lajolla

Have been unpleasantly surprised at the sinking exchange rate of EURO to US$. Can we use the KUNA instead and is the exchange rate better ....more stable? How about in restaurants and hotels? MY budget is sinking!!!!

Ackislander

You ONLY use Kunas in Croatia. There may be tourist places that accept euros or dollars, but you will pay high prices for that privilege.

Use your credit card as much as possible (this will be a lot but not as much as Italy or France).

Get kunas for your cash needs at an ATM.

Don't get more than you think you will spend because they are not easy or cheap to convert to euros or USD. Getting them daily is not a terrible idea.

Prices are lower in Croatia than in most of Western Europe, with the possible exception of fresh fish in restaurants, where it is sold by the kilo and not by the piece, confusing to many.

altamiro

>Can we use the KUNA instead and is the exchange rate better ....more stable?

Main trade partners of Croatia are other European countries, not USA. Which means that the Kuna exchange rate is pretty much tied to the Euro. And the Kuna exchange rate is stable, as is the Euro rate (except to the sinking US$)
But of course, if you are in a country you normally use the official currency of this country. Which is the Kuna.

ira

Hi L,

>Can we use the KUNA instead

You ought to use the local currency.

You will pay a hefty premium for the "covenience" of using Euro.

AP6380

I was going to ask a question like this- part of the reason I chose Croatia for my summer trip is because the official currency is NOT the Euro. But, all the hotels are charging me in Euros! Should I ask them to quote prices in Kunas? Will it make a difference? When I checked the Kunas growth over the past year against the US $, it seemed minimal, or am I misinterpreting? I, admittedly, am not too savvy with all this.... please advise.

bob_brown

Are they actually charging or just quoting the price in €? I ask this because hotels in Switzerland often post prices in € and chf figures, but the actual charge is in chf.

I would get the price in kuna and convert it to € and see if you come out at the same dollar value.

Right now the exchange rate is €1.00 = 7.2080 HRK, €1.00 = $1.5462 and
$1.00 US = 4.6631 Herks.

If the hotel room cost is €100, it should also be 720.80 Hrks or whatever they are.

I always fear dynamic currency conversion ripoff when I see prices like that. DCC is when you get your bill in non local currency and pay for it through poor exchange rates and/or flat fees.

Usually the practice is when converting to US dollars, but it can involve other currencies as well.

I got caught by surprise on that DCC practice once, and I am still ticked off about it. One burned is twice warned.

Lovejoy

Lots of Hotels in Croatia quote room rates in Euros. However it has been my experience that you will be billed in Kuna,and not Euros.

As a previous poster stated the Kuna is tied to the Euro for its exchange rate.Therfore as the dollar rises or falls against the Euro it will do the same against the Kuna.
As an aside,even though Slovenia uses the Euro as its currency,I found prices to be noticeably less there than in Croatia.

tcreath

I agree with Lovejoy; we found Slovenia to be quite a bit cheaper. Everyone talks about how much cheaper Croatia is compared to EU countries but we failed to see it. Sure, some things are cheaper, but other things such as hotels (we went with apartments mostly) are quite high given the quality.

Tracy

Barb

I just got back from Dubrovnik and I totally agree that it is not such a bargain any more. I rent an apt. there which I pay for by converting the euro price (40 euro) into US dollars and I pay him in US dollars. He said I could pay in euro, kuna, dollars, whatever was most convenient. I chose dollars so that I could pay it all at once when I arrived rather than monkeying around with ATMs. Be forewarned that there are some restaurants that do not take credit cards and also some smaller shops, so you will need to get kunas from the ATM.

It's pretty easy to live frugally there though. If you stay in an apt. rather than a hotel and if you don't eat all your meals in a fancy restaurant. (Beware of restaurant row) one street up from the Stradun. There are many small family owned places and there are lots of sandwich places, or pizza slices, but best is to buy fresh fruit, vegs from the farmers market every morning and shop at the Konzum grocery store. A nice bottle of white wine from Korcula in the Konzum is 38 kuna and makings for a really nice lunch, cheese, meats are cheap. Buy bread from the shop right next to the Konzum. Public transporation is also a good deal. Rather than taking an organized tour, you can do it on your own, depending on what time of year you are there, easily and cheaply.

I'm heading back there in October. Just can't get enough. It's the airfare that's killing me!

travel2live2

We still find Croatia to be cheaper than many destinations BUT that is excluding places such as Dubrovnik. So far we have managed to find lovely rural 4 or 5 star B&Bs for 50 euros per room. However, many people are not into our style of travel - way off the beaten path, in the middle of nowhere. We have found excellent inexpensive meals as well (I'm talking about Istria in particular). We have never stayed in a hotel in Croatia yet and never intend to. We are not hotel people!

Barb

I totally agree Travel2. Outside of Dubrovnik or any of the larger cities, I think it is still a bargain compared to most of Western Europe. Croatia is the most amazing and stunningly beautiful country I've ever been to and some areas still so untouristed. I also agree about apt. v. hotels, but then I'm more of an apt. person too. From what I've seen of the hotels, they are way over priced for what you get.

lanejohann

we paid in kunas everywhere in croatia but euros in montenegro
it is cheaper
but the accommodation if you want something fancy isnt cheap
if youre looking for just a room its really cheap and we encountered only clean and comfortable studio type apartments in the old towns we stayed

tcreath

Staying in apaprtments in Croatia is definitely the way to go. We only stayed in one, on our last day. But I'm also an apartment person, and will always choose this option over a hotel if at all possible.

We did find parts of Croatia to be a good value, especially the area north of Zagreb which is less touristed. Dubrovnik was pricy, but this is the case with any popular city. I didn't mean to say that Croatia was really expensive. It just definitely wasn't the bargain that we expected.

With that being said, Croatia is by far my favorite of the places I've visited. Stunningly beautiful and worth every penny.

Tracy

Judy

We have been in Croatia for 2 weeks now, currently in Rovinj.
Many of the places we've stayed, mostly apartments, quoted a rate in Euros when we were making online reservations but always charged in Kunas.
We have been surprised at how little we're spending, especially for food.
We will definitely return to Croatia....the scenery is stunningly beautiful and the people are very friendly and seem genuinely eager for us to have a good time.