Forum: travel.stackexchange.com
Tags: <exchange><poland><wroclaw><krakow>
Title: What is the best money exchange place to exchange dollars to PLN in Poland
Question: I am looking for a place to change dollars to Polish zloty and I wonder where the best place to do such exchange is.  I am looking for exchange places in following cities (or nearby):   Wroclaw  Krakow  Walbrzych   Additionally can I ever count for an exchange rate that is better then what google shows?(06/01/12  1 U.S. dollar = 3.55219597 Polish zloty)   Does anyone knows a good  kantor  in wroclaw and what the exchange rate there is ??What is the exchange rate at galeria dominikanska??

Answers:
sents: text: In general in Poland specialized currency exchange offices ( kantor ) are much better than banks.
text: I would guess that in bigger cities you will get a better deal, you should shop around and compare rates in different offices (so probably Wroclaw or Krakow).
text: Google shows the average exchange rate at a given moment, so you are pretty much guaranteed that you will get a worse rate (because the exchange office earns on the spreads).
text: However, the rate does change all the time, so it will be different in a few days.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/44/Grzenio
score: 9
sents: text: In my (recent) experience, better than change money is to find any cashier and get money from it.
text: That's when you need cash, because almost any restaurant, hotel, shop, etc will accept paying by card, that gives even better exchange.
text: Note :
text: My credit card is an Euro based VISA, I don't know if that's important.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/1425/Ivan
score: 3
sents: text: I been to kantor s all over Wrocław and looked at the exchange rates all over the city the exchange was 3.45 at most places, where as the best exchange price was 3.497 at the Alior bank near the city center (rynek).
text: The exchange prices change every day
text: but I suggest checking this location before exchanging somewhere else.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/2431/Xitcod13
score: 3
sents: text: At many exchange shops (kantor) you even can negotiate exchange rate, if you sell or buy larger amount of dollars/euro.
text: Watch out for those "kantors",
text: that are in very touristic places, like in Old Town of Kraków (Cracov).
text: They often have very bad exchange rate.
text: The rate when selling is always lower than average and for buying is always higher.
text: There is however no commission.
text: If someone wants you to pay commission, find another place.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/2513/Tschareck
score: 3
sents: text: Wroclaw: Crossroad Swidnicka and Olawska street in the old town.
text: kantor:
text: CENT Olawska street 50 m from the main square: GANT The best way to find good echange rate is to look at the difference between the sales and buy rate.
text: If it is higher than 7 groszy on one unit price eg 1 Dollar look for another place.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/3032/Michal_Wroclaw guide
score: 3

Summary of the answers:
Larger cities will generally be better, as will specializsd currency exchange offices ( kantor ) rather than banks. At many kantor, you can negotiate a better rate if you are selling or buying larger amounts of dollars/euros.
In Poland changing money in exhange offices rather than banks is recommended , as the rate is better and sometimes you can negotiate that rate. Better deals are probably also available in big cities.