Buying Euros at Gatwick

Do you want £ or €?

There are ATMs at LGW. Who operates them is of little consequence. Withdrawing € from a $ account will be at the ATMs rate. Withdrawing £ will be at the card network rate, providing you decline any dynamic currency conversion offer.

Yes, using an ATM to get pounds is the best option. If it is a bank operated ATM it is even better.

Just be careful when using the ATM to decline the offer to bill you in USD. If you allow it, the rate will be around 10% higher than if you let it bill you in local currency (Pounds in this case) and may have additional fees associated with the transaction.

Travelex, who run the currency conversion kiosks in the airports in Europe, have gotten exclusive rights in many airports to run the ATMs there. I am always cautions using these. If the ATM shows a screen with the "offer for today" rate, walk away.

Getting euro - as your question asks - is much harder in Gatwick because the currency of the country is British Pounds.

There is one bank, Raphael Bank, who have ATMs in various places around London like St Pancras International station and One New Change, etc,, which vend both Pounds and Euro, but I don't know if they have any at Gatwick....

Thank you all very much. The information about Euros at St. Pancreas is useful too as we are going on to Paris via Eurostar.

There is no need to 'walk away' from any ATM that gives you an offered exchange rate for £. Just decline the rate and carry on normally. There isn't a single ATM where DCC is the only option, even if they make declining a bit obscure.

For € you will almost certainly have to accept the ATMs exchange rate unless you have a bank account in €. Highly unlikely. This includes Raphaels Bank, which incidentally is owned by the same company that owns International Currency Exchange.

Link (the UK ATM network operator) says that there are a few different companies with ATMs at LGW. One of these is Barclays Bank which is a known user of DCC.

Just in case you bank at Bank of America, you might wish to page down here:

https://www.bankofamerica.com/deposits/manage/faq-atm-fees.go

to "What is the Global Alliance?" While Bank of America collects a savage 3% charge to get your own money out of your account in foreign countries, you might avoid some smaller fees by using banks/ATMs in their Global Alliance. You're still better off than if you queue up at a tourist street "Exchange" clip-joint. If you have another big bank, you might want to look into whether they have any "better deals". As noted, the actual currency conversion rate is determined by Visa. But you know what a "fee" is, because (just kidding) you just bought plane tickets!

Hi,

I can't answer about Gatwick, but are you going to Paddington train station at all? The ATMs near the left luggage office offer both GBP and Euro.