BNP Paribas and Credit Mutuel Banks

A bank ATM is a bank ATM, there will be no difference between Crédit Mutuel and BNP. BNP has more branches.
EDIT: I assume you singled out these two banks because your home bank has an agreement with them when it comes to withdrawal fees? Otherwise, any bank ATM will do, and non-bank ATMs are extremely rare in France.

The main difference is some will charge transaction fees. Look on your banks website and see if they have agreements with any foreign banks to see if you can find one with no fees for you. For example, I think Bank of America withdrawals can be made at BNP without a fee.

Forgot to mention, always do cc transactions in the currency of the country you are in. This gives you a better exchange rate.

Read up in other forums about the lack of need of cash in EU. Don't go getting huge amounts of euros unless you are sure you need a big stash for some reason.

French bank ATMs do not charge fees. Any fee you pay originates with your bank or with the currency exchange entity. Not all ATMs in France are French bank ATMs.

BNP Paribas is a partner bank with Bank of America so there are no bank transaction fees if I use one of its ATMs. Unfortunately with BofA there is a foreign transaction fee, but with as little as cash is needed any more, I seldom need to get money from an ATM.

Thanks all for your input. Ordinarily I would not be too concerned about getting much foreign currency vs. using a credit card for purchases, but our purpose and plan for our visits are all of the Christmas Markets where currency will probably be the only option.

I believed this no fee business until I went to withdraw money the other day and the bank ATM announced they would charge 5 Euro for the transaction; my bank is a local one in the US that does not charge a fee and in fact reimburses me for fees I encounter. I aborted the transaction and went to another bank where while they didn't charge a fee for the withdrawal they tried to lead me to make the withdrawal in dollars (the charge obviously, not the actual money dispensed). This is basically a scam that enriches the bank with additional hidden fees. None of this nonsense at the post office and they gave they option of small bills.

I have never paid fees when using ATMs from these banks:

la Poste
BNP
LCL
HSBC

Most will pay a 1% currency conversion fee which originates from the entity making the conversion, which is not the ATM bank. All other fees are from your home bank (unless you are using a non-French bank ATM).

The airport ATMs are non-bank ATMs and charge fees. There is one HSBC ATM at CDG which does not charge fees.

Janet: I encountered much the same thing in Sarlat last spring. The ATM at the bank on one side of the street (it sure looked like a bank) said they would charge me €5 or €7 or something like that for the transaction. The ATM at the bank on the other side of the street did not mention any such fee, but was unable to issue receipts. Another ATM was going to charge me a percentage (in addition to the 1% charged by Visa to make any transaction). I've not encountered this in any of my earlier trips abroad and found it very confusing.
Tocard: how can I tell if an ATM is a French bank ATM or not? Most seem to be attached to buildings which look like banks. I'm assuming the ATMs you've mentioned: la Poste, BNP, LCL and HSBC are all French banks, yes?

Kay - Yes, the list is of French Banks and almost every post office has an ATM from la Poste.

I know nothing of how French banking institutions are chartered, nor of EU banking rules as they relate to free ATM withdrawals, but there may be a technical difference between the list of banks I provided and those such as Caisse d'épargne, Crédit Agricole, Crédit du Nord, Banque Populaire, Crédit Mutuel.

It would be helpful if those finding ATMs with stated fees would indicate the institutions sponsoring the ATM.

actually HSBC was originally Hong Kong (HS=Hong Kong and Shanghai) but is now HQ'd in London. Not precisely French, but with lots of French branches.

if you come upon Santander, that's a Spanish one.