SPANISH CURRENCY

Introduction of the European single currency has taken place in 12 Countries including Spain. The old Spanish peseta was completely phased out in 2002.

Most tourists will take with them a small amount of currency and the rest in either travellers cheques or via their ATM credit or debit cards. If you have to change your own currency then the best place to do this is at the banks.

If you change money at the hotels you would normally get a worse rate then the banks. Be very careful of the currency exchange booths that you see on every street. Their blackboards will show a very high rate though do not let this fool you.

Many unsuspecting tourists have fallen foul of these rates and when you have made the transaction found that you was given a much worse exchange rate. If you complain then they will simply point to some very small print where it says you must have to exchange a very large amount of cash to qualify for this rate.

If you are going to change your currency with the places then you need to first get a quote for the exact money you want to change. Just seeing the rate and handing over your money can lead to many problems and you may not get your money back.

Euro Bank Notes have seven denominations:
5-Euro (grey in colour).
10-Euro (pink in colour).
20-Euro (Blue in colour).
50-Euro (orange in colour).
100-Euro (green in colour).
200-Euro (yellow in colour).
500-Euro (purple in colour).

Euro Coins have eight denominations:
The 2 and 1-Euro coins are silver and gold coloured.
The 50, 20 and 10-cent coins are gold coloured.
The 5, 2 and 1-cent coins are bronze coloured.

Almost 5-years after the introduction of the Euro there are still an estimated 1.8 billion euros worth of pesetas in notes and coins in circulation. In the first 9-months of 2006 only 29-million euros worth of pesetas was exchanged. This figure still means that the vast amount is still in circulation somewhere and much of this will never be recovered and exchanged.