Zloty
 

We came back from Poland in 1990 with "leftover" zlotych. Are they still valid in Poland?

Hi rd

If you go to www.google.com and enter "poland currency" you will find your answer.

Here's info from the EU business page dated Nov. 2003:

"Poland is one of 10 countries on course to join the European Union on May 1, 2004 but will not adopt the euro currency immediately, with the government and bank admitting that the first realistic date would be 2008 or 2009." http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/031117170810.vczcowqw

I simply did a google search on 'poland, euro and currency

in 90' Poland got new currency where few zeros were dropped and milions became thousands... anyway old currency is no longer used ... check this site to see coins and paper money's currently used in Poland.

http://www.travelpoland.com/index.php?pid=39

if you have those then you are in luck if not then they only have collectors value if any.

Your old zlotych are no longer valid currency. They are still redeemable at National Bank Poland and other designated banks until 2010. Depending on the amount you have consider sending/giving them to a Polish charity or acquaintance. The old coins and bills can be framed and displayed.

Okay, so an old Zloty story...

I left Poland on an overnight train back in the 1970s, and the currency cops missed me (they would go through the train making sure no-one was exporting their precious and quite worthless Zlotych) so I arrived in Prague with some thousands of Zlotych worth precisely Zilch. It was so early in the morning that the currency exchange booth at the Prague station wasn't open, so I had to hike to the nearest tourist hotel and pester the front desk to change £20 into Czech Korunas so I could take a taxi to my hotel.

The cab driver, faithful to his guild in Prague, tried to rip me off as a pretext to inviting me to engage in some illegal (at the time) currency trading, which would leave me with numerous worthless Korunas as well as Zlotych. I had been pestered by the "change money?" corps of Eastern Europe for some months by this point and was not interested in more of the same at dawn on a Sunday in Prague. I declined, told him I wasn't going for his inflated cab fare, at which point he snarled and said the cab ride was "gratis" - which was about the right price - and flung my bags onto the pavement in front of the hotel.

Before he could drive away, I said "hold it" and took out my wallet. Looking hopeful, he came over to me thinking I had reconsidered his attractive deal. I handed him something like 100 Zlotych (maybe worth US$2 on a good day). They were worth the same to him as to me (the Czechs didn't trust the Poles' currency any more than the Poles trusted the Czechs'). My last sight of him was standing there next to his cab blinking and looking curiously at the Polish banknotes, which had some suitably Stalinist image of a working farmer or something on them. What...the...hell...?

My favorite encounter with a Prague cab driver to this day.

One more exchange story: We had been advised not to deal with street money changers. My friend went for a deal that seemed to be at twice the bank rate. We were in Bulgaria. At the next shop he offered his "Bulgarian" currency to the clerk. She threw up her hands,"NO!, not Bulgarian, it is Yugoslavian." Mildly expensive lesson. A great street merchant.