1 Answer

First of all, Hungary is a member of the European Union, but they have not started with the Euro yet. Many places you can still pay with Euro, but expect to receive forints back. If you do pay with Euros the shops normally give you little for your Euro, so you would do better to go change your Euros, and then go back into the shop and pay with forints (for example inMcDonalds).

Forint is the official currency in Hungary. If you want to understand approximately how much money you are using, normally you can calculate it in this way:
1 American Dollar = 225 Forint
1 Euro = 290 Forint

But, due to the financial crisis going on around the world, the calculation is going up and down. It was a time when you had to pay 230 forints to get one Euro, and there have been times when you have to pay 320 forints to get one Euro. That is why we want to give you some good advices concerning changing money in Budapest.

From the Budapest guide