Best place to exchange USD for CHF in Zurich

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
1
Where can I get the best exchange rate while converting USD to Swiss Francs in Zurich?

Should I transact with money changers at the airport, local money changers across Zurich, or with one of the banks(UBS, Credit Suisse etc.). I'm a student travelling to Zurich in a couple of weeks and have never been in Europe before.

Past experience suggests wide variation and ideally, i would not like to be shortchanged by 100s of CHF as the amount exchanged is likely to substantial (or atleast substantial enough for me :P)

2
Skip the cash exchange, and use a card, Revolut or Wise for example.

3
Why are you planning to bring cash? As somebody who lives here, I have exactly one recurring payment I have to make that I can’t use a card for. There is one car park I have to use periodically that does only accept cash payments. I have no other occasion to use cash at this point.

So don’t bring cash. Find a card that has no foreign transaction fees and use that. Open a bank account and transfer money you need for rent and such.

4
Unless you are changing a lot (read minimum 100k) it makes very little difference

5
and if you were caught with that kind of cash, there'd be some interesting questions.

6

Not always

Upstairs in the UBS branch in front of Cornavin rail station they have a safe for cash where they hold CHF 10mio, USD 10mio, GBP 10mio and €10mio

It would be fairly stupid to change USD 100k as banknotes as the exchange rate difference for bank notes or bank transfer is enormous, up to 3-5%

7
That's if he doesn't get searched by US outbound!

8

The US is not the only place you have dollars

9

From Most $100 Bills Live Outside The U.S. :

10

Clearly substantial was the wrong choice of words on my part since i'm not flying into Zurich with a bagful of cash.

I have USD left over from previous trips and do not want to go to the hassle of converting it in my local city (plus i thought i'd get a better rate in Zurich) - francs aren't in much demand where i live at present and one has to potentially wait weeks at the bank to get them.

Forex cards and I share an unpleasant history: chip stopped working while i was in the US and the bank mailed the replacement to my local address (SE Asia); which left me stranded without funds for 2 weeks. Ever since i have taken to carrying USD whenever i'm travelling.

11
Can anyone advise if i can get a better rate than SBB and western union which are offering 0.9450 for every USD whereas the actual exchange rate is 0.99. I am planning to exchange about 2K USD for now.

Am i likely to get a higher exchange rate at one of the larger banks - UBS or credit suisse?

12
Many on this forum bemoan the carrying of cash and using a card instead. I'm not one of them, I always carry cash since cards can, and do, go wrong.

There are also many places that will not accept a card for a transaction less that CHF 10 or € 10 and try paying for a CHF 3.5 tea or coffee in a bar with a card!

You can also get discounts when paying cash. The merchant saves the card fee and gets his money immediately

I'm not saying don't use a card, just keep some cash as a backup.

13

Sorry to burst your bubble but USD2k is not even chicken feed to the banks therefore in order to make it worth their while, they give very unfavorable exchange rates, ditto the FX exchange offices.

Unless you absolutely need it, i suggest you hang on to it, there is more chance of it being worth a bit more in the nearish future than less.

Alternatively find a private person who has Chf and wants USD and take the mid point of the banknote exchange rate at a major bank, everybody gets shafted a little less !