We will need to pay cash for several private guides that we have contracted for in Dreden and Gorlitz.

I'm thinking of taking USD and changing money in Germany. Need the experts advice.!!

Thanks, Judi

Why not wait & withdraw local currency from an ATM after you arrive, instead of carrying a load of cash?

Changing dollars to EURO is a real pain and the exchange rate is terrible. As Suze suggests, get your money at an ATM (Bankautomat). You will find them all over the place, and in the vestibule of most banks and Sparkassen.

Best and easiest is to use an ATM.

How are you going to be paying for all of your other expenses (meals, souvenirs,etc..)?

In general, guides will take any "normal" currency, and certainly dollars. Thay also know that right now the dollar is in far better shape than the Euro.

However, if you are insistant on using Euros, I agree with the above posters to use an ATM.

One thing to keep in mind is that there may be a daily limit on the amount you can withdraw from ATM's. Check with your bank prior to departure, and ask if it is possible to have the daily limit increased temporarily if necessary.

I don't think the guides will accept USD. The "current shape of the $$" has nothing to do with it. They pay their their expenses in Euro and the "current shape of the $$" has no influence on their bills. They'd have additional cost by exchanging USD to Euro.

Definitely use the ATMs. There are plenty around every corner in both Dresden and Görlitz.

Just for future reference, the FED and the BoE have decided to Hyper-Infationate their problems away, with all the pain it brings to everyone. The European central Bank is still meeting havy resistance to doing the same mainly by some folks in Germany. But since they refuse to let Greece Club Med) and the banks fail, their only alternative is to go down that road too. The US alone this year needs more loans than the whole world saves. The rest of the money is "printed". The game is definitively over.

On the subject: Tourist giudes will want €. But as a private guide, I'd take anything with is worth more than the equivalent of those € in dollars plus the cost of exchanging them. Most people are pragmatic, when they're faced with some options.

>But as a private guide, I'd take anything with is worth more than the equivalent of those € in dollars plus the cost of exchanging them.

The smaller the amount in foreign currency (esp. cash) you exchange, the higher is the proportional cost of exchanging it. If a private guide caters mostly to US tourists and gets mostly paid in USD then it is an economically viable model. If you have one or two US customers per month, taking USD doesn't make sense, it's just too expensive. "Great shape" of the currency doesn't ever enter the calculation unless you are earning your money by international currency speculation.

I'm sure any tourist guide on the planet can caclulate in his head how much he/she would take in USD to more than cover the extra costs. And if the guide is self employed, it will be someone that will do such a calculation. And a bank will always be happy to change cash at an awful rate, however.

WOW...thanks everyone.

We will use ATM to withdraw cash as needed. We use credit cards for everything else... always use credit cards wherever accepted.

Thanks again for all your input.

Judi

WHY would you pay someone in US dollars except perhaps in a third world country where the exchange would be more than favorable. It is arrogant and insulting. PLUS it will cost the person money to exchange the money. I see you have "solved" your "problem, but......

Just got back from a trip to Europe. I used euros as I always do when I am in Europe. (I live outside the US and have no trouble buying Euros at a reasonable rate.) However, several of the Americans we were with gave dollars to the guides as tips because they didn't want to buy more Euros than absolutely necessary. I didn't see any of the guides complaining.

There are plenty of American tourists in Europe, so I would think that any decent guide gets plenty of dollars, and they probably know how to exchange them for a decent rate.

However, for Judi - I go with the majority here - Use the ATM.

You can insult me with tons of money as long as you like and I won't find you arrogant either. It's just dollars. Can't imagine other people would be much different.

I can just see the reaction by us Americans if tourists tried to use foreign currency in the US!

"I can just see the reaction by us Americans if tourists tried to use foreign currency in the US!"

Answer is pretty obvious. Creative businesses would find a way to capitalize on the source of cash. Others would insist "that's not the way we do things here in the good ole US of A" and tell the damn ferners to take their funny colored money elsewhere.

Actually, there are places here in San Antonio that accept Mexican pesos. It is not widespread nor advertised but it does occur, usually at a less than favorable exchange rate.