Currency to use and expenses in Hungary & Czech republic [duplicate]

Question

A week after, I'll be going on a central Europe tour of Budapest-Prague-Vienna. This is the first time I'm travelling abroad, and as a new graduate I'm on a rather tight budget in case of shopping costs. I know Austria uses euros, but Czech republic and Hungary use their respective currencies also.

Will using Czech crown (koruna) and forint be more profitable then using euros? If so, will 100 euros to koruna and 100 euros to forint exchange cover the cost of;

• Lunch and dinner + tips (breakfast is covered by the hotels)
• A cup of coffee or beer
• Around 6-7 souvenirs (magnets, snow globes, key chains, etc.)

I'll be spending 1 and a half days in Budapest and Prague.

Answer 1

if you want live on a budget, you need to exchange cash - small shops don't take Euros or Credit Cards, or only on horrible rates.
If you go in middle class restaurants, you probably can pay with credit cards (no Euros).

Generally, those countries have lower cost of living; but as you will be in 'Tourist Central', you will easily pay equal or more than in western Europe.

Answer 2

Our usual advice, and it holds for Hungary and the Czech Republic, is to find an ATM card with no foreign transaction charge, and use it as much as possible. Every tourist-oriented concern I went to in Prague and Budapest took plastic. Indeed, American Express was running a special promotion with the cinema for 15% off: usually that's a lousy card to use overseas.

If you can't find such a card, I would attempt to pay with Euros, which will be accepted at some exchange rate, likely poor. However, neither the koruna nor forint will be easy to exchange outside their home country, and I think you will lose even more bringing your change from 100€ home.

Answer 3

My advice would be to choose a bank in your home country that has low or no conversion fees, and primarily use an account in your income currency. I travelled to all three cities, and have rarely ran into cash-only places.

Since you're saying you're only there for less than 2 days,

• Cash. If you do need cash, avoid the tourist-area 0% fee exchanges, since they factor their profits into poor conversion rates.
• Food. Look for low-price places on Google Maps and Foursquare. Also,
  • Install McDonalds Europe and use their deals in Prague and Budapest. Vienna is somewhat trickier, as last time I checked they had rewards rather than coupons. Use their self-service terminals if you need predictable english.
  • Try Jídelna Světozor (Prague) or Las Bombillas Teahouse (Budapest). Both are cheap but cash-only.
  • Vienna is trickier, again. I had decent full meals at Cafe Votiv and WU Mensa; you may also want to check mensen.at
• Coffee. I'd look for individual coffee shops and avoid chains such as Starbucks or Costa Coffee
  • Prague: Coffee Break and Cake Žižkov
  • Vienna: Coffee Pirates, Jonas Reindl, Phil (Gumpendorfer Str.)
  • Budapest: Madal Cafe
• Internet. Do not buy a separate SIM card for each country, instead enjoy the EU-wide "Roam Like At Home" regulation. For example, I'm getting 11 GB of EU-wide data from an austrian carrier.
• Souvenirs. I'd look in regular grocery stores or retail chains and avoid tourist-y places like central train stations.
• Transportation. If you don't mind biking, try using the City Bike system in Vienna: first hour is free, taking a break for 15+ minutes resets the counter and the next hour is first (therefore free) again. They say you can sign up only using a credit card, but I've had two debit cards working on my account for years now. Use their site for a map of stations, I can't post any more links here unfortunately.
• Toilets. These are non-free most cases. Look for shopping centers (e.g. Palladium in Prague), Starbucks in Vienna, or selected McDonalds locations.

For Prague, you can learn a lot from the Honest Guide Prague YouTube channel. For example, their take on budget restaurants from 2016 still holds.