We plan on being in Vienna, Saltsburg, Prague, & Budapest starting the end of April. I
know the official exchange rates are rapidly changing, but I am interested in what a moderately priced meal costs in the local currency in these places. Also, do they accept the euro in Prague and Budapest without adding an exchange rate addition?

In Austria (Vienna or Salzburg (note spelling)), you can get a meal for about 10 to 12 euros, including (ala carte) a small salad & a traditional entree such as roast chicken, spare ribs, or a variety of pork dishes. Add in 3-4 euros for a beer.

You can definitely spend more, but it'll be hard to spend a lot less than that.

The euro is not the official currency in either Cz republic or Hungary, but I've found that many small shops (i.e. gift shops) in Prague will accept euros at an OK exchange rate.

Some will have prices listed in both crowns and euros. I try to avoid doing or worrying about an exact conversion. In the end it's not the exchange rate that matters, but whether you consider the price in euros to be one you're willing to pay for whatever you're buying. To me the difference is pocket change anyway. For larger purchases where a few % adds up then you should pay more attention.

I've found that most restaurants want local currency. Street vendors or artists are happy to accept euros. Since you're going to haggle anyway (or maybe not), then again, the exact exchange rate really doesn't matter, just the final price.

You will definitely need local currency though, so you might as well bite the bullet & get some local cash at an ATM.

On your last day you can pay down your hotel bill with any remaining local cash so you don't leave the country with anything more than souvenir bills or coins.

I'm sure that any place (restaurant/shop) that accepts Euros in Prague and Budapest will give you a less favorable exchange rate than you would find from an ATM machine. Why not use local currency or your credit card? Using non-local currency has been discussed here many many times.

In Prague I would avoid the cafes around Old Town Square as their prices are high. Last year in Prague I paid between 189 and 248 CZK for lunch (usually a nice salad and either tap water when I could get it or bottled water if the resto refused to serve me tap water) and between 189 and and 500 CZK for dinner usually with 2 glasses of wine.

Watch for the number of grams (showing portion size) posted on the menu. The dinner I paid 500 CZK for included a huge amount of meat that I couldn't finish.

http://www.expats.cz/prague/article/...ost-of-living/
this link will give you a rough idea of costs in prague,i agree with what adrienne gas said about eating around Old Town Square,the same can be said for the cafes and resturants around the castle area.
the cheapsest meal I had on my last trip was a 89czk 2 course lunch,with 2 beers plus tip i paid 150czk,but that was way out in the very south of the city.

When we visited the Czech Republic and Hungary several years ago, I would say our meal costs in the Czech Republic were in the ballpark of Adrienne's.

For example, at Kolkovna, a traditional Czech place in Budapest, we spent 1180 Czk (Czech korunas, or crowns) for 3 for dinner, which included 1 appetizer (onion rings, not worth it), 3 entrees (which included one vegetarian omelet), one dessert, 2 glasses of mineral water and one dark beer.

One of our lunches, at Klášterní Pivovar, was a total of 546 Czk, for a Czech lunch: fried cheese (for the vegetarian); potato pancake and a salad; sausage and fries; two mineral waters and one beer.

In comparison, and to echo Adrienne's comments about Old Town Square's high prices, DH and I had late-night drinks there: 225 Czk for one large beer, one cafe latte and one dessert. The people-watching was worth it, but I wouldn't have had a whole meal at that place.

Another day, we picked location over a good price, and ended up with ok food, total of 1115 Czk, which included a 45 Czk "cover charge," to eat at Taverna Toscana, on the edge of Old Town Square. We each had a pizza (Italian-style, individual sized), "complimentary" bruscetti before the meal, one glass of wine, one beer and one mineral water.

In Budapest, we had lunch one day at Soho Palascintobár, which serves Hungarian pancakes in a variety of ways. DH hated it because it was too much like eating snacks, for him, but DS and I liked it. For about 2,090 forints, we got about 6 orders of different kinds of palascincas; each single order was in the 310-360 forint range.

Another day, we had pizza for lunch at Pizza Marzano, for a total of 7010 forints for an order of "pizza balls" (an appetizer), two pizzas, two glasses of wine, two bottles of mineral water.

Looking back at my notes, we ate at more-than-moderate places in Budapest, though one night we ate at a different location of Pizza Marzano. For example, we had a very good Hungarian-influenced meal at Klassz Étterem és Borozó, for a total of 18,195 forints, which included a nice bottle of wine. There were definitely more moderate places, I guess we just picked less-moderate restaurants.

Another cheap meal idea in Buapest is to have langos, a local favorite. A stand, called Lángosok, serves them in the Great Central Market. It's basically a Hungarian version of Indian fry bread, served with a variety of toppings, sweet or savory; I had cheese and sour cream; it was a total of 1,900 forints for 3 (we bought drinks from the stand next door), and they are very filling!

We always paid using the applicable local currency; I assume that any exchange rate to use Euros wouldn't be great.

as lexma90 has mentioned the Klasterini Pivovar can i just say it is a must stop place for me whenever i am in Prague (usually 2 or 3 times a year),does very good food but they make some of the best beer around.It is not by any means the cheapest place in the city but i really do enjoy it there.
http://www.klasterni-pivovar.cz/en/

this is a good resturant blog to check out,i think the writer is an American ex-pat living in Prague.
http://czechoutchannel.blogspot.com/

Sounds interesting. The only reason I stated moderate priced meals was to see how they compare with prices in different regions. These seem similar, but some places the prices are unusually high (especially in one southern european country).
I am looking forward to experiencing these places. Thanks for correcting my spelling error.

1st of all shame on your for not taking at least a little bit of an initiative and finding out what he currency is in the countries you're planning on traveling to. Second, prices vary greatly. Even in the mid-range. Third, if you try to pay in Euros they wil either laugh at you or take your money and rip you off. But anyway, as a rule of thumb in Budapest you can expect to pay 25-30% less than in the US for a comparable meal at a comparable restaurant. 10 yrs ago this used to be 40-50% less. The gap is narrowing...

The CR and Hungary are in the EU even though they don't use the euro yet, I really don't think they will laugh at people with euros (and I know they don't in Budapest as I've been there and their currency is not a very hard currency so they loved getting other money, as far as I noticed). Not every place, but they certainly did not laugh at people with varying types of currency in that area for the surrounding countries. They might laugh if you wanted to pay with Mexican pesos, sure.

Some places that want tourists and foreign currency don't really laugh at people or try to rip them off, actually. Not when they are in a position with a currency like the forint which nobody wants. When I was in Budapest, some places took other currency like euro, but others did not (in central areas where tourists would be). The exchange rate wasn't that bad for the places that did. I never noticed that much in Prague as I'd call them more developed and I am always there a long time so would never try to get by without koruna.

This was a timely thread for me to digest. This fall we'll be spending about a month in Italy, then flying to Prague to meet some friends for 3 days. I'll need to get myself thinking about local currency sooner or later, so I may as well plan for it now!