Need your insight: Changing U.S Dollars in Central Europe.
 

I'm going to carry some cash and my ATM.
In Prague: Any good places to change my dollars for CZK?
In Budapest, Austria, & Poland: Is one better then the rest for changing dollars for Euros?

Thanks for your input.

Just use your ATM card.

Or, if you must have cash, before leaving home, get some of local currency of the first country of your visit.

RE the Budapest, Poland, Austria question:

Well, Austria would be the place to secure Euros because Austria is the only one of the three to USE Euros.

In Budapest you will use forints, in Poland zlotys -- euros are available but they are foreign currency, just like your dollars.

Is there a part of this question I am misunderstanding?

I also don't understand your question - If you have an ATM why do you need to exchange $ anywhere?

(You get local currency, not US$, when you use an ATM outside of the States)

I was surprised to find that the ATMs in Europe were just as easy to use as my ATMs at home, and just as available. Plus, most if not all allow you to pick English -- just like a lot of them here in the States offer Spanish as a secondary language.

Don't bother to bring a lot of dollars in cash -- I bring a couple hundred bucks at the most, just for travel money while I'm stateside and emergency bribe money. ha.

The ATMS will give a great exchange rate. We would take out our max every couple-few days so we could reduce the number of charges and trips to the ATM, but they spit out Euros in the countries that use them, and British pounds in the UK, etc. The fun part is seeing your balance in the "other" currency. So don't freak out if you see you're a millionaire in Turkey and poor as a church mouse in London. ;)

Happy Travels.

Jules

Maybe for versatility and to be prepared. I like having options, also.

In Prague, the American Express office is very good for exchanging and has good rates -- it is on the north side of the street on the Mala Strana side of the Charles Bridge. Aside from that, Travelex exchange (used to be Thomas Cooks) is fairly common in Prague, and they have decent rates also. I don't know exact locations, but I think there is one right near Wenceslas Square, on the street near the "bottom" of it. You can probably get addresses somewhere if you really want, but they are a good option.

I've only been in Krakow in Poland, and there were a lot of exchange places all over the central area, so it should be easy enough. I don't think I used one, so don't know their rates. Rates in Prague are very good and similar to using an ATM.