Currency in Austria: what to use and how to exchange

Austria has used the euro since 2002, so prices, tickets and menus are all in EUR. Notes and coins are the standard euro set shared with 19 other countries, which means cash left over from Germany, France or Italy works here without exchanging.

Cards do most of the work. Hotels, supermarkets, chain restaurants, museums and main-line rail tickets take Visa and Mastercard without fuss. The gaps are small: a village café, a farmers' market stall, a mountain hut, a rural bus driver or a taxi you flag down may want cash. Keep a folded €20 note for those, and a handful of coins for lockers, toilets and vending machines.

For getting euros, a bank ATM (look for the word Bankomat) is the cheapest common route. Your own bank sets the rate and adds a fee, usually a fixed charge plus a percentage. Standalone machines in tourist streets and small exchange kiosks in stations often charge more, either through a worse rate or a flat commission. If a machine or card terminal offers to charge you in your home currency, decline: that is dynamic currency conversion, and it usually costs 3–6% more than letting your bank convert.

Exchanging cash you already hold is the weakest option. Banks in Vienna and the larger cities will do it during opening hours, and main stations have desks that stay open longer, but the rate is rarely better than an ATM. Bring a small amount of euros if you are arriving late, and take the rest from a machine.

Austria is a card-and-cash mix rather than a cashless country, and it is also a tipping country: round up or add about 10% and say the amount to the server rather than leaving it on the table.