What Is a Forint?

Although Hungary is a member of the EU, they have not converted to the Euro and have retained their own currency based on the Forint.  The Hungarian Forint was introduced in 1946 after the end of WWII and was based on earlier currency used by the Austro-Hungarian Empire between 1868 and 1892.  Hyper-inflation hit the Hungarian economy after the war and today the forint is no longer divided. Today's exchange rate is 230 forint to one dollar.  So, you carry around very large bills and coins from 10 to 200 forint in value.  Below is a photo I snapped of some of the money we converted.  A 20,000 bill seems quite strange!  You can read more about the forint and it's history at History of the Forint.

The cost of items in the shops and stores has been quite reasonable and we have been told this will be the least expensive stop of our tour.  Some shopping has definitely occurred already.