A few weeks ago, we saw this quite impressive queue in front of a currency exchange store. Right in the middle of the city centre!

This was really surprising because first of all, most of those places offer quite disadvantageous rates. Second of all, why would you need cash? Let us answer you two simple questions here:

Do I need cash in Wroclaw or Poland?

Mostly no! In 98% of all Cafés, Restaurants, Shops, Tours, and where you will be spending money on, credit cards will be accepted. We took 100 PLN from the ATM some months back (!) and still have more than 80 PLN of that.

The only few occasions where you might need cash are when you buy some magnets from the street stalls, if you want to leave a tip for a waiter or in case you intend to make a street musician a little bit more lucky.

In the main market hall, we even paid for two onions with credit card – no problem at all.

Just remember one more thing. Some places will ask you if you prefer to pay in EUR, GBP, USD or whatever local currency you have. Always decline and insist on paying in Polish Zloty (PLN)! In case you pick your local currency, the amount you get charged will be guaranteed. But this security comes at around 7,5% higher charges compared to the payment in PLN. So besides of the guaranteed exchange rate to your local currency you also have a guaranteed rip-off.

Where to exchange money in Wroclaw or Poland?

If you need cash and want to be on the safe side, here is what you should do. Just take a good travel credit card with you and go to the ATM. There you will get the current valid interbank rate – you will not need to worry about being ripped off at one of the exchange offices.

We are using the free N26 MasterCard because with that, no markup is being charged when you pay with it in PLN. If you take out cash the cost is less than the usual 2% from most other banks. As it is an online bank, you can sign up in less than 10 minutes including the ID validation. There is no need to go anywhere else than just staying on your couch. We just use it as separate account.

Sounds easy and straight forward, but regarding ATMs there is just one more catch – you will find out more in the next hint. There is a specific type of ATM you should avoid in Poland…

Where to go if I really need to exchange cash that I have?

Well, we really do not use any money exchange office at all. But according to a comment we received after publishing, the one in the picture above seems to be the most reliable one. That might explain the people lining up… As you can check the exchange rates online here, just compare them before you go.