I have been looking at going back to croatia or some eastern european countries and I am confused as I see pricing in Euro or USD but it seems to be adjusted for the lack of strength vs. the euro. Why am I not seeing pricing in Koruna or Kuna? Or maybe the dollar is just so low that even Eastern Europe is more expensive?

Thanks

Pricing in euro is common in Europe in countries that are not yet part of euroland because the value of the euro is more widely known.

Most of the prices you will see on English language web pages are in euro for countries where most people could not tell you what the currency unit happens to be.

For Croatia the kuna is the main unit but decimalized into lipa.

If I got a price in kuna I would have to look it up, whereas if I got it in euro I would multiply it by 1.56 to get US dollars.

I have no idea off the top of my head what the kuna is worth in dollars.

And that does make sense but then how do we get those Eastern European bargains if it is always priced back to the Euro? It doesn't seem that it makes much difference whether I am going to Paris or Poland in terms of the poor dollar-is that right?

You're confusing three different things:
- Tourist-oriented businesses in most Eastern European countries, when talking to people outside their country, quote prices in euros.
- There are all sorts of reasons for that. One of them is that, by and large, their currencies have strengthened against the US dollar more or less in line with the euro. Some have actually strengthened MORE - but since January 2006, only Ukraine has not had its currency strengthen
- BUT all of that is quite beside the point if you're looking for a good value holiday. All of Eastern Europe is poorer than the West, so most prices are a great deal lower. There are exceptions to this: for example, Croatian tourist prices have risen sharply as the country's delights have been discovered by the British and Germans, and Moscow hotels are among the world's priciest.

For Americans, Eastern Europe's become relatively pricier over the past 30 months - but the area overall is still cheap. It's the ABSOLUTE prices that matter - not how the local currency has performed against other currencies.

Got it, so I just need try and stop worrying about the bad exchange rate and know that Eastern Europe is just less expensive to begin with. It does make sense but it still hard to cope with knowing how much less I paid 5-10 years ago. I guess the advice on that is just "get over it"

Are you referring to the Czech Republic as Eastern Europe? Just wondered as you say koruna.

Some hotel websites quote rates in several currencies, euro is common, in Prague just as a convenience to people using them who probably know about how much a euro (or USD) is worth, but not koruna. It doesn't have anything to do with making it a different cost, I don't follow you on that one. It's just a mathematical translation between one and the other, it doesn't change what it costs. I forget when they are actually going to use the euro in the Czech Republic, but when I stayed at a hotel that would only quote rates in euro on their website, they said it was because the owners were Austrian. However, you are charged at the desk in Koruna, of course, as that is the local currency. Being charged in Koruna doesn't make anything any cheaper than being quoted in euro.

The USD isn't worth much against either the euro or Koruna, so what difference does that make. It isn't going to cost you less in USD if prices were quoted differently.