During your stay in Prague, you’ll need some Czech currency. Find out how and where you can exchange money, what are the best options and what you must be aware of.
If your vacations in Prague will be for an extent period, you’ll need some Czech currency. The essential unit of currency is the koruna (plural, koruny) or crown, abbreviated Kc. Each crown is divided into 100 haléru or hellers. Czech Republic is expected to join the Euro untill 2012. The Euro is accepted in lots of Prague hotels, shops and some restaurants, but most take simply the Czech Crown.
There are two main options to obtain crowns while in Prague: you can change your foreign currency into crowns at an exchange office or bank, or you can also withdraw money from a Czech ATM, using the bank card from your home-country.
If you want to exchange money at the airport change as little as possible because Travelex airport exchange fee is quite high. Due to the low trading of currency and because the margin is quite high to exchange, buy and sell money before you go to Prague it is not the best idea. Best option is to withdraw cash using your debit card upon arrival.
The best way to withdraw money is from an ATM, as there’s no charge or commission (except if your bank imposes some charge). It is very easy to find an ATM machine in Prague. ATM machines accept debit and credit cards such as VISA, AMERICAN EXPRESS, DINERS and some more. Almost all the ATM’s provide operating instructions in English, German and French. Usually there aren’t extra charges for money withdraws.
Its will be possible to find them at every metro station, close to banks and at post offices. Even if your account is in your home currency it is possible to draw Czech crowns from the ATM machine in Prague. The exchange rate is uses to be charged according to the present exchange rate in the back you have your bank account, to the current date.
Sometimes the banks charge a fee for using ATMs out of your country; the foreign bank you use may also charge a fee. Nonetheless, most of the times it is easier to get a better rate of exchange at an ATM than at a currency-exchange office or even when changing money in a bank. Another reason that make this way the best is that you will extract funds as you need them instead of carrying around a large amount of cash.
When you use card from your home bank before you charge something, ask the merchant whether he or she plans to do a dynamic currency conversion (DCC). In a transaction like this one the credit-card processor (shop, restaurant, or hotel, not Visa or MasterCard) converts the currency and charges you in dollars. In most cases you’ll pay the merchant a 3% fee for this service in addition to any credit-card company and issuing-bank foreign-transaction surcharges.
To exchange money you can go to bank or exchange office. In general, most banks are open 8am-5pm Monday to Friday. Exchange bureaus are open from 8am until at least 7pm; some in the centre even remain open 24 hours a day. Most hotels will exchange money around the clock, but their rates are slightly higher than at a regular exchange bureau or bank. Usually banks charge a commission of between 1 percent and 2 percent.
If you need money outside this schedule or are tempted by the generous rates offered, you can use an exchange office. Be careful while using money exchange offices. Some of them target tourists and you might end up paying a high commission or getting a bad rate without even knowing about it.
Most private exchange offices in Prague charge commission of up to 10% and they will advertise higher exchange rates hoping customers will not realize this is a high commission.
Beware, however, of high commission fees, and watch out for exchange offices that advertise attractive “We Sell” rates in their windows but conceal a much less favorable “We Buy” rate. While it is possible to exchange money on the black market anywhere in Prague, it has no benefit since the street rates are not that much better than those in the banks to warrant the hassle. Never change money on the street. The point of this exercise is not to exchange money, but to steal it from you.
Exchange rate – Check latest info on this, we may be out of date!
The exchange rate is approximately:
€ 1 (£ 0.80) = Kč 26 (£ 0.90)
US$ 1 (£ 0.80) = Kč 22 (£ 0.70)
£ 1 = Kč 29 (£ 1)