changing money in poland

mickus999Threads: 4 Posts: 14 Joined: Oct 7, 06 ♂	Edited by: mickus999 Mar 28, 07, 12:19 #1
hi all im travelling to poland soon and wondered if anyone can give me a bit of information on changing money while im there....is it better to change all my pounds here in england?? or can i get zlotys with my visa debit card in poland and what sort of exchange rate will i get?? thanks all

BubbaWooThreads: 46 Posts: 4,438 Joined: Sep 26, 06 ♂	Mar 28, 07, 12:40 #2
change money wherever you want - there wont be a great deal in it... there are loads of kantors in most cities which will give you a fair rate... and loads of atms which take cards... if you want to open a bank account and move a lot of money then thats a different matter...

mickus999Threads: 4 Posts: 14 Joined: Oct 7, 06 ♂	Edited by: mickus999 Mar 28, 07, 12:45 #3
thanks bubba...i was thinking about taking 200 zlotys to get me from the airport to the city ..then using my u.k visa debit card..

Dagga_01Threads: 1 Posts: 18 Joined: Mar 30, 07 ♀	Mar 30, 07, 20:42 #4
As long as you don't exchange the currency at PKO BP (especially in Gdansk) - I have and I can honestly say, I regret it. Customer Service is apparently not in high demand there.. The way I was treated.. I felt awful! And I got s*** for not having "Dowod Osobisty" even though I showed the customer rep. a Canadian Passport!. Brrr...

♂

Jun 21, 10, 20:46 #5

Thread attached on merging:
Changing money or ATM

When my sister was here last week she asked me what was the best, changing her Euros in a "kantor" or using an ATM?
Personally I always use ATM's abroad, because it is comortable and to be honest I cannot be bothered to compare the final cost. But some tourists would go to the other side of the city to get a microscopic deal in a kantor.
What is your feeling about this?
As she was staying in the Old Town (where the kantors are indeed a pure crime) using an ATM made sense.
Other side - and she had a point - what is the point running all over town to get your Euros changed somewhere at a slighly better rate... There are so many better things to do during that time :)

mephiasThreads: 15 Posts: 812 Joined: Nov 14, 08 MEMBER ♂	Jun 21, 10, 21:01 #6
sobieski: what is the point running all over town to get your Euros changed somewhere at a slighly better rate Agreed. Exchange offices in centrum and touristic areas tries to cut %10 if they understand you are a foreigner. Best option is using kantors in malls if you have to.

sobieskiThreads: 82 Posts: 1,143 Joined: Jun 1, 08 ♂	Jun 21, 10, 21:05 #7
That could be a point. I heard the one in CH Arkadia is not too bad.

skibumThreads: 13 Posts: 93 Joined: Jan 26, 10 ♂	Edited by: skibum Jun 21, 10, 22:00 #8
The Kantors are the best rates in the cities, but shop around as there can be big differences. See the blog about Money

THE HITMANThreads: 1 Posts: 416 Joined: Jun 15, 10 ♂	Jun 21, 10, 23:32 #9
skibum: The Kantors are the best rates in the cities, but shop around as there can be big differences. Those days are gone. " big differences " ? ...... I don,t think so.

spanishphilThreads: - Posts: 4 Joined: Mar 15, 10 ♂	Jun 21, 10, 23:38 #10
THE HITMAN: Those days are gone. " big differences " ? ...... I don,t think so. I don't understand why people still use kantors. Taking money out of machines gives you a decent rate. Perhaps I'm just with a reasonable bank....

THE HITMANThreads: 1 Posts: 416 Joined: Jun 15, 10 ♂	Jun 22, 10, 00:43 #11
spanishphil: I don't understand why people still use kantors. If the Polish national bank gave a better rate than the kantors, then this would put an end to them and exchanging money would become normal like in the west, not to mention the Polish bank would reap the rewards.

delphiandomineThreads: 42 Posts: 9,954 Joined: Nov 25, 08 ♂ [Suspended]	Jun 22, 10, 02:28 #12
spanishphil: I don't understand why people still use kantors. Because for example, British banks punish you heavily for taking out money from cash machines.

♂

Edited by: skibum Jun 22, 10, 09:35 #13

THE HITMAN:

Those days are gone. " big differences " ? ...... I don,t think so.

The Hitman, how wrong can you be, In Krakow for example there is always as much as 10% difference between the good and bad Kantors.

spanishphil:

I don't understand why people still use kantors. Taking money out of machines gives you a decent rate. Perhaps I'm just with a reasonable bank....

Why wouldn't you use Kantors, they give you the best rates at zero commission?

I even use them for large transactions, bringing cash from UK and changing at a Kantor, always gives me an even better rate than using any of the main Forex companies.

alexw68

Jun 22, 10, 09:43 #14

I even use them for large transactions, bringing cash from UK and changing at a Kantor

I ONLY use them for large transactions - because they can be negotiated with.

The quoted rates in a Kantor are always for £100, $100 etc. Go in there with twice, three times more and you can nearly always agree a better rate (as long as the person sitting in front of you has the power to make that kind of decision).

VarsovianThreads: 91 Posts: 568 Joined: Nov 23, 06 ♂	Jun 22, 10, 14:47 #15
I changed a lot of money at kantors - always look around a few then haggle for an extra 2 gr. off their quoted rate. The only problem I had was when I walked through a clothes shop with PLN 30,000 in my pocket - impulse buying!!

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