Currency in Budapest and Prague
 

Has Hungary switched to the Euro yet? I thought I read that it was supposed to occur this year? We will be visiting in early Sept. Am I right in assuming that most tourist attractions and restaurants will also accept and post prices in Euros in both Budapest and Prague? Thanks in advance for your answers, Reid777

I googled a bit, and it looks like Hungary is still slated for adoption of the Euro 1012-1014.

The local currancy is the forint in Hungary and the Czech koruna in the Czech Republic, and that's the currency you'll pay in. Sometimes I would see signs giving the equivalent rate in Euros (most often on hotel websistes), but the payments will be in the local currency.

Nope you are assuming wrong. You will have to pay in the local currency which can be easily obtained from ATM's.

All the websites in Budapest (museums, tourist attractions) list prices in Hungarian Forint. The only exception I see are hotel websites and most apartment rentals.

Don't expect to be able to pay for most things in Euros (such as local transportation, shops, food, museums etc).

In Prague some places will accept Euros but you will get a very very poor exchange rate.
Use the Atm's to get Czech Crowns and make any purchases with them.larger purchases can be made with credit or debit cards and the wxchange rate is that bank rate of that day and whatever charges your card company adds.
I travel to the Czech republic quite often and have no problem using ATm's and credit cards.

Why would they take Euros if the country is not on the Euro? Should they also take dollars and pounds?

I'm sure you can find some places that will take Euros and they will charge you 15-20% more than the equivalent price in local currency just because you didn't go to an ATM. Kinda like the gyro stand owner in Santorini did to the college kid sitting next to me who wanted to pay in dollars.

We have a 6 hr. stopover in Budapest. Am planning on taking the hotel shuttle to Meridian Hotel to explore Budapest a little. How much should I take out from ATM for 2 persons? If I take out too much, changing what we have left back to Euros will be expensive. Could we use credit card (in a pinch) for a small lunch? May also take the Funicular to Castle Hill and Fisherman's Bastian. What will that cost? Is there an entrance fee for Matthias Church?
Thanks,
Mary Ann

Hi nannibray-

The funicular (according to 2008 Rick Steves' guidebook) is 700 HUF one-way, 1300 HUF r/t.

Matthias Church is 700HUF + 400HUF for option audioguide.
http://www.matyas-templom.hu/eng/idegenforgalom.html

Fisherman's Bastion is 400 HUF.

All prices are per person.

My wife and I were there May 13-17, 2009, and they are still on the Forint. Very easy to get cash at the ATM's, you may want to check with your bank first. A few places would accept Euro cash, and about half of the nice cafes accepted Visa, but I found it was easier to spend the forints (cash) there.

You can easily exchange the forints back at the airport although you will take a small hit. In one day, we exchanged forints to euros to zlotys to CAN $s. About $150 wasi in motion. Sure we took a hit, but we had lunch in the Old Town of Warsaw on a similar layover.