Best place to exchange money in Poland?

The kantor is usually the best bet. Always better than in the UK and at cash machines. If you're going to Warsaw, PM me - I can recommend one that always has a very good rate for sterling - it's tucked away a bit, so you'd need directions to find it.

Going to Zielona Gora so Warszawa is a little too far ;)

(Note to mods: although I see the reason for you merging this thread it also just throws my post into the dead zone for most members as they feel they've already read it and don't bother to reply. Maybe in future if it could be left in the open for a day before it's merged that would be a better way to go about things. Especially with theis type of posts as invariably the best place to get money changed... changes! Thanks)

Have a wander round the centre of Zielona Gora - there are certainly kantors there. They all have a table of the exchange rates they offer. 'Kup' means 'buy' (that's the column with the number of zloty you'd get per pound) 'Sprzedaż' means 'sell' (that's the rate if you change zloty to pounds). British pounds are usually listed on the table as 'GBP'.

It's worth checking the bans (who often have a similar table on display). their rates aren't usually as good, but from time to time they can be.

Wiem ale dziekuje!

If you happen to be walkng past that one you would have told me how to get to had I have been going to Warszawa then could you tell me the current rate of £/Zł? It would be a great help for me!

I'm actually on a ship travelling between between the Gulf of Mexico and the Ekofisk oil field at the moment (currently sort of between Greenland and Scotland) but I'll be back in Warsaw in a couple of weeks. The rate at the one I use is usually a little better than most others. The best advice is to avoid ones in touristy locations and shopping centres (especially the one in Zloty Taras). The 24 hour one on ul. Krucza isn't usually bad.

hello,
i'll go to Wroclaws in August and i spent only 1 night in Wroclaw (i'll go to Prague the day after). So i wonder whether i can use my visa electron card to withdraw directly from euro to Zloty and if not, how much i can exchange (from euro to Zloty) in the kantor to spend only one day. I planned to visit the zoo, the university of Wroclaw and take a lunch also a dinner in Wroclaw.

what about using a "bankomat"?

National Polish Bank of course.

No. Their rates are never the best and their service is very slow.

Krakow?

Dinner you can pay by card directly, for other your expences getting money from ATM is fine. You can change 50 Eur in any "kantor" at the old town, but the rate couldn't be better then ATM.

Thank you for your advice, and so my card can be withdrawed by any ATMs without charges? if i change 50euro to Zloty, the "kantor" and ATMs who have the avantage? and the "kantor" is located in the well-known places (like gare station) ?

Thank avance :D

I always use a bankomat (ATM) and withdraw in złoty. Most of the bankomats now offer to charge you in dollars (or Pounds, or Euros I suppose) and give you a "guaranteed rate" which seems to be 4 or 5 percent worse than what I get by letting my bank do the exchange. I don't know if that is true of most banks or only mine.

unless your card is a polish one, never use an atm to withdraw pln, the rate you will get is much wore than exchanging your euros or dollars directly at a kantor

Not true. I get the same rate that Forex shows as the current exchange rate when I withdraw pln. Kantors always take a bite out of you when exchanging money. That is, after all, how they pay their rent. And unless Kalifornia is the newest woj. mine is not a Polish bank.

Well, i suggest you go double check what you effectively pay not against 'Forex', but against what are the real mid market rates; When you use a foreign card on a ATM, you pay not one, but 2 and sometimes 3 commissions: one commission to the local bank who runs the ATM, one commission to the bank issuing the cardd and one FX commission to whoever is the issuer of your card (Visa, mastercard.;). The exception of course is when you withdraw euros in the eurozone, even on a cross border basis (eg an italian card in France), where there are no commisssions.;

I did check. I get more złoty than I would going to a kantor. Maybe you need to look for another bank.

why don't you start reading before typing nonsense?

I read what you wrote and I typed what I know from experience.
I'm just curious. Which kantor do you work at?

I would very very much doubt that any bank is going to give you the mid rate as an exchange rate. Given that they do not specialise in that business and that there is inherent risk involved in buying and selling currency, why would they not charge anything with which to offset that risk? But of course, if you'd like to post the name of this bank, I'd be happy to check with them the rates that they offer.

Do you know of any ATMs in Warsaw that give other currencies than pln?

yes very nice been there last year becareful not to exchange from western union they are rubbish if you go to the gallerija its better

i had a BNP visa card, can i withdraw from the distributor of BNP in Wrocklaw without charges? (i'm from France)

no, Poland is not in the eurozone

which came first the British BNP or the French one?

Harry, just as an update - BZWBK have a specialist unit who deal in large currency transactions. On PLN/EUR, they'll go closer to the interbank rate than any kantor, but we are talking in transactions in excess of 100kPLN.

Never worked at a kantor


no

Merged:Using kantor cash exchange, credit cards, etc. in Poland

I thought I'd post my experience here in case someone can benefit from it. This is about the cost associated with exchanging cash at a local kantor as well as using a credit card to pay for services in Poland.

Date: 12/24/2012
Description: Exchanged EURO cash to Złoty.
Kantor exchange rate: zł 4 for 1 EUR
XE.com ideal rate: zł 4.0873670933 for 1 EUR

Date: 12/30/2012
Description: Used US-based Capital One MasterCard (credit card) to charge for services. Credit card does not have foreign transaction fees. The only charge is the conversion rate of foreign currency to USD.

Credit card exchange rate: zł 3.096 for 1 USD
XE.com ideal rate: zł 3.081 for 1 USD

Date 12/30/2012
Description: Credit card transaction
Credit card exchange rate: zł 3.105 for 1 USD
XE.com ideal rate: zł 3.0946 for 1 USD

It seemed that using my credit card proved better currency conversion-wise.

Usually it does, although it depends on how much you exchange.

I've lived in Poland for 5 years, now I will move back to the US and need to empty my Polish bank account. Can I use my Polish bank card at ATMs in the US? What's the best way to convert PLN to USD?