Going with a tour group to Croatia in 10 days. Would appreciate info on changing dollars into local currency. Are ATMs readily available in major cities or at the airport? How about taking small denomination dollars - is there any preference in tip situations or is the local currency required? Looking for the most convenient way to exchange money with the best exchange rate. Travelers checks or credit cards - worth taking? Thanks for your response.

In my travels to Slovenia I have found ATMs to be very accessible--so accessible that I found one in a tiny Village in eastern Slovenia in a building that had a tiny store/pub across from the village church.

I hope you enjoy Slovenia. I have been there twice and will be going again in May.

CJ

Not to rain on the parade but after many years of getting local currency abroad from ATM's, I had quite a hard time in Croatia as did a number of otheres in our tour group.

Before leaving home, I had called my credit card companies and bank and gave them my itinerary for the trip. I had no trouble getting euros atan ATM in Munich airport, but the first 7 or 8 ATM's in Zagreb rejected my Bank of America ATM card.

I finally would up exchanging the euros for kuna (painlessly) at a Croatian bank for spending money but still tried every ATM I passed, something of a distraction when you are trying to sightsee!

Finally, I found one bank that accepted my card, Privredna Banka Zagreb, which fortunately had branches in Dubrovnik, Split, and Opatija, so I was never without cash again. My credit cards worked flawlessly throughout.

Of course the real misery was coming home and seeing the charges tacked onto my transactions by Bank of("not to be confused with customer service&quotAmerica!

Hope you have better luck. Nothing like being cashless to raise the stress level.

Cjspirit's problems "is a puzzlement", as our ATM debit cards worked perfectly in Croatian two years ago. I had the machine spit mine back a couple of times, but I finally figured out that I was trying too early in the morning, i.e., before the main branch of the bank was open. As long as I did my transaction in the middle of the day, it seemed to work fine.

Dollar bills will be of no use. Those days are gone forever, I'm afraid, along with cigarettes and chocolate bars as tips. You will get Kunas out of the machine. Euros would sometimes be accepeted, but I shudder to think of the exchange rate. Euros did come in handy in Montenegro, however, as Kunas were not accepted there.

We have ATM cards from our local bank, which is a Cirrus partner. It was accepetd in machines all over Europe. It had the added advantage that my bank charged no transaction fee.

I'm sure you will love Croatia and have a wonderful time.

I've been going to Croatia for 5 years - have had no problems finding ATMs on the coast and on the islands. I did find that many restaurants on the islands preferred cash instead of credit cards.

Out of curiosity, Ackislander, did you have a BofA ATM "only" card? Or was it a BofA ATM/debit card with a Visa or MasterCard logo on it? If it was the former, I understand, since more and more ATMs in Europe are going with Visa services to handle their foreign withdrawals. As a result ATM only cards without a Visa or MC connection will not work in those machines.

Reember sitting on a bench at a lake in Croatia. I could see 4 ATM`s without even turning my head. ATMs were everywhere, both in Croatia and Slovenia. Not to worry! I got a credit union debit/credit card before going, since the fees are less, and only use it on trips. Traveler`s checks were not well accepted.

No problems with ATMs in Croatia this past fall. The first ATM spit my card back but I just to a different bank's ATM 15 feet away. No problems. ATMs are everywhere.
Cash is preferred. They do accept euros and pounds but at pretty bad exchange rates. I imagine the same would be for US$'s.
Croatia is wonderful! Enjoy!