ITTP

[admin]

Hello!

This information is for anyone planning on coming to Prague.

Changing money in Prague can be a real nightmare and it is quite common to see angry customers banging on exchange office windows, demanding their money back because of a currency transaction which left them out of pocket.

The vast majority of exchange offices in Prague advertise misleading exchange rates and claim to offer 0% commission rates.

First thing to do is to make sure that you know what the exchange rate should be. The rate changes daily. For USD, EURO and GBP rate comparisons with CZK the following website is excellent:
http://www.csob.cz/
Look at the right side of the page and click on USD, GBP or EURO and you will see the exchange rate for the day and a graph for the previous month.

When an exchange office advertises 0% commission this usually just applies if you have CZK and you wish to buy foreign currency. In this case the best offices can be found on Wenceslas Square and often give a better rate than the banks.

BUT, if you have foreign currency and wish to buy CZK then these offices will offer you a terrible rate and may or may not add a commission on top.
The only exchange office which we can recommend currently is:
www.exchange.cz
Alternatively, the banks will also change foreign currency for CZK but will add a service fee of a couple percent of the total amount.
Withdrawing funds directly from an ATM is probably the best form of currency exchange.
We can recommend the ATM's of CSOB.
Be careful: Western banks in Prague often charge ridiculous amounts for ATM withdrawals.

Hezky den!/Lovely day!

Neville

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[SteveNeils]

This is an excellent post and it's a shame this post couldn't be stamped into everyone's passport as they enter Czech Republic territory.
Don't be fooled by seemingly favorable exchange rates offered in the city.
Take the advice of Neville's post and change up either at a hole-in-the-wall (ATM), or at exchange.cz.
I would go a step further and also discredit changing up at banks as they charge quite a hefty commission (5% standard).

S.
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