Where to Get Euro Coins

[cfc4ever]

Hi Guys,

Constant reader rare poster, everyone here was a great help with my RTW trip a few years ago, so I am hoping someone can help now,

I am going on an organised tour of the DPRK (North Korea) in August, this is the only way you can travel there. Tourist are expected and preferred to use Euro while in the country. Everything I have read has suggested taking a large amount of Euro 1 & 2 Coins as they rarely have change and otherwise you are paying for small snacks and drinks etc with Euro notes, I will be there for 11 days, so paying 5EURO for a drink when I should be paying 1 or 2 will add up.

I have gone through my stockpile of foreign coins and found about 8 EURO in coins, which I don't think will be enough. I know banks, exchanges etc don't deal in coins and with no trip to EU coming up I am struggling to think of somewhere to get them from. I have tried eBay (another forum said that it was a good way to get rid of unused foreign coins) with no luck. I did find a US company that sells traveller bundles of foreign coins, however they don't ship to Australia.

Anyone got any suggestion or ideas??

 

[markis10]

Travelex do accept Euro coins, so they can probably help.

 

[MYT105]

cfc4ever,

Where are you located as it might help if people knew as they maybe local and have some coins lying around and happy to swap them. I know I have done it a few times with people at my work where we know we are going somewhere in the near future and the other person may have just got back and have some coins and notes that it is better for both parties to swap then for on to cash in and the other to buy from a bank.

Saying that I usually keep all my euros as I know I will be going back at some point in the next few years.

 

[cfc4ever]

cfc4ever,

Where are you located

Sorry dumb me;
Perth
I was thinking to put up a gumtree ad if all else fails

 

[AIRwin]

Perth

I was just counting the coins I have (7 euros) just in case you're in Melbourne...

 

[markis10]

We have a couple of UK based members......

 

[cfc4ever]

Day off work so thought I go around and see if anyone could order them for, Travelex said possibly at the airport, no facility to order them. The banks and auspost laughed in my face.

I then remembered this small independent one near me (only have 2 branches) had 54 in Euro coins, have been trying for over a year to get rid of them as they use to accepted them but find them impossible to get rid of. I think I made there day and there other branch has some too.

This place has my buisness, Travelex gives me QFF points but offered no assistance at all

 

[kelvedon]

Perhaps you could parade down the aircraft collecting from the passengers before the cabin crew do their UNICEF round.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi Guys,

Constant reader rare poster, everyone here was a great help with my RTW trip a few years ago, so I am hoping someone can help now,

I am going on an organised tour of the DPRK (North Korea) in August, this is the only way you can travel there. Tourist are expected and preferred to use Euro while in the country. Everything I have read has suggested taking a large amount of Euro 1 & 2 Coins as they rarely have change and otherwise you are paying for small snacks and drinks etc with Euro notes, I will be there for 11 days, so paying 5EURO for a drink when I should be paying 1 or 2 will add up.

I have gone through my stockpile of foreign coins and found about 8 EURO in coins, which I don't think will be enough. I know banks, exchanges etc don't deal in coins and with no trip to EU coming up I am struggling to think of somewhere to get them from. I have tried eBay (another forum said that it was a good way to get rid of unused foreign coins) with no luck. I did find a US company that sells traveller bundles of foreign coins, however they don't ship to Australia.

Anyone got any suggestion or ideas??

the alternative is RMB.

Young Pioneers Tours recommend either RMB or Euro - with the former because you can get change.

I am wondering how many people would readily accept Euro coins? Coins aren't normally easy to change for foreign currency purposes.

 

[Formal Hall]

I would suspect that the North Korean market is not exactly 'normal' and any 'hard' foreign currency would be appreciated, even in small amounts.

 

[drmikki]

Don't take EURO coins - complete waste of time, effort and weight. Take small Euro bills (20s, 10s, 5s) for larger payments (Mass Games, other excursions, dog soup) and don't be the jackass on my tour who had a stash of 500 Euro bills and was upset no one in the DPRK could change them (I didn't even know 500 Euro bills existed!).

Honestly, Chinese RMB was BY FAR the most useful currency in DPRK. I had Euro and small bill USD but if I went again (we have delayed our "Reunion tour" til 2014 which certain politics shakes out) I'd take more RMB and not worry so much about the euro and USD component. Most DPRK tours go through China so you can easily get small RMB bills there - if you have larger ones from the ATM the hotel can likely change for you.

Finally, be aware that since you're not allowed DPRK currency as change, prices will be rounded up, and occasionally you'll get a pack of sweets or gum as change. Take more money than you'll expect to need, and don't feel like you're getting cheated - often there is a shortage of 'hard currency' but they are too polite/ashamed to tell you this and thus the 'change in snacks'

Oh, and have fun and take extra batteries (virtually no electricity in hotels out of Pyongyang) and extra SD cards. And a sense of humour

 

[IrishPete]

We have a couple of UK based members......

relevance? Britain stayed out of the Euro - they may feel very clever now, but they've had years of unnecessary currency conversion costs, so they may not be all that clever at all. Ultimately it was a nationalistic political decision.

I have a few Euro coins lying around, but I keep them for the tolls on the motorway out of Dublin.

It's a bit like having coin-operated trolleys in arrival halls - not very helpful for international travelers arriving from a different currency zone. In 2013 it's amazing that many tollways don't accept credit cards, though my 28 Degrees Mastercard is a bit hit and miss overseas, in terms of its electronic acceptability (I've had a shop insist on recording my local address and taking a photocopy of my drivers license before they would accept it with a signature! there was an ATM on the premises where I could just have withdrawn cash to pay for the purchase, but they really wanted to do it their way!)

Pete

 

[ermen]

Hi Guys,

Constant reader rare poster, everyone here was a great help with my RTW trip a few years ago, so I am hoping someone can help now,

I am going on an organised tour of the DPRK (North Korea) in August, this is the only way you can travel there. Tourist are expected and preferred to use Euro while in the country. Everything I have read has suggested taking a large amount of Euro 1 & 2 Coins as they rarely have change and otherwise you are paying for small snacks and drinks etc with Euro notes, I will be there for 11 days, so paying 5EURO for a drink when I should be paying 1 or 2 will add up.

I have gone through my stockpile of foreign coins and found about 8 EURO in coins, which I don't think will be enough. I know banks, exchanges etc don't deal in coins and with no trip to EU coming up I am struggling to think of somewhere to get them from. I have tried eBay (another forum said that it was a good way to get rid of unused foreign coins) with no luck. I did find a US company that sells traveller bundles of foreign coins, however they don't ship to Australia.

Anyone got any suggestion or ideas??

Like others said - use RMB. You can get this when you get into Beijing / Dandong.

You pay in RMB and they give you change back in RMB. I found prices in there on par with China (so not that cheap as you would expect but obviously reasonable for a foreigner). I suspect if you start paying in EUR, they'll start charging Euro prices lol.

And of course, for everything else, there is MasterCard.