Convert CZK to CHF Czech koruna ↔ Swiss franc Free Online Secure
Type an amount in Czech koruna and read it in Swiss franc at once. The page uses the European Central Bank's reference rate, and tells you which day that rate is from.
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Common amounts — Convert CZK to CHF (Czech koruna ↔ Swiss franc)
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The last thirty days
Where these codes and rates come from
The three letters in EUR, USD or JPY are not an abbreviation someone invented for a website: they are ISO 4217, a standard in which the first two letters are the country's own code and the third is usually the initial of the currency. The figures on this page come from the European Central Bank, which publishes one set of reference rates each working day, around 16:00 Central European time, agreed between the central banks of the Eurosystem. They are a daily snapshot meant for statistics and accounting, not a live trading feed — which is exactly why they are the same number for everyone, rather than whatever one bank happened to quote at one moment.
Where you meet an exchange rate
You meet an exchange rate four or five times a year without thinking about it: booking a trip, paying an invoice issued abroad, buying from a foreign shop, reading a salary offer in another currency, or checking what a card charge really cost. In all of these the reference rate is the honest middle, and the price you actually pay sits a little to one side of it. Knowing the middle is what lets you see how wide that margin is.
Questions people ask
Is this the rate my bank will give me?
No, and no page can promise one. This is the European Central Bank's reference rate: the midpoint published once a day for statistics. A bank, a card scheme or an exchange office adds its own margin on top — usually between half a percent and three percent, sometimes more at an airport counter. Use this figure to judge the offer you are given, not to predict it.
How often does the figure change, and what happens at weekends?
The European Central Bank publishes once each working day, in the afternoon, Central European time. There is no publication on Saturdays, Sundays or TARGET holidays, so on those days the page shows the last working day's rate and says which day it belongs to. The chart alongside is one year of the same daily series.
Is the answer exact?
Where both units are defined in terms of one another by whole numbers, yes — the page says so above the figure, and the only rounding is in how many digits are shown. Where the ratio has no finite decimal, the page shows twelve significant digits and says the relation is approximate rather than pretending otherwise.
Does anything I type leave my device?
No. The arithmetic runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded and there is no server to upload it to. Load the page once and it keeps working with the network switched off.
Crystal and clockwork: Bohemian glass, Swiss watches and the two craft traditions behind them, priced in crowns and francs
In a glassworks in northern Bohemia, a glassmaker draws a glowing gather of molten glass from the furnace on the end of a long pipe, blows a bubble, shapes it with a wooden block and wet newspaper, and within minutes the lump becomes a vase that will be cut and engraved by hand. A thousand kilometres to the south-west, in a workshop in the Jura mountains, a watchmaker bends over a bench under a lamp, setting a balance wheel the size of a lentil into a movement of more than two hundred parts. Both craftspeople belong to old European traditions that have survived industrial competition by offering something that machines find hard to match: precision, beauty and the mark of a human hand. Bohemian crystal has been exported from the lands of the Czech crown since the seventeenth century, and Swiss watches since the sixteenth. A traveller who wants to take home a glass or a timepiece, or who simply wants to compare, soon needs to know what the other country's prices mean. This page answers the question about the money. Use it to Convert CZK to CHF with the daily reference rates published by the European Central Bank, in which the crown and the franc are quoted against the euro; the page combines them into a crown-franc figure and prints its date under the result. The amount you type never leaves your browser.
Using the converter
Enter, read, check the date
Before you book, Convert CZK to CHF for the whole budget and keep the figure beside your itinerary.
Type an amount in Czech crowns and the page returns the equivalent in Swiss francs, rounded to rappen, with the date of the fixing it used. A franc is worth a few dozen crowns, so the figure that comes back is far smaller than the number you typed. A new fixing is published once on each working day; on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays the page shows the previous one and says so. Round sums and a graph of the last thirty days stand under the box. Going the other way, from francs into crowns, is the job of Convert CHF to CZK.
