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):
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??
In general in Poland specialized currency exchange offices (kantor) are much better than banks. 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).
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). However, the rate does change all the time, so it will be different in a few days.
In my (recent) experience, better than change money is to find any cashier and get money from it. That's when you need cash, because almost any restaurant, hotel, shop, etc will accept paying by card, that gives even better exchange.
Note: My credit card is an Euro based VISA, I don't know if that's important.
I been to kantors 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). The exchange prices change every day but I suggest checking this location before exchanging somewhere else.
At many exchange shops (kantor) you even can negotiate exchange rate, if you sell or buy larger amount of dollars/euro.
Watch out for those "kantors", that are in very touristic places, like in Old Town of Kraków (Cracov). They often have very bad exchange rate.
The rate when selling is always lower than average and for buying is always higher. There is however no commission. If someone wants you to pay commission, find another place.
Wroclaw:
The best way to find good echange rate is to look at the difference between the sales and buy rate. If it is higher than 7 groszy on one unit price eg 1 Dollar look for another place.
