Leslie

I will be in France in Jan. 2001 and I was not sure last time I was there what would be considered a good exchange rate. The franc is currently at 7.529 but is that good or bad?

carol

It's a great rate--but wait, it may go higher--it's been as high as 7.8x recently.

Jean Valjean

If it is good or bad depends on where you live.

If you take US dollars with you, 7.5 is an excellent exchange rate. The Euro is not at its best (actually, it's at its worst), and going to Euro countries with dollars is quite a bargain at the moment.

For reference, before the Euro, the franc was at around 5.2 per dollar. That means that your money will get you almost 40% more francs than 2-3 years ago!

Melanie

A good website for currency exchange rates is Oanda.com. It has a Traveler's Cheatsheet that converts your destiny's currency into your home currency in increments such as 100 and 150 francs. It prints out wallet sized for you to cut out and take with you.

Leslie

silly me, I am in the US. I'm sure that info will make my post make more sense. The current airfare sales have me a little giddy. Thanks for any help provided.

Caitlin

Just so you know that the exchange rate is getting better and better, in April it was around 6.6FF/US$1--in other words, traveling in France is getting cheaper and cheaper for americans!

Bill

Just returned from France this week. Was there for 10 days and the exchange rate is very nice. It was around 7.7 while I was there. I used ATMs only to obtain francs. At this rate the cost of France is very affordable right now. We ate better than on any earlier trip and the average tab was 300-350 francs for 3-4 course meals, with drinks before, wine with, coffee after. Now, these weren't fancy places, but they were nice. Shopping was also much easier on the wallet as well. My wife purchased several items (silk scarves, local cosmetics, etc.) at rates well below what the same things would have cost here. This is a good time to visit any country that has its currency pegged to the Euro.