Poland Travel Answers

What i do is: Credit card + withgraw money from the cash points; yes, it's much better to have local currency for some items

I think it would be daft to try and only use euros, to be honest. It is always, always best to use the legal currency of a country. You can almost guarantee that anywhere which accepts payment in another currency (be it euro, USD or anything else) will be giving you a poor exchange rate..not least because they have to cover their own exchange costs. And there is of course no guarantee that suppliers *will* accept euro; it is not the legal currency of the country. So get some zloty (before or when you're there). You can, of course, use your card as well (as long as cards, and your particular card, are is accepted by the supplier) but you will definitely need cash for smaller purchases.

used zloty only never even thought about euro but we have sterling so it would have meant 2 lots of exchange -

leics is right, if they take your euros it will be at their own exchange rate but (except maybe for tips at hotels, where they can collect enough to change or use elsewhere), you can't really do without local currency for small amounts - any more, I presume, than zlotys would go down well where you are! Of course it depends on exactly what you are doing during these few days, e.g. would you be using local transport or is someone ferrying you around? I once visited Budapest with a group of people, and as the only one with forints, ended up paying for everyone's use of the toilet at a café where the lady guardian wasn't taking any coinage she couldn't use (was repaid with cake...!). Point is, for small things you might as well try paying in bon-bons as in a foreign currency.

Euros can be axceptable only in some big supermarkets, hotels and maybe shops in touristic areas (but I'm not sure about it). You can't pay them anywhere else so having some zlotys is necessary (unless you are not going to buy even a bottle of water).

Thank you all for the excellent info! I will definitely get some zlotys either when I arrive in Poland or beforehand when I'm in Berlin. As to the last question about US$ in Canada, nowadays that the two currencies are hovering around par, every retailer I've dealt with equally accepts US$ or Cdn$.

Ha ha, I can just imagine the clerk's reaction in Chicago if you tried to hand them some loonies! You'll have to try it the next time you come visit me :-) Good advice from everyone, it's *almost* always better and cheaper to deal with the local currency, certainly in Europe. Will you bring me back some pierogis?

In the airport at Bydgoszcz (Bitgosh) there are a row of 3 cash machines in the bag coollection area...use those when you get there..Add has done that a couple of time with no problems...he cant remember being anywhere that had a sign saying that thay accepted euros

Some places in visitor-popular locations (e.g. Krakow) will sometimes accept euro...but imo it's not sensible to use anything other than the legal currency, anywhere. I think there is sometimes a misconception that the euro is a pan-EU or pan-European currency. It isn't: a country has to abandon its own currency and formally adopt the euro as its currency.

Dunno..I use GBP where I live, and the travel forums are anyway not for such discussions. :-)

You really believe all these countries will pull out of the Euro again?...I dont think so,,its not just a paper money your talking about... nu uh its massive multinational billion upon billion of imaginary money trade agreements...backing out would be a big hassle

if you have euros u can exchange them at any money brokers or if you have credit/debit then most places take them for meals etc