Fitch

In case anyone is facing the same challenges finding Qatari Riyals for sale in London...

After something of a fruitless search in Central London (and getting various lines of BS such as "it's a restricted currency / discontinued due to no demand...") I finally found some at Travelex LHR T4.

Decent rate, excellent agent, all in all a good experience

Book online at least 4 working hours before to get the best rate.

FlyingScientist

Royal Bank of Scotland appear to be offering QAR on their website http://personal.rbs.co.uk/personal/l...vel-money.html

Matt4

Well... It's so simple to get QAR from any ATM at DOH (no ATM commission, unlike many countries)...

Reds2011

Someone should print this post out for posterity!

The words Travelex and decent rate never occur in proximity normally. Must have been trying to get rid of a few.

Ben_W

Out of interest, wouldn't it be better to exchange upon arrival in Doha? I just assumed that would always get you a better rate?

Its what I tell anyone who comes to visit! I tell them to get a small amount from the ATM or Travelex in arrivals and then exchange the bulk of their spending money from any of the many exchange outlets in town.

skywardhunter

I don't understand why people still carry cash across borders, other than some emergency USD/EUR just in case. ATMs always offer a better rate. Of course this advice is for countries with reliable ATMs, but I never exchange money in advance, I just use ATMs or pay directly by card.

makrom

No idea when the last time was that I actually exchanged cash. It used to be a thing in the 90s, but now I have a credit card with no monthly fees, no exchange rate and reimbursed ATM fees. I haven't encountered a relevant airport without a working ATM yet, not even in the African bush.

DreamTrip

Sorry, but this got to be the worst tip on Flyertalk. Who exchange money going to a first world country?

ATM at the airport people!

Dr. HFH

OK, I'll be the oddball. I don't use an ATM. Don't have a card which works in one. 99+% of the time I just use credit cards. (I found out the hard way not to rely on AMEX as one's only card traveling internationally. Now have a MasterCard, too.) In those extremely rare instances when I anticipate that I may need cash, I bring travelers checks. AMEX checks have been free for years.

skywardhunter

AmEx is the world's biggest scam. I have one and it's great when it works, but 90% of merchants don't accept amex, it's such a niche network. MasterCard is relatively good but Visa is by far the most reliable. That being said in Africa I've found MasterCard to be better, in Zimbabwe for instance my Visa wouldn't work while my friend's MC (both international cards from different countries, mine South African, his Italien) would. (At several different banks and ATMs)

That being said credit cards work at ATMs, and in fact South African issued bank cards generally all appear as credit cards to merchants, as current/cheque accounts are also issued as Visa/MasterCard and have embossed/raised numbers and can be used online. The differentiation is purely in your bank account in the fees and accounting.

George K

Unless something has changed since March, I've always found it extremely easy to get riyals in London. Try Thomas Exchange - I've been changing pounds to riyals since 2013 (with the last time being March) with no issues whatsoever. Excellent rates, fast service.

:D!

You should not be using Thomas Exchange, but Thomas Exchange Global via their website https://www.bestforeignexchange.com/...ange-rates.php
You do need to reserve the improved rate online - but you can just do it when you arrive at their branch if you want to.

Currently TEx is offering 4.66 QAR for £1 if you turn up at their shop, but bestforeignexchange will sell you 4.77 QAR for £1 if you reserve the rate, and the rate is consistently better by this sort of percentage.

One thing has changed since March - both TEx and TExG have stopped buying in QAR, but they still sell them.

I only go to them to change US dollars to GBP though, I have my own ways of obtaining QAR and other currencies.



The main reason I use cash is so I have control over the exchange rate. Now in the case of QAR, it's basically a local issue of USD for as long as QCB can maintain the peg. I have plenty of US dollars in my USD bank accounts, but the problem is I don't have any USD debit or credit cards, so the only way to spend them is to withdraw them as USD cash, and if going to Qatar, swap them for QAR.

If I spend on my GBP or AUD cards in Qatar, and then Theresa May says something stupid then suddenly I end up paying more. I could send some USD back to my GBP accounts, but even if there was no commission/spread to do this, what's likely to happen is that Donald Trump then does something stupid and I end up losing even more.

Maybe some of you don't care, or you regard it as gambling, but my forex predictions are right more often than not so I will keep doing it my way.

msm2000uk

This thread seems to be veering away from its tenuous link to QR...

Would anybody care to redirect it's course?

M