Left Over Swiss Francs

Ask your colleagues or post in your employer's intranet. Sometimes people ask for foreign currencies for travel.

Did you just get back? You should have the current bills (coins don't change). If you have bills from 10 years ago, you need to exchange them, either at the Swiss National Bank (Zurich or Bern), but I had luck in January exchanging them at a UBS branch.

Current bills could be exchanged at an airport exchange booth at a healthy (or unhealthy) discount. or find a friend going to Switzerland and sell to them.

When is your next international trip? An exchange desk at a European airport might get you a slightly better rate than one here, but Sam's suggestion is a good one. You may also find one of those kiosks at the airport for donating excess foreign currency to get rid of the old bills.

If you live in a large city, you may find exchange desks in heavily touristed areas.

If you don't need the cash, you might consider a donation to a charity that accepts foreign currency - search on "donate foreign currency."

I always go to Duty free on the way out and buy a good bottle of scotch or armanac.

Thank you everyone for your feedback. yea, I'm already back to US and no plan to visit Europe anytime soon.

Maybe there is a travel club in your town. Some there might be heading to Switzerland.

There may be an option to mail the obsolete bills to the central bank and
get new ones in return. Not a perfect solution by any means, but something
is better than nothing.

If the bills are so obsolete that the central bank won't take them anymore,
there is a firm called Leftover Currency based in London that will take currency
that just about no one else will take and give you something for it.

Leftovercurrency.com

Finally, if you live near an airport with an airline that flies directly to Switzerland,
you might go there and see if anyone is interested in doing an exchange with
the bills you have that are current.

There may be an option to mail the obsolete bills to the central bank and
get new ones in return.

Don't think so. Nothing on the SNB website about that. Even if they did accept mailed obsolete currency, there is no way they would send valid currency through the mail. The best would be to deposit it in your Swiss bank account. You do have a Swiss bank account don't you?

If you are in or near a major city, go to a bureau du change. Here in LA we have many choices. Or you might need to go to an airport.

But beware, some places won't want Swiss francs because they are only good in CH and there's not much demand for them.

Hi phred,

For "bureau du change", do you mean the currency exchange place? Will they take old swiss bill? I'm actually in LA, which one do you recommend? Thanks.

I doubt any but the SNB will take obsolete Swiss notes.

If you Google Beverly Hills currency exchange you'll get 3 hits. Start at any one of them and see if your bills truly are "obsolete," at this point we're all guessing.

If they can't or won't take them, ask them what they recommend. And then visit another one.

If they truly are that old and worthless, guess what - they are worthless! If you really feel the need, you could try calling the Swiss Embassy in NYC or DC and see if they have any brilliant ideas.

If they are indeed pre-2020 Swiss notes, they are not worthless, they are just worthless in the USA. At the cashier's desk at the Swiss National Bank in Zurich or Bern, they are worth face value in new Swiss notes. Like I say, i did have luck exchanging them at a UBS branch in Switzerland, but your mileage may vary.

Agree with the last poster that they are not worthless. I just did this yesterday morning in the cantonal bank in Geneva where I swapped 110 old francs from a 2015 visit for new notes. I was surprised that there were no questions asked. I would just hold onto them until a future visit to Switzerland or see if you know someone who is headed there who might be able to do the exchange for you.