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Mental Math: Easy Rules Of Thumb For Converting Currency
Being in a new country is full of enough culture shock – trying to remember how many dollars to the krona doesn't need to be part of it.After all, constantly whipping out a calculator (well, a cellphone) and spending five minutes trying to figure out if that sandwich is really a good price is a waste of your valuable vacation time.
To make things easier on you, here are some basic rules of thumb to help you guesstimate the exchange rates in a sampling of different countries.
It's important to note that currencies fluctuate all the time, so these rules of thumb should not be used as actual foundations for financial transactions. They were based off the most recent exchange rates as of midweek on the week of November 5, 2012. If you actually want to know what the exchange rate is for a given country, look it up. And if you want to know again a week later, look it up again.
These rules of thumb are intended to help you quickly do the mental math required to figure out if, yes, that sandwich is a good deal. Or, when you withdraw 400 pesos from the ATM, roughly how much you're taking out in US dollars.
Disclaimer: this post is admittedly America-centric, but the reality is that's my perspective as a traveler. I hope this will help others as it's helped me.
Asia
China: Divide all prices quoted in yuan by about 6 for a dollar estimate.
Japan: Divide all prices quoted in yen by 100 and then tack on about 25% for a dollar estimate.
India: It's slightly more than 50 rupees to the dollar.
Thailand: Roughly, divide the prices you see in bahts by about 30 and you'll get the dollar value.
South Korea: Divide Korean prices by about 1,000 for the USD estimate.
Europe
Eurozone: Add a 25% premium to all the prices you see.
UK: Multiply pound prices by 1.5 and then round up to guesstimate the dollar amount.
Switzerland: Roughly 1-to-1 with the US dollar.
Russia: Divide prices by about 30.
South and Central America
Mexico: Divide the prices you see by 13 for a sense of the USD price.
Guatemala: Divide prices by 8.
Belize: Cut the prices you see in half.
Colombia: This one's a little tricky. First, divide the Colombian price you see by half. Then divide by 1,000. If you're lazy and on the go, that's very rough. For a slightly cleaner conversion, do that and then add back 20%.
Argentina: Divide Argentine prices by about 5.
Ecuador: Trick question. Ecuador uses the USD as its currency, so no conversion needed.
Dominican Republic: Divide prices in the D.R. by 40 for a sense of US equivalents.
Jamaica: Divide prices by 100 and then add back about 10%.
Africa & Mideast
South Africa: Divide prices by a little less than 9 for the US equivalent.
Kenya: Divide by 100, and then add back about 15%.
Morocco: Like for South Africa, divide by a little less than 9.
Israel: Divide by about 4 to estimate the US price.
Turkey: Divide by 2 and then add back 25%.
Egypt: Divide by about 6.
Oceania
Australia: For estimating purposes, roughly 1-to-1.
New Zealand: Take a 20% discount on the prices you see.
[Image credit: Flickr user Images_of_Money]
Correction: A previous version of this article mistakenly said to "divide by half" rather than the correct "divide in half" or "cut in half," and has been amended.
Filed under: Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, China, India, Israel, Japan, South Korea, United Kingdom, Belize, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Ecuador, Budget Travel, Middle East, Central America, Caribbean
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rolen toufus Nov 8th 2012 11:46PM
I would use a debit card to withdraw money in South Korea as long as your bank is not going to charge high fees per transaction.
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/answers/other-news-and-events-20121018215840AAto7va.html
Wright Nov 9th 2012 1:57PM
Morocco sounds about right, except that many locals talk prices in "rials," rather than the official currency, the "dirham." 200 rials = 10 dirham = about $1. One would think that because rials are smaller, they would be most likely to be used for cheaper things. Not so--rials are most likely to be cited for average to big numbers, up until 1 million. 1 million rials = a "brique" = $5,000.
Add to this the difficulty of converting these numbers orally in real time while negotiating, and you're in for a real headache.
Marlon Nov 9th 2012 4:22PM
For Brazil, divide the price in Reais (R$) by 2 to get a pretty close dollar estimation (US$1=R$2.04)
octavio risso Nov 13th 2012 7:38PM
In argentina divide prices by 6,50 because we can't buy US Dollars, only for travel and it is very difficult just like in Venezuela, so DON'T USE YOUR CREDIT CARDS IN ARGENTINA bring cash you'll get a better exchange