What the number stands for
The displayed figure is the midpoint of the market on a working day, before any bank has taken its share. Whatever a bank, a booth or an app offers will be a bit worse, and the gap in per cent is the price of the service: under one per cent is very good, two or three per cent is common, above four deserves another look. Treat every Convert CZK to CHF as your yardstick. The sums below use an invented, round rate of twenty-eight crowns to the franc; it is neither a forecast nor today's price, so replace it with the real number.
Bohemian glass
From the forest to the table
Glassmaking in Bohemia took root where three things met: sand, wood for the furnaces and potash from the forests. By the seventeenth century, Bohemian glassmakers had developed a clear, hard, colourless glass, known as Bohemian crystal, that could be deeply cut and engraved. Merchants carried it across Europe, and by the nineteenth century it was among the country's most important exports. Names such as Moser, founded in Karlovy Vary in 1857, Harrachov and Jablonec evoke different branches of the trade: tableware, chandeliers, jewellery and beads.
What to buy and what it costs
A glass that looks inexpensive in crowns may be dear in francs, so Convert CZK to CHF for every item on your list before you buy.
A hand-cut crystal wine glass from a reputable maker costs 600 to 2,500 crowns, a decanter 2,000 to 8,000, a vase 1,500 to 15,000. A simple blown glass from a workshop in Harrachov costs 150 to 400. Glass beads and costume jewellery from Jablonec cost 100 to 1,000. At the invented rate, a vase of 5,000 crowns is about 179 francs. Convert CZK to CHF for each item you consider, and check the label: genuine lead crystal contains at least 24 per cent lead oxide in the European Union, and a shop should be able to certify it.
Visiting a glassworks
At Harrachov, in the Krkonoše mountains, visitors watch glassblowers at work and buy at the factory shop. A tour costs 100 to 150 crowns. The Moser factory in Karlovy Vary offers guided visits with a museum, priced at 250 to 350. In Nový Bor and Kamenický Šenov, glass museums show the history of the craft. Prices in factory shops are lower than in central Prague, where the same items may cost a third more.
Swiss watches
The valley of watchmakers
Swiss watchmaking began in Geneva in the sixteenth century, when Protestant refugees with skills in jewellery and metalwork turned to clocks, and it spread into the Jura mountains, where long winters left farmers time to work at benches. In La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle, the towns of the Jura arc, entire districts were built for the trade, and since 2009 they have been on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The International Museum of Horology in La Chaux-de-Fonds charges about 15 francs and shows centuries of timepieces. Today, Swiss watchmaking is dominated by a few large groups and by independent makers of mechanical watches.
What is "Swiss made"
The word on the dial is a promise, and so is the price; Convert CZK to CHF for the watch and for the service you may need.
Since 2017, a watch may bear the label "Swiss made" only if at least 60 per cent of its manufacturing costs are incurred in Switzerland, its movement is Swiss and it is cased up and inspected in the country. The rules protect a reputation worth billions. Prices range from about 50 francs for a plastic quartz watch to tens of thousands for a mechanical masterpiece. A well-made mechanical watch from an established brand costs 1,000 to 10,000 francs. Convert CZK to CHF for a watch you like, and you will see how much it is in your own currency.
Czech watchmaking too
A vintage Prim is a friendly price, but Convert CZK to CHF for a Swiss mechanical watch and compare the two in your own currency.
Few people know that the Czech Republic has its own watch tradition. The brand Prim, founded in 1949 in Nové Město nad Metují, produced millions of mechanical watches for the Eastern bloc, with simple, sturdy movements and designs now sought by collectors. A vintage Prim costs 1,500 to 6,000 crowns, a modern one from the revived brand 5,000 to 25,000. Compare the price of a Czech and a Swiss mechanical watch, and you have a lesson in how reputation affects price.
