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Three currencies on Scandinavian tour

I am on the 14-day in Scandinavia tour, visiting Denmar, Sweden, and Norway. Each has a different currency. How easy is it to exchange excess Swedish currency for Danish and Norwegian?

Posted by
971 posts

The Scandinavian countries are practically cash less. you can pay for almost everything with cards, so chances are you won’t even be needing cash.

Posted by
5835 posts

Not a direct answer to you question but first of all, you don't need a lot of cash in Nordic countries. I only pay for very small purchases with cash. A cafeteria on a long distance coach rest stop in Norway was cashless and only accepted cards. Don't get too much cash.

Airports have currency exchanges (typically no coins) and shops in airports such as CPH accept multiple currencies. And if you manage your cash flow properly, you can use the last of your cash on a sausage and beer meal at the airport.

Posted by
7049 posts

Using credit cards (with zero foreign exchange fees) will probably be easier and cheaper in these countries. Exchanging currency is not something you'll want to do - it's always at a big loss.

Posted by
23178 posts

It is not easy or cheap to exchange Swedish currency for Danish or Norwegian. Have to use a money exchange. I would stick with withdrawing small amounts of local currency from an ATM as need or just use the credit card extensively.

Posted by
65 posts

We spent several days in each and never got cash. Credit cards were accepted everywhere we went.

Posted by
2089 posts

Support Morten's statement that you need nearly no cash. In a 4-week Norway trip I needed cash at 3 occasions which you likely not bet in contact to - little off-beaten.

You did not mention but Germany would be very different situation.

Posted by
18 posts

Thanks to all of you. Credit card and a debit card for cash if the need crops up.

Posted by
5835 posts

Ironic that in Norway where I only used cash for very small purchases, the smallest (only) denomination that the ATM would return was a 500 NOK note. And as cashless as businesses are, I had no problem using the 500 NOK note for a small purchase (coffee?).

Posted by
2089 posts

500 NOK is not much money based on price levels in Norway. It reflects a purchasing power of 25-30 EUR in Germany. I do not mean the exchange rate.

Posted by
5835 posts

When in Norway (and other Nordic countries) it's best not to obsess at what thing cost when living the good life. That said, my vague memory is that a pølse on bread was a cheap lunch at about 40 NOK, a Norwegian vafler with cream about 40 NOK, a cappuccino about 50 NOK and a lunch special (entree of the day and drink) at 149 NOK. Use your credit card and enjoy life.

Posted by
11294 posts

"my vague memory is that a pølse on bread was a cheap lunch"

Yes, Norway is the only country where I deliberately had a convenience store hot dog for dinner - just to save some money!

Posted by
7595 posts

We just came back from visiting Stockholm, then a day in Copenhagen before our 11 night Norway cruise.

Credit cards are the way to go in all three countries. We bought $200 in Swedish currency and really didn't need it. Credit cards are accepted everywhere. Taxis accept them and seemed surprised when we came up with cash. We didn't buy Danish or Norwegian currency and did just fine. I did tip our tour guides on the cruise in US dollars and they were not unhappy about that.

Posted by
36 posts

We went on the same tour and only got cash once. We had a hard time spending even the small amount we got. It is pretty much cashless. I would just plan on using credit card. I even used my card in a bathroom in Stockholm Central Station.

Posted by
46 posts

The only place we "needed" cash was for lockers at stations in Denmark. Many places in Denmark took euros and gave cash in DKK, so we just did that once to get a couple 20DKK coins. We did not use cash at all in Sweden.