---
title: "The Exchange-Rate Ledger: Your Euro Buys More in 11 Countries This Year, Less in 20"
slug: "where-your-euro-dollar-buys-more-2026-exchange-rates"
category: "Trip Planning"
read_time: "6 min read"
excerpt: "We pulled 12 months of exchange rates for the currency of all 133 countries in our cost dataset. Only 31 moved more than 5%, and two-thirds of those moved against you. Then we subtracted inflation, and Turkey and Argentina flipped from best deals to worst."
author: "Vanpelt"
author_url: "https://travelmaxing.app/about"
date_published: 2026-08-18T04:20:39.413Z
date_modified: 2026-08-18T04:20:39.413Z
canonical: https://travelmaxing.app/blog/where-your-euro-dollar-buys-more-2026-exchange-rates
---
# The Exchange-Rate Ledger: Your Euro Buys More in 11 Countries This Year, Less in 20

> We pulled 12 months of exchange rates for the currency of all 133 countries in our cost dataset. Only 31 moved more than 5%, and two-thirds of those moved against you. Then we subtracted inflation, and Turkey and Argentina flipped from best deals to worst.

Every August the "where your dollar goes furthest this year" listicles come out, and every one I have read this year has two defects: it picks ten currencies by feel, and it stops at the exchange rate. We did the whole set. For each of the 133 countries in [our cost dataset](/data/country-costs.json) we pulled the local currency's rate against the euro, the dollar, and the pound on 18 August 2025 and again on 17 August 2026, using [ECB reference rates](https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_reference_exchange_rates/html/index.en.html) where the ECB publishes them and an open-source aggregate for the other 104.

Headline: currency moved your travel budget by more than 5% in 31 countries. In 20 of them it moved the wrong way.

## Most of the world did not move

Eighty-six of the 133 currencies finished within ±2% of where they started against the euro. Twenty of the countries use the euro itself, and roughly two dozen more are pegged to the dollar (the Gulf, Jordan, Panama, Ecuador, most of the Caribbean), which itself slipped only 0.7% against the euro over the year. The Thai baht: +1.0%. Vietnamese dong: −1.4%. Egyptian pound: +2.2%. Swiss franc: −0.4%. If your plan was Southeast Asia or Western Europe, the currency market did nothing to it.

That is the boring 65% of the ledger. The rest is where the money is.

## Where your euro got richer

| Country | Euro vs local, 12 mo | Dollar vs local | Cost floor/day | Best months |
|---------|---------------------|-----------------|----------------|-------------|
| Bolivia | +66.8% | +68.5% | $13 | May–Sep |
| [Türkiye](/when-to-visit/turkey) | +16.4% | +17.2% | $10 | Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct |
| Ethiopia | +13.6% | +14.8% | $17 | Oct–Mar |
| [Argentina](/when-to-visit/argentina) | +12.5% | +13.7% | $9 | Sep–Mar |
| [Sri Lanka](/when-to-visit/sri-lanka) | +9.3% | +10.5% | $7 | Nov–Mar, Jul–Aug |
| [Indonesia](/when-to-visit/indonesia) | +9.1% | +9.8% | $15 | Apr–Oct |
| [India](/when-to-visit/india) | +8.7% | +9.4% | $6 | Oct–Mar |
| [Nepal](/when-to-visit/nepal) | +8.1% | +9.2% | $6 | Mar–May, Oct–Nov |
| [Japan](/when-to-visit/japan) | +7.2% | +7.9% | $27 | Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov |
| Philippines | +7.2% | +7.9% | $16 | Dec–Apr |
| Taiwan | +5.2% | +6.4% | $24 | Oct–Apr |

Bolivia is not a bargain, it is a crisis: the boliviano's 15-year peg at 6.96 to the dollar [ended by decree on 29 June](https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260629-bolivia-removes-15-year-dollar-peg-in-bid-to-revive-economy) after reserves ran out, and the float [opened at 9.73 and has since passed 11](https://www.riotimesonline.com/bolivia-floating-dollar-past-11-bolivianos-imf-2026/). Local prices are catching up fast. Treat that row as a warning about the country, not a tip.

The rows that matter for a real trip are the middle of the table. India, Nepal and Sri Lanka were already the three cheapest floors in [our value calendar](/blog/cheapest-country-peak-season-every-month), and all three just got 8–10% cheaper for anyone paying in euros, dollars or pounds, right as their October-to-March seasons open. Japan at +7% is the one that changes behaviour: a $27 floor is now closer to a $25 floor, and autumn is its best-rated window.