Buying abroad: rules and traps
Tax and customs
Visitors from outside the European Union to the Czech Republic can claim a refund of value-added tax on purchases above a threshold, with a form stamped at the airport. Switzerland also offers a refund of value-added tax on goods exported by non-residents, at a rate of 8.1 per cent, for purchases of more than 300 francs in one shop. For Czech residents returning from Switzerland, personal goods up to a limited value can enter the European Union without duty; a watch worth thousands must be declared. Keep receipts and the warranty card.
Authenticity
Buy watches only from authorised dealers or reputable jewellers, and request the original warranty and box. Counterfeits are common and may be seized at customs. For glass, buy from a maker or a shop that issues a certificate. Prices that are too good to be true are a warning sign. Pay by card, which gives some protection.
Shipping and breakage
A fragile item should be wrapped well, and glass is often shipped by the shop in a protective box. Insurance for a high-value purchase is worth the small fee. If you carry crystal in hand luggage, check airline rules.
A souvenir shopping list for both countries
What Czechs bring home from Switzerland
A pocket knife, a bar of chocolate and a wedge of cheese make an inexpensive set of gifts; Convert CZK to CHF for the three together.
The classic Swiss souvenirs are well known. A red pocket knife with a white cross, made in Ibach since 1884 by the firm Victorinox, is probably the most popular: a basic model costs 30 to 40 francs, a multi-tool 60 to 150. Swiss chocolate, in bars, truffles or gift boxes, costs 3 to 6 francs a bar. A wedge of Gruyère, Appenzeller or Emmental cheese, vacuum-packed for travel, costs 8 to 20. A cowbell, a small wooden carved bear from Brienz and an embroidered edelweiss are traditional presents, as is a fondue set. Convert CZK to CHF for each gift, and you will find that something small and useful, like a knife, costs less than a night's meal.
What visitors take from the Czech Republic
From Prague, travellers carry home crystal and garnets. Bohemian garnets, dark red stones mined in the north, are set in silver or gold in jewellery, with pieces from 800 to 15,000 crowns. A bottle of Becherovka, the herbal liqueur from Karlovy Vary, costs 250 to 400 crowns. Oplatky, large round wafers from the spa towns, cost 60 to 150 for a pack. Wooden toys, marionettes and Krtek the mole figures cost 150 to 800. Czech beer in bottles, honey, and poppy-seed products make fine, inexpensive gifts. At the invented rate of twenty-eight crowns to the franc, a bottle of Becherovka at 300 crowns is about 11 francs.
The marionette tradition
A puppet is a lasting souvenir, so Convert CZK to CHF for a small one and for a large one and decide how much to spend.
Puppets have a special place in Czech culture: marionette theatres thrived in Prague, and the Czech puppeteers kept national feeling alive in the nineteenth century when the language was under pressure. A small marionette in a souvenir shop costs 300 to 1,500 crowns; a hand-carved one from a workshop 2,000 to 10,000. The National Marionette Theatre stages Mozart's Don Giovanni with puppets for 600 to 1,000 crowns a seat. The Swiss, too, have puppet traditions in Basel and elsewhere.
Rules for bringing things back
Travellers returning to the Czech Republic from Switzerland, a non-EU country, may bring home goods for personal use up to a total value within the duty-free limit, which is set by the European Union and varies by travel mode. Tobacco and alcohol have separate quantity limits. Food products of animal origin, such as meat and some cheeses, may be restricted, and plants require a phytosanitary certificate. Check the customs website before you shop. In the other direction, souvenirs from Prague may be taken to Switzerland under Swiss rules.
Craft workshops you can visit
In Bohemia and Moravia
Beyond glass, visitors can watch lace makers in Vamberk, puppet carvers in Prague, pottery in Kunštát, blue-printers in Olešnice and the makers of wooden toys in the Ore Mountains. Tourist information offices list the workshops that welcome visitors, usually for a small fee of 50 to 150 crowns. Some run short courses where you can paint a plate or make a bead necklace for 300 to 800 crowns, a lovely way to take home a memory you made yourself.
