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Money Matters

Real Money: The Drachma It is not green. It is not in English. It is Colorful, Exciting and gets you around in Greece. Whats is it?

The Drachma


Although you can pay with credit cards in many places, the Drachma gives you that certain feeling of money in the hand.

You use it when you haggle (in Greece you must haggle, you know). You use it for small purchases like stamps to lemonade. You make instant (temporary) friends with it.

The Greek currency has as much history as the country, and is a fundamental part of the culture.

The first thing you do when arriving at the airport, is to exchange foreign currency for Drachmas. To get up to date currency information, select from the desired currency shown below(the left 'orange' colored square has the result after your click)(Press BACK on your browser to return here!:

US Dollar
Canadian Dollar
UK pound
Irish pound
Australian dollar
New Zealand Dollar
South African Rand
Hong Kong dollar
French Franc
German Mark
Spanish Peseta
Italian Lira
Belgian franc
Swiss franc


It is suggested you change about DRA 15000 to use per day.

If you have entered Greece, and you forgot to change at the airport (or you have your aunt's lose change) you can visit any bank and change subsequently.

Banks operate weekdays, from 8am to 2pm. Most have ATM machines that accept credit cards (if you know you PIN code) and some even accept STAR system ATM cards.

In addition, CITIBANK operates a powerful ATM system which accepts your CITICARD amd allows you to do operations as if you were in your own home Citibank ATM system (money is provided in Drachmas; it is automatically converted to your currency for your account calculations). For information on Citibank branches in Greece click here.

In the United States, Citibank operates specilized Hellenic Banking centers. For more info on these click here. Major Greek banks include the National Bank of Greece, Commercial Bank of Greece, Bank of Crete, Bank of Greece and Pireaus Bank.

Credit Cards, Travellers Checks Greece has been taken over by the Credit card. It seems that just about everyone accepts it. Whether its VISA, Mastercard or American Express, they are ALL welcome here.

Travellers checks are also accepted and is a more secure form of money that cash. But then, how can you walk around without that jiggling feeling in your pocket!

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