Traveling Around: What is the Cheapest Way?

One of the best things of living in Czech Republic is how easy it is so to get around. Just in a couple of hours, you will be in another country already. But since Czech Republic is not yet in the Euro Zone, you will need to prepare money in another currency. What’s the cheapest way to do so?

Traveling around from Czech Republic is easy

Traditionally, you can always go to exchange your money in some money changer. But there are other more convenient ways that will end up saving you more Koruns at the end of the day. Here are some ways to do so:

1. Open a foreign currency account for free in your Czech bank

All you need to do is arrange a foreign currency account (most commonly, EUR account), link it to your card, and you’re good to go. You can just top it up and use your card abroad, they won’t charge your CZK account for that.

2. Rewards when you use your bank cards abroad

Česká spořitelna offers 1% cashback when you use their credit card abroad/online. Hello bank credit card also has similar cashback offer although it is not only limited to spending abroad or online. mBank through their mBank World card also offers similar program. However, the problem with this is banks’ exchange rates are normally even worse than traditional money changers that getting 1% cashback won’t make your journey any cheaper, although indubitably much easier.

3. Withdraw money

Some banks let you withdraw money abroad for free or for a simple fee. Simple and easy, although the problem of banks’ exchange rates remains.

4. My most favourite: Get a Travel Card

These days, there are many providers like Transferwise, Revolut, Bunq, or N26 that offer multi-currency accounts with real exchange rates (like when you Google), plus a small fee, or a Curve card. This is a much cheaper way of making foreign transactions without having to deal with cash in hand (although normally, you get free withdrawals up to a certain amount each month). I’ve been traveling with a travel card for a while now, and it is definitely much cheaper than any of the options above (I’ve done all).

How to choose the best travel card will be talked about more in depth in another post.

Hope this helps you manage your traveling budget. Enjoy your travel!