In Switzerland
In the Swiss Jura, visitors can watch watchmakers at work in the manufactures of Le Locle and Sainte-Croix, where music boxes and automata are made, and at the Maison du Gruyère in Pringy, see cheesemakers stirring copper vats; entry is about 8 francs. In Appenzell, craftspeople make embroidered cloth. In Brienz, wood carvers work in the Ballenberg open-air museum, entry 30 francs, a village of old farmhouses from across the country. The museum is a good place to see Swiss traditions in one day.
The repair culture
Both nations grew up with the habit of repairing instead of replacing. A well-made watch can be serviced and pass from grandfather to grandson; a glass vase is repaired by a skilled grinder. Today, repair cafés in Prague, Brno, Zürich and Geneva hold evenings when volunteers help neighbours to mend appliances, clothes and bicycles for free or for a donation. It is a chance to save money, reduce waste and meet people.
Planning the money for a craft trip
A sample budget
Add a reserve of ten per cent, then Convert CZK to CHF for the total and keep that figure as the limit of the trip.
For a four-day trip to Switzerland from Prague by air, with two nights in a hostel, picnic meals, a train pass to the Jura and a museum entry, a traveller might spend 700 to 1,000 francs, or 19,600 to 28,000 crowns, excluding the flight. For a four-day trip to Bohemian glass country by car, with guesthouses, restaurant lunches and workshop visits, the cost is 6,000 to 10,000 crowns, or 214 to 357 francs. Convert CZK to CHF with the real rate before you plan.
Paying by card
Cards are accepted widely in both countries. In Switzerland, always choose francs when the terminal asks; in the Czech Republic, always choose crowns. Keep a modest amount of cash for workshops, markets and mountain huts. If you buy an expensive item, ask whether the price includes tax and whether a refund is available at the border.
Insurance
If you carry a valuable watch or crystal, check that your travel or home insurance covers it, and keep the receipt and photographs. Take photos of the serial number of a watch. A small premium can cover a large loss.
Going to Switzerland from Prague
Trains, planes, cars
A direct flight from Prague to Zürich takes about an hour and a quarter, with fares from 40 euros. By train, the journey takes 10 to 12 hours with a connection in Germany or Austria, at 60 to 120 euros. By car, it is 900 kilometres, a day's drive, with vignettes needed in Austria and Switzerland. Distances are in kilometres, and Convert km to mi converts them to miles. Fuel is sold by the litre, and Convert L to gal relates the litre to the gallon. Switzerland is on Central European Time, the same as the Czech Republic; if you travel on to Romania, Convert CET to EET shows the one-hour step.
Swiss prices for a Czech visitor
A day of coffee, lunch and transport is easy to price when you Convert CZK to CHF for each and add the results.
A coffee costs 4 to 6 francs, a lunch of the day 20 to 30, a dinner 30 to 60, a bed in a hostel 40 to 70, a mid-range hotel 180 to 300. Public fountains give free drinking water, and supermarkets sell picnic food at 8 to 12 francs a meal. At the invented rate, a lunch of 25 francs is 700 crowns, more than three times a Prague set lunch. Plan accordingly. Convert °C to °F gives the temperature in Fahrenheit.
Other crown conversions
If your trip continues
Travellers who go on to Germany or Austria can use Convert CZK to EUR, those visiting Britain Convert CZK to GBP, and those heading to Sweden Convert CZK to SEK.
A habit worth keeping
Write down the rate and date of each exchange, and compare them later with the statement. It takes seconds.
Mistakes to avoid
Paying in crowns in Switzerland
A terminal that offers to charge you in crowns is using its own rate. Choose francs.
Ignoring the refund forms
Tax refunds need stamps and receipts, and a missed form is a missed refund. Keep paperwork together.
Using an old rate
A rate from last month can be wrong by several per cent. The date shown beside the result protects you each time you Convert CZK to CHF.
In short
The only thing fetched from the network is the table of daily rates, while your amount stays in the browser and no account is needed. From the furnace in Harrachov to the bench in Le Locle, the routine is the same: Convert CZK to CHF, read the date and compare every offer with the number on this page.