## Where your euro got poorer

| Country | Euro vs local, 12 mo | Cost floor/day |
|---------|---------------------|----------------|
| Colombia | −22.7% | $13 |
| Paraguay | −20.8% | $13 |
| Zambia | −19.2% | $14 |
| Kazakhstan | −15.2% | $16 |
| Israel | −13.6% | $46 |
| Nigeria | −12.1% | $26 |
| Mexico | −10.2% | $18 |
| Belarus | −10.0% | $15 |
| Australia | −9.3% | $49 |
| South Africa | −8.8% | $21 |
| China | −6.8% | $10 |
| [Peru](/when-to-visit/peru) | −6.4% | $12 |

Colombia is the standout: the peso is [the best-performing currency in the world this year](https://www.riotimesonline.com/colombian-peso-five-year-high-dollar-strongest-emerging-currency-june-2026/), up roughly 20% against the dollar on 11%+ interest rates and a post-election rally, and it posted [its biggest monthly gain in a decade in June](https://www.riotimesonline.com/colombia-peso-biggest-monthly-gain-decade-june-2026/). A country that sat comfortably at a $13 floor now costs a euro traveler what a $16–17 country did last summer. Same for Mexico at −10%: still cheap, no longer the deal it was.

Note the shape of the loser list. Eight of the twelve are under $20 a day. Currency headwinds this year hit budget destinations more than expensive ones, which is the opposite of the "strong euro, cheap Europe trip" story running in the mainstream press.

## Now subtract inflation

An exchange-rate gain only reaches your wallet if local prices stood still. Where they didn't, the sign flips.

| Country | Euro FX gain | Local inflation (Jul 2026) | Real change |
|---------|-------------|---------------------------|-------------|
| Türkiye | +16.4% | [31.75%](https://www.dailysabah.com/business/economy/turkiyes-annual-inflation-cools-to-3175-in-july) | ≈ −12% |
| Argentina | +12.5% | [33.8%](https://www.indexbox.io/blog/argentina-inflation-july-2026-cpi-rises-21-monthly-338-year-on-year/) | ≈ −16% |
| India | +8.7% | [4.45%](https://www.forbesindia.com/amp/article/news/july-retail-inflation-inches-up-to-4-45-percent/2997013/1) | ≈ +4% |
| Japan | +7.2% | [1.9%](https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/tokyo-core-cpi) (Tokyo core) | ≈ +5% |

Turkey and Argentina, the second and fourth "winners" on nominal FX, are the two most expensive-in-real-terms outcomes in the whole ledger once you price in what a kebab or a steak actually costs now. If you were in Istanbul in 2024 you already know this: the lira falls, the menus reprice within the month, and the tourist ends up paying more in euros than the year before. Argentina has been running that loop since 2023.

India and Japan are the clean wins: currency gained, prices didn't run away, the traveler keeps most of the difference.

We ran the arithmetic on these four because they are the ones where the answer flips or where readers most often ask. The rest of the winner list sits between them: Sri Lanka, Nepal and Indonesia have single-digit inflation, so most of their FX gain is real. Ethiopia's is not.

## What this is worth versus season

Ten percent on the currency sounds like a lot until you set it against timing. The gap between a "best" and an "avoid" month in our data is routinely a doubling of room rates in the same city, and the [cheapest in-season country in a given month](/blog/cheapest-country-peak-season-every-month) is often a third the price of the most-hyped one. Currency is a second-order effect. Use it as a tiebreaker: India in November was already the right call, and it is now 8.7% more right.

The one place currency should override the calendar this year is the losers' side. Colombia in its Dec–Mar season at −23% is a materially different trip from the one people planned twelve months ago; the [multi-country routes](/blog/plan-multi-country-trip-without-travel-agent) through the Andes that made sense on paper last summer now lean toward Ecuador (dollarised, flat) and Peru (−6%, survivable) instead.

## Method

Rates as of 18 August 2025 and 17 August 2026, euro base, with dollar and pound bases computed the same way (rankings are almost identical across all three, because EUR/USD moved only 0.7% and GBP/EUR 0.8% over the period). ECB reference rates for the 29 currencies the ECB publishes; the open-source [fawazahmed0 currency API](https://github.com/fawazahmed0/exchange-api) for the remaining 104, cross-checked against the ECB on overlapping pairs (differences under 0.6 points). Iran and Venezuela are excluded from the rankings: Iran because the published rate swings between the official and open-market regimes, Venezuela because a +460% move is hyperinflation, not a travel discount. Cost floors are the survival-tier daily figure from [our country-costs dataset](/data/country-costs.json). Best months from the ratings behind the [when-to-visit guides](/when-to-visit). We'll rerun this ledger when the rates justify it; the countries above are the ones to re-check before you book.