Currency

Since 1st of January 2009, the official currency in Slovakia is Euro (currency code EUR).

European Union agreed with Slovakia’s entry into the Eurozone on 19th of June 2008 at the summit in Brussels. Slovak Republic adopted the Euro after 16 years of using Slovak Koruna (former Slovak currency code SKK). The conversion rate was set to 1 EUR = 30.126 SKK.

Currency Converter

This tool can convert any currency to any currency. The pre-set values are Euro (EUR) converting to US Dollar (currency code USD).

Slovak Euro Coins & Banknotes

Euro coins have 8 values: 1 cent, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 cents, 1 euro and 2 euros. All euro coins have a common side and a national side chosen by the respective national authorities. But, of course, any Euro coin is valid in any country of the Euro Area.

Slovak Euro coins’ backside

Slovak Euro coins

Picture	Coins	What it shows
	1, 2, 5 Eurocents	Kriváň, a symbolic mountain in the High Tatras as designed by Drahomír Zobek.
	10, 20, 50 Eurocents	Bratislava Castle as designed by Ján Černaj and Pavol Károly.
	1 Euro coin	The symbol of Slovakia, double cross on three hills, as designed by Ivan Řehák.
	2 Euro coin	The same as with One Euro Coin – Coat of arms of Slovakia, but the gold and silver colours are switched.

Coins – the frontside

Euro banknotes

Euro banknotes have 7 values: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 euros and have the same look for every country.

Euro Banknotes

Front side	Back side

Euro and Eurozone

Euro was introduced in 1999 as part of the complex European integration. It is currently shared by 16 of the European Union’s Member States (and used by 325 million EU citizens), which together make up the Eurozone or sometimes called as Euro Area. It consists of these countries:

The idea behind the adoption of Euro was to have a strong and stable currency. As a proof, since 1999 many other countries applied to become a member of Eurozone and 5 of them already became. It is very likely that the use of Euro will spread. Here are the countries which are planning to change their recent currencies for Euro: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania.

Denmark and United Kingdom obtained special opt-outs in the original Maastricht Treaty of the European Union. Sweden gained a de facto opt-out by exploiting a legal loophole. It does not work to meet the criteria to join, deliberately staying out of ERM II, and so is not able to adopt the currency as it is obliged to.

Former Currencies in Slovakia

Since 8th of February 1993 (Slovakia became a separate country on 1st of January 1993) till 31st of December 2008 the currency of Slovak Republic was Slovak Koruna (Slovak Crown – currency code SKK). Korunas were subdivided into 100 haliers.

Before 1993, when Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia, the currency used was Czechoslovak Koruna (Czechoslovak Crown – currency code CSK).

Slovak Koruna was also used during the WW2 (1939-1945) when Slovakia had its first own country.

Exchanging money

If you are from a country where Euro is used, you probably know that you don’t need to exchange it for some kind of “Slovak Euro”. Just use yours. If you come from a country where other currencies hold, please read the following tips on how to exchange money:

• Credit cards are accepted in most of the stores, hotels, restaurants. In larger cities there is an ATM practically on every corner, in smaller towns you don’t need to walk that much either. So you don’t really need to exchange too much before you get to Slovakia.
• Be aware of people offering money exchange services on the streets. Usually in Bratislava, they offer you a very good exchange rate, but you are very likely to be cheated or robbed. Sometimes they sell you some cheap currency instead of Euro (Slovakia currency) or they give you counterfeit money or they put worthless papers between the regular banknotes, so it looks like a big amount of money.
• Exchange offices at the airport, railway or bus stations are completely legal and robber-safe, but some of them use unethical business practices. Even if you see a big sign that they offer money exchange services with 0% commission, be careful! The two most usual tricks are the following: They are showing the exchange rates of SELLING Euro, so the rates look very nice for you, but your rates for BUYING Euro are completely different/worse. The other trick is that they show you very good buying exchange rates, but there is a small sign that those rates count only when buying more than 1000 EUR (or other amount). Always ask beforehand, what is the exchange rate for your amount of money!
• Although you may not get the best rates, the banks are the safest places offering money exchange services.

Please, do not “play with the money” at overcrowded places, you just give robbers a chance!

Small quiz :)

So, three times again:

• What currency is used in Slovakia? Euro.
• Does Slovakia use the Euro? Yes.
• Is Slovakia in the Eurozone? Yes.