an ATM. I would never dream of trying to get Forints either here or in Hungary, there is simply no need. Avoid paying in Euros you will get a bad (not too bad any more the Forint is stronger than it was) exchange rate, the only time I would pay in Euros is for an apartment and even then I would try to get them to accept Forints.

Be careful of DCC, there are many 'Euronet' ATMs in Eastern Europe which always try and trick users of foreign cards into paying in the card's base currency at a poor exchange rate. However, ATM's of commercial banks (at least in my experience in Eastern Europe) tend not to do this..

benjus

sgun wrote: »

....pre pay cards simply do not make sense with the Forint/Pound exchange rate if you bank clever.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here... can you elaborate?


In case I wasn't clear in my previous post, I am advocating using a GBP-denominated card to either withdraw cash at ATMs or pay directly, but always in the local